Believe it or not, it's been almost six years since Dean Kamen's highly-anticipated, mysterious "IT" project was revealed to be the
Segway personal transporter, yet far from fundamentally revolutionizing the way we get from here to there as the pre-release hype would have had us believe, you'd be hard-pressed to spot one of these pricey gadgets anywhere outside of a few golf courses or in a certain Apple founder's garage. It's not that the idea of a personal battery-powered vehicle isn't sound, you say, it's just that the thing costs too damn much (over five grand last time we checked) -- but we can't believe that's the sole impediment to adoption. Would a significant price drop really be the only thing it took to turn a nation of car-addicted commuters into one of happy, self-stabilizing Segway riders? Or are there other core issues -- size, speed, and safety, perhaps -- that need to be addressed before the appeal of powered personal transportation reaches critical mass?
As always, we love to hear your constructive suggestions and criticisms here, so please have at it...
posted September 7th 2007 9:17PM
Put a robots body on the upper half and use it for movies and military purposes..or going along with military - automated gun platform sentries using segway propulsions and mounted stereoscopic cameras for remote control. I know they've got to be working on that in Area 51. LOL if not, they should!!
FASTER!
Lower the cost, I have had two of the them. One the XT & the other HT. I will say the XT was a much better unit.
But hitting the 5 grand mark is a bit high.
in India there is a small two seater electric car that retails for roughly 5000 $$
it has a range of 40 miles and top speed is about 25 miles per hour it is very small and lightweight additionally it comes with air conditioning
and small electric bikes come for about 500-700$ again are small safe and practical great value
why wud anyone want a segway then it makes no sense for regular folks
however for every 10000 ppl who use regular toilet paper there will be a dumbass who uses dollar bills
and such ppl wud buy the segway
I think everyone is missing the point. I believe the intended Segway consumer was expected to use it often indoors as much as out. Society needs to welcome it into indoor spaces like offices, malls, and warehouses. Then it could really take off. So In addition to getting you to work quickly in the city. It could zip you accross a college campus in and out of buildings right to your seat. It can zip you accross a large work facility like warehouses more quickly than walking. I work on a campus that spans two square miles. It takes me 20 minutes to walk to my car. Most of that time is spent indoors walking down long corridors. A segway would be perfect. But yes, it is a bit pricy.
Dean Kamen is to be admired and supported for what he has done and what he stands for! As for the Segway, as it is, it is in the middle of no-where. It can not compete with both extremes of where it is right now, which is the bike in one end and the four wheel cart on the other. First and foremost, the Segway is designed as an alternative to walking! It should have been designed as an alternative to the car or as an assist to the bike!!! For any new product, to be accepted it needs to successfully compete against the current gold standard for technology, ergonomics, and power efficiency. Well, that is the BIKE!!! Go and ask any serious bikers. And, learn from their responses. In addition, make it suitable for a third world country, both price-wise and efficiency-wise. Go for a field trip in rural India and China and learn how and what role bikes have in transportation. A common complaint is that Segway does not have the range (at least compared to bikes). An improved Segway can EXTEND the range, speed, practicality, utility, capacity and efficiency of a conventional bike! On the other side, of course, if you put a seat,(as in a bike) and it is motorized, it can still be used with a business suit on, no sweat just like the current one. And YES, people will look dorky even in the US if they buy the current one over $5000.00 one. This price is insulting to many people. It makes people riding Segways uncomfortable and onlookers rightly so judgmental. Importantly, put a seat on, even if you can still ride it standing up. After a short while, if it ever will have any decent range, you will want to seat!!!
There are two directions I see it can take:
First direction:
1) Make it an electric Bike (a hybrid bicycle or tricycle alternative)
2) Slim it down
3) Price it for less than 1/5th of what it is now (lees than 1G)
4) Add a third wheel in some models (in the back not the front, with suspension, see new Vespas)
5) Put the front wheels closer in three wheel models, otherwise, put the wheels in tandem not parallel (like in a normal bike)
6) Make it faster by using efficient bike wheels
7) Add a cushy gel seat for one or two in tricycles
8) Make it foldable
9) Put pedals and gear in it (making it a hybrid electric-mechanical bike). This will extend its range dramatically
10) Make it suitable for both off and on road conditions (suspension)
11) Disk brakes, regenerative brakes etc…
12) Make it BIKE first and SEGWAY second! A SEGWAY assisted BIKE!!!
13) Dynamo powered LED or HID lighting
14) Put a lot of glow-in-the-dark materials all over
15) Carbon fiber mostly
16) Put a small LED monitor for speed, distance, GPS (optional), battery indicator, power needed, power generated, calories spent and needed to destination versus power put in and out, Bluetooth 2.0 or better for connection to heart monitor, pulse, phone, MP3, time, temperature, humidity, altitude, compass.
Second direction
1) Make it a 4 wheel hybrid electric mechanical cart alternative
2) Conventional bike components everywhere for easy repairs
3) Centaur is a great start, but not a Segway again, but a Segway Centaur assisted cycling cart
4) Open and completely closed models
5) Add horsepower
6) Speed it up
7) Light it up
8) Add 2 more wheels from the current one
9) Put pedals and gear in it (same as first direction)
10) Price it for less than 1/3rd of what it is now
11) Add a storage compartment
12) Add one or two passenger seats
13) Make it rugged like Centaur
14) 13 to 16 as above
Global warming, oil prices and peak oil are global issues that are not going away. They are getting more and more acute. We need to improve on the current best and sustainable technologies!
Carlo @ Sep 7th 2007 9:36PM
add 2 wheels
They did. you can by the kit to turn it into a 4 wheel electric ATV. Why???
Nick @ Sep 7th 2007 9:28PM
It's not that much faster than walking, right?
12.5 mph, how fast do you walk?
And what people do with them when they get to where they're going? Can you park it outside?
Yes. It has an optional locking cable, has a security system that disables it if the keyfob is removed (comes off to take with you) and it is water proof.
Mmm Vapor @ Sep 7th 2007 9:28PM
More capabilities go up stairs off road and not just on a crushed limestone bike path.
Look at the latest model, offroad ATV tires, racks, and larger fenders. Was developed for police work.
One word - Hoverboard
Personally, I would just relax and watch the incredible things that a segway can do when you put a cop on it!
SEGWAYCOP!!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O-eIb7mJMK0
The possibilities are endless with Segway.
Yeah, I'd rather pay 20x more and buy a Tesla Motors car then this.
I really like the Segway. I would seriously consider buying one if it came in pink or chocolate brown. The Segway's need color. I have seen some that have been painted and WOW what a difference, they look very cool!!
The marketing was bad. The first retailer was amazon.com, I think. Who buys a $5,000 product without seeing or trying it?
Potential customers need to be able to try the Segway out, just like they do cars. The first and only one I saw was at an auto show. It was stuck in a corner where you couldn't touch it. But if they had offered free rides (or even for a minimal cost), it would have been the most popular thing at the show.
Hire a team of hip hop artists or traveling geeks and go from city to city demonstrating it.
simple!
Make a 4 wheel version with 20" rims, 350 horsepower, seat 9 plus luggage, oh and a gas engine!
LUDITES!
For anyone who's used a Segway, you know what a pain the kick-stand is. It should automatically flip out as soon as the Segway detects that you have stepped off of it.
make it usb capable so that i can charge it with my computer at work! :-)
Make it cooler
Get rid of the stupid handle, and instead use it's gyros to sense you leaning right or left (or use pressure plates like the Wii Fit board). At that point, it would be much more skateboard like. Maybe even shrink the giant wheels.
Of course, the real problem is most Americans don't live in dense cities, I feel fortunate that I'm 5mi from work and 1mi from the grocery store, but for neither of those cases is it faster or more convenient. Even for my very convenient life, there are zero things where the segway beats the car for transporting me (nevermind if I want to bring a friend). Maybe if I lived in a city where parking was scarce and I had things close by (
Aside from price I see this as a useful tool it needs the ability to carry more or perhaps tow ? I could see this as used far more if you could have a trailer of some kind that would carry the groceries or the child to school then mom might not drive the little one the whole eight blocks and create a traffic jam in the school zone! I would love it to do the shopping. how about a trailer that carries additional battery as well for extended range,weight,aux power supply for cooler /heater for the pizza delivery guy or Chinese food takeout dude i have a little 12 volt fridge that does both cool and heat with a reversable polarity switch I could see that in use in the trailer for the purpose. Then my food would get to me hot! and they could keep delivery prices down. if it can't tow maybe it could push in the way of a detachable cart?
The Segway definitely has a place. I would love to have one if they made these changes: Price, Battery Life, Weight Ratings. The price is way to much to justify, a grand and they would sell like iPods. Battery Life - the thing should at least run all day, not just up and down a hill or two. Weight Ratings - I'm a big guy, muscle and fat, but not even that huge and I exceed the weight limits. And if I wanted to carry something in a saddlebag, forget it. And the more weight you carry, the battery performance sucks further.
I would definitely take it for jaunts around outside, to the market, and on trips. It is better than a bike because it can go with you as a mobility device most of the time instead of trying to find a safe place to lock it up outside.
Late to the thread here, but I'm surprised that no one seems to share my opinion that the Segway failed to excite the masses largely due to its resemblance to a piece of freakin' HOSPITAL EQUIPMENT. If the standard model had looked half as tough as the later 4-wheel Centaur concept maybe some of the coolerati would have adopted it. The new "x2" model makes some progress in this area, but the original Segway looked like it should have had a heart-rate monitor and an IV pole attached to it, and first impressions are lasting.
One word: Hemi!
Go back in time and stop all the crap pre-Segway "IT" hype before it wastes everyone's time. Inform them that it it is not "the future of transportation" because it still rains outside; cities will not be rearchitected for it, in fact several cities will ban it; etc. Oh, and tell Sarah Connor that the Terminator took over California.
Also, while on the topic of improving things, I would improve engadget/downloadsquad so the sites don't throw 6-10 javascript errors every time a page loads.
I'd add some sort of umbrella or shell overhead to ward off sun, rain or snow.
Just extend the center column up and then extend the cover from that.
Or at least just some way to clamp a regular old umbrella overhead.
As a photographer I have to haul too much gear around with me when working. But it would be great for errands, church, etc.
Another problem: I photograph real estate for sale and lots of neighborhoods don't have sidewalks. And I'm talking about in town neighborhoods, not out in the sticks. So for many errands I'd be forced to drive the Segway on side streets. If this baby "by law" must be operated on sidewalks what happens if there are none? Do I get a ticket?
Terry Thomas...
the photographer
Atlanta, Georgia USA
http://TerryThomasPhotos.GooglePages.com
With the number of gliders with disabilities, perhaps offering the different types of seats that Segs4Vets installs on the Segways the give to disabled vets returning from Afghanistan and Iraq.
As great as the new leansteer technology is, they should offer a standard version with the solid central shaft like the old Segway HTi180's.
And offer a set of offroad tires that fit the standard segway's. Most of us don't use the XT's enough to warrent buying one, so we search for a set of kid's MX tires that will fit the segway's rims, which ain't easy.
Offer an electric lift that we can attach to the hitch on our cars for those of us with disabilities.
"It's never to late to have a happy childhood."
Berkely Breathed
Oh yeah, almost forgot. Offer a hybrid hydrogen model like the military is testing, for extended range.
McKay, the Segway does recharge it's batteries when going down hill or stopping, it's called regerative brakeing.
Get_a_horse, I've had my segway for over 2 years without replacing the batteries and I ride it all the time. The batteries are Lithium Ion so the last a long long time.
Reid Sorenson, No you don't get the excercise you get with a bicycle, but you do arrive where your going not smelling all sweaty. And you can carry more with optional attachments. And no the segway won't get you the excercise a bike will, but anyone whose rode one for any length of time will tell you, you do get excercise, and you do feel it. It uses your body movements to make it move and turn.
GeminitoJanus,
Have you read up on the Segway? Lets see, it has 5 independent Gyros, Two independent circuit boards, Multiple processors, Two motors and Transmissions. Everything has a built in redundancy, if anything fails something else steps up to take its place, allowing you to safely slow down and stop. It has built in safety features to keep you from using it pass its safe operating conditions.
Macona, you can get a hitch and a rikshaw style trailer for your Segway and carry a chick along with you.
Mmm Vapor, not sure what you mean about the smugness that goes along with owner ship, But as far as the ability to go up stairs, it has a power assist mode that lets you walk it up the stairs. And offroad capabilities, I have a standard HT i180, normal street seg. I've riden it on the beach, on dirt roads, slightly muddy trails and grass. However, they do sell an offroad Segway, the XT, that can go up a 45 degree muddy slope without the slightest slippage.
Andy, yes, adding additional wheels would allow for the removal of all the redudant systems, however, by adding another wheel to the Segway you affect its stability and would have to slow it down. The way the seg is now, you can turn at top speed, you just lean into it like a motorcycle or skate board. And stop without it resulting in a indo face plant. Those cheap knockoffs you see would be scarry to ride if they had the speed capabilities of a Segway.
I've been on both sides of the fence on this issue in the past. When it initialy came out, I thought it would be a lot of fun but not of much use. After I became disabled, and was looking for a mobility device, someone talked me into trying a segway. It was perfect, I can ride standing up, I have a small seat attachment if I ever need to sit down, It gives me freedom I would have never had with an electric mobility chair. And now that Gas prices are so High, I can use my Segway for short trips and leave my car at home.
Happy Holidays everyone,
stedler
"It's never to late to have a happy childhood."
Berkely Breathed