Posted on 4/12/2001
Scooter
Future
NEW YORK, December 3, 2001 – Emerging from months of hype and
speculation
today, an accomplished inventor unveiled a one-person, battery-powered
scooter that he claims will revolutionize transportation. Inventor
Dean
Kamen and his backers say the agile Segway Human Transporter
will change
the face of the transportation world, bumping cars from ubiquity
and
leading to a realigned, people-friendly cityscape.
The Segway, until now known only by its codenames "IT" and "Ginger,"
"will
be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy," Kamen
boasted to
Time magazine for today's edition. "Cars are great for going
long
distances. But it makes no sense at all for people in cities
to use a
4,000-pound piece of metal to haul their 150-lb. asses around
town." Kamen
unveiled the scooter on ABC's Good Morning America today. Kamen
holds
roughly 100 U.S. patents. His other inventions include the heart
stent used
by Vice President Dick Cheney and a wheelchair that can climb
stairs.
The two-wheeled Segway, which looks like a cross between an
old rotary lawn
mower and a Razor scooter, travels at a top speed of about 17
miles per
hour. According to the Time piece, Kamen's vehicle "is a complex
bundle of
hardware and software that mimics the human body's ability to
maintain its
balance. Not only does it have no brakes, it also has no engine,
no
throttle, no gearshift and no steering wheel. And it can carry
the average
rider for a full day, nonstop, on only five cents' worth of
electricity."
Kamen's Manchester, N.H.-based firm DEKA Research and Development
will
oversee production of the machine. According to those who have
ridden it,
the scooter is difficult to fall from or knock over due to gyroscopes
that
work to keep it upright and discern where the rider wants to
go. Speed and
direction are controlled by the rider's shifting weight. Riders
stand
upright, facing forward over the invention's single axle, navigating
with a
bicycle-like handlebar. A single battery charge can propel the
scooter 17
miles over level ground, with each hour of charge providing
power for two
hours' use, Time reported.
The U.S. Postal Service, General Electric and National Parks
Service will
be the first customers to purchase them, buying 80-pound heavy-duty
models
for $US8,000 apiece, according to the magazine. The Postal Service
plans to
test 20 Segways on mail routes in Concord, N.H., and Fort Myers,
Fla.,
starting in January, in hopes of enabling carriers to cover
more ground,
according to a report on The New York Times' Web site. The City
of Atlanta
plans to use several dozen starting in February in an effort
to reduce
emissions and traffic congestion, the Times said. A 65-pound,
$US3,000
consumer model won't be available for at least a year. Kamen,
who said he
withheld information on the Segway until he had finished filing
related
patents, is an accomplished inventor and recipient last year
of the
National Medal of Technology, awarded by then President Clinton.
Kamen's previous inventions also include the first portable
kidney dialysis
machine.
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