IP: NYT on "IT"

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

> From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com>
>
> [Note:  This item comes from friend Jean Polly.  DLH]
>
> At 21:09 -0800 12/2/01, Jean Armour Polly wrote:
> > From: Jean Armour Polly <mom () netmom com>
> > To: dewayne () warpspeed com (Dewayne Hendricks)
> > Subject: NYT on "IT"
> > Date: Sun, 2 Dec 2001 21:09:42 -0800
> > MIME-Version: 1.0
> >
> > <http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/03/technology/03THIN.html>
> >
> > link has PHOTO!!
> > December 3, 2001
> > An Inventor Unveils His Mysterious Personal Transportation Device
> >
> > By AMY HARMON
> >
> > It is not a hovercraft, a helicopter backpack or a teleportation pod.
> >
> > The mystery transportation device being developed by the award-winning 
> > inventor Dean Kamen - the subject of continuous fevered speculation since 
> > provocative clues and predictions surfaced in media reports last January 
> > - is not hydrogen- powered, a favored theory in Internet discussions. Nor 
> > does it run on a superefficient Stirling engine (yet).
> >
> > But if the public's collective yearning for Jetsonian travel technology 
> > must remain unrequited this week, at least the speculators will have 
> > their curiosity satisfied.
> >
> > Mr. Kamen plans to demonstrate today a two-wheeled battery-powered device 
> > designed for a single standing rider. Its chief novelty lies in the 
> > uncanny effect, produced by a finely tuned gyroscopic balancing 
> > mechanism, of intuiting where its rider wants to go - and going there.
> >
> > The device, the Segway Human Transporter, better known by its former 
> > code- name, Ginger, can go up to 12 miles an hour and has no brakes. Its 
> > speed and direction are controlled solely by the rider's shifting weight 
> > and a manual turning mechanism on one of the handlebars.
> >
> > "You might ask, `How does it work?' " said Mr. Kamen, mounting one of the 
> > devices last week on a test track at his company's headquarters in 
> > Manchester, N.H. "Think forward," he said, inclining his head ever so 
> > slightly and zooming toward a reporter. "Think back," he continued, 
> > effortlessly reversing course.
> >
> > Tilt sensors monitor the rider's center of gravity more than 100 times a 
> > second, signaling to the electric motor and wheels which way to turn and 
> > how fast.
> >
> > Mr. Kamen says the much anticipated unveiling comes now because he has 
> > had time to file for crucial patents on the technology and is ready to 
> > test it publicly.
> >
> > The United States Postal Service, the National Park Service and the City 
> > of Atlanta plan to begin limited field tests of the devices early next 
> > year. Amazon.com (news/quote) and several companies that make parts for 
> > the Segway, including GE Plastics and Michelin North America, plan to use 
> > the devices to try to save money by reducing the time it takes employees 
> > to move around corporate campuses and large warehouses.
> >
> > At an average speed of 8 miles an hour, or three times walking pace, Mr. 
> > Kamen says the Segway can go 15 miles on a six- hour charge, for less 
> > than a dime's worth of electricity from a standard wall socket.
> >
> > It is easy to see how the transporter tickled technology industry 
> > luminaries like Steve Jobs, founder of Apple Computer (news/quote), and 
> > Jeff Bezos, chairman of Amazon.com, when Mr. Kamen showed them an early 
> > model of the Segway. John Doerr, a partner in the Silicon Valley venture 
> > capital firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers, has invested $38 million 
> > in Mr. Kamen's efforts, the largest single investment in the firm's history.
> >
> > The names and positive pronouncements of all three - Mr. Jobs reportedly 
> > said the device could be as significant as the development of the 
> > personal computer - were invoked in a supposedly secret proposal for a 
> > book to be written by Mr. Kamen and Steve Kemper, a journalist. But 
> > excerpts of the proposal, which won a $250,000 contract from Harvard 
> > Business School Press, were reported in January by Inside .com, which is 
> > now defunct.
> >
> > The leaked proposal, which referred to the Segway cryptically as "It," 
> > set off a tidal wave of conjecture that led to several hundred media 
> > reports, tens of thousands of Internet postings and the question in the 
> > minds of some observers as to whether Mr. Kamen had set out a deliberate 
> > strategy to whip up public interest in his creation.
> >
> > Mr. Kamen says he was mortified by the leak and that his reason for 
> > maintaining his silence in the face of so much speculation was to protect 
> > his company's intellectual property as it filed hundreds of patent 
> > claims. He suggests the level of interest is a sign of the actual hunger 
> > for a transportation choice that fills the niche between walking and driving.
> >
> > The recipient last year of the National Medal of Technology, awarded by 
> > President Bill Clinton, Mr. Kamen, 49, has made millions of dollars 
> > creating medical devices including the first insulin pump and the first 
> > portable kidney dialysis machine.
> >
> > Typically, Mr. Kamen sticks to research and development with his company, 
> > DEKA Research and Development, and licenses his inventions for others to 
> > market. But for the Segway, which grew out of his work on a motorized 
> > wheelchair that can climb stairs (code-named Fred), Mr. Kamen decided in 
> > early 2000 to form his own company to produce and market it.
> >
> > A college dropout, Mr. Kamen has collected a total of about $90 million 
> > for the start-up, Segway, with Credit Suisse First Boston Private Equity 
> > and Kleiner Perkins as the lead investors. He retains majority control of 
> > the company, whose headquarters are in a complex of former mills about 10 
> > minutes from his hexagonal-shaped home, which has a machine shop in the 
> > basement and two helicopters in the garage.
> >
> > The decision to start the company was based largely on his personal 
> > attachment to the idea, Mr. Kamen said. Not one to shrink from sweeping 
> > statements, he argues that the Segway could cause cities to be 
> > redesigned, help wean the world from oil dependence, compress time and 
> > space for pedestrians and raise productivity for corporations and 
> > government agencies.
> >
> > "Nothing has happened at the level of the pedestrian to improve 
> > transportation since we invented the sneaker," Mr. Kamen said. "We think 
> > if you could integrate the Segway technology into cities it would be a 
> > universal win for everybody."
> >
> > That is a big if. The Segway is meant to be ridden on sidewalks, and many 
> > municipalities ban motorized devices on sidewalks. The machines weigh 65 
> > pounds, and although they may be able to zip in and out of elevators and 
> > offices, going up and down stairs is a different matter. The device can 
> > be put in "follow mode," which helps propel it up and down, but there is 
> > still lifting to be done. Each one comes with a computer encoded on-off 
> > key protected by 64- bit software encryption to deter thieves or 
> > joyriders. But locking the machine to a parking meter or lamppost is far 
> > more awkward than doing the same with a bicycle.
> >
> > Then there is the price. When the first models are expected to be 
> > available to consumers in about a year, they will cost about $3,000.
> >
> > "I don't want to sound like a Ginger-slammer," said Paul Saffo, director 
> > of the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, Calif., "but it's about 
> > $2,000 too expensive and 40 pounds too heavy."
> >
> > Even if some consumers are taken with the devices, skeptics say the 
> > social resistance to them may pose an even greater problem.
> >
> > "The big question is: Will pedestrians consider them socially acceptable 
> > on the sidewalk?" said Sheila Lynch, executive director of the Northeast 
> > Advanced Vehicle Consortium, a nonprofit organization that sponsors 
> > alternative transportation projects. "I've seen a lot of promising 
> > transportation innovations, and a lot of them aren't around anymore. I 
> > thought electric bikes would be a no- brainer, and they're not doing so well."
> >
> > Even though scooters are much cheaper and faster, Mr. Kamen says that the 
> > Segway, which riders stand on facing forward, feet side by side, will 
> > have much broader appeal than scooters, which require an ability to 
> > balance and brave street traffic.
>
> <snip>

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