FC: IT revealed: Dean Kamen shows off mystery transportion device

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

http://www.nytimes.com/2001/12/03/technology/03THIN.html
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.

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660-1,00.html
This week the guessing game comes to an end as Kamen unveils his baby under 
its official name: Segway. Given the buildup, some are bound to be 
disappointed. ("It won't beam you to Mars or turn lead into gold," shrugs 
Kamen. "So sue me.") But there is no denying that the Segway is an 
engineering marvel. Developed at a cost of more than $100 million, 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.




-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- Declan McCullagh's politics and technology mailing list
You may redistribute this message freely if you include this notice.
Declan McCullagh's photographs are at http://www.mccullagh.org/
To subscribe to Politech: http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------