Archive for: segway
- November 12, 2010 7:13 pm
In life there are mods, and then there are mods. This tweaked Segway with significantly larger wheels plays on basic physics push to the device’s top speed up to 25mph. That doesn’t sound like a lot to a society used to 70mph+. But when you’re on a top-heavy, two-wheeled machine that uses nothing more than a few gyroscopes and electric motors to keep you from faceplanting into the pavement, it’s considerably more dangerous.
You know you want to hop inside and check it out…
- September 27, 2010 8:36 am
Sad news to report: Jimi Heselden, chief of Hesco Bastion, a UK-based company that owns the Segway brand, was found dead Sunday. Apparently, Jimi was out surveying his property in North Yorkshire and somehow managed to navigate his Segway over a nearby cliff.
So far, the Segway has failed to reach any type of mass acceptance. Nevertheless, countless organizations and companies as well as local municipalities have found ways to utilize the futuristic and unique transportation device. In my neck of the woods, mall security love these things.
Thoughts, prayers, and condolences to the family.
- September 14, 2010 8:05 am
The Segway is one of the coolest gadgets that failed. Instead of transforming the way in which civilians traverse their great cities, the Segway has become nothing more than a mall cop tool, shuttling them from point A to point B in an ultra non-cool fashion. (Their’s just something about mall cops, their helmets, and the overall look that just doesn’t work…) Add in the fact that you have plenty of heath activists pissing and moaning about personal transport vehicles like the Segway, and how they will cause fat America to only get fatter. So what do you do?
First, remove the mall cop. Second, add a treadmill. Yeah, it’s kind of stupid to have a personal transport vehicle that still requires you to propel your own motion. The way I see it is you either walk if you’re that worried about your figure or ride if you’re not. Of course, old people who want to fly down the road and shed their inhibitions while “walking” 0.5 MPH could really get something out of this…
I’ve always had a soft spot in my heart for the Segway. While the basic design is many years old now, I still find myself wanting one more than ever, despite the fact I can’t afford the $5,000+ pricetag. But even in my *almost* blind nerdy love, I can still easily see the Segway’s faults. Most obvious to the average eye is the Segway’s size and weight. It’s huge! That’s where the Ewee-pt strikes a new chord.
Designed and built in Germany, the Ewee-pt plays off the Segway’s basic concept, but gives it a much needed diet. First and foremost, the Ewee-pt is half the width and half the weight of a Segway. Along that same note, the unit is much lower to the ground, holding the riders a solid foot lower in height. Coupled with re-worked controls, the Ewee-pt is all around much easier to ride on and maneuver once finished.
But nothing is more telling or enticing than the price. While the Segway still easily sails north of $5k, the Ewee-pt can be had for €799 ($1050) — a quarter of the Segway. So it’s smaller, lighter, easier to use, and cheaper. Segway…you’re in trouble.
If you want to see the Ewee-pt taken for a spin, hop on in…
The Segway may have never hit that hallowed status of “the” human transporter, but it still lives on nonetheless. But where the Segway failed or simply didn’t meet the standards, perhaps the “Treadway Wearable Mobility” can succeed.
The “Treadway” is the brainchild of the Dyson Award contest in which aspiring minds from all over the world are free to submit their futuristic designs. The Treadway, as you see above, definitely contains intriguing and rather resourceful qualities, as it makes use of pretty much any shoe you currently own.
As with all geeky things, a video simply explains things so much better. So jump on in…
Think the world isn’t already fat enough, needing yet another way to effortlessly move about this planet we call blue marble? Well then, feast your eyes on the Segseat. Actually, it’s a Honda prototype by the name of “U3-X”. Either way, it’s another solution to a problem we don’t have — people getting too much exercise and needing a rest.
Bah, I still want three. Humor me and watch the video after you catch your breath…
Remember the Segway? It was supposed to be “the” gadget of the modern digital age. The creators voiced their personal accounts of the future in which each man, woman, and child would one day ride Segways everywhere. Well, that future just hasn’t materialized yet. Far from it in fact. You could say the Segway was an epic failure. I instead choose to see it as ahead of it’s time. Sad, but true.
Nevertheless, one companies failure is another companies success — or so Taurus would like us to believe. Hoping we’ve forgotten the pretty useless (for the masses anyway) traits of the Segway, Taurus is eying to wow us with their “Taurus Concept Vehicle”. Now, I’m a geek, so I think this is pretty sweet. Bring common sense and reality into the picture however, and all that “coolness” suddenly wears off.
In a day and age where the Segway failed, if this concept vehicle follows anywhere closely behind, failure is a sure bet as well. For us nerds, we can at least gaze on over these concept images and imagine what the world will be like decades from now, because that’s as close as the Taurus Concept Vehicle will ever come to us.
Anyone feeling a little gloomy that the human race is seemingly crawling along when technology is concerned?
Dvice > OhGizmo > Jalopnik > Taurus
- November 13, 2009 2:25 pm
Living in big cities with big malls or even small cities that somehow manage to build gargantuan malls, hours upon hours can be spent navigating the various corridors, window shopping, actual shopping, and just having a fun time. If you’re like me, you live in a small town with a “mall” — more or less a collection of stores. Regardless of the malls size or paycheck, they somehow manage to fix up the infamous mall cop battalion with Segways. In the case of my mall, I’m sure they raised rent, slashed pay, and sold all employees’ first born in order to afford such a high tech gadget. But I digress…
Whether you find the Segway to big, expensive, or simply don’t like it, you now have a second more economical and smaller option in the “Cool Rider”. The Cool Rider is sort of like a Segway Trike/Segway with a big training wheel on the front. Hell, it’s Friday let’s keep going — you could call it a disproportionate chopper if you wanted. Tiny wheels in back and a monstrous tire up front. Had your fun…? Ok. Moving on for real…
The Cool Rider like the Segway tops out at 12mph. It doesn’t seem like much in text but inches from the ground and riding on a platform that resembles a thin plate means it will seem much faster in real life. One other high point for the Cool Rider is the price. While the Segway still goes for several thousands of dollars, you can pick up a Cool Rider for a cool not warm $1250 — a steal where Segways are concerned. If you reallly want to be daring you can eschew the platform all together and provide your own wheels, using the Cool Rider’s big wheel up front up to the task of lugging your carcass around.
So whataya say? Give the kids a big Thanksgiving meal or get yourself a Cool Rider in time for Christmas to cruise around the mall and pick up chicks? Oh decisions decisions…
Dvice > 7 Gadgets > Opulent Items
Segways were and to many still are a beacon of futuristic tech. While the general public who aren’t quit as geeky as you or may still see Segway’s as brand spankin’ new futuristic technology, we both know that it is time to move on to something bigger and better. Advancement often comes quick in the gadget world. So where do you go after the Segway? The Electric eniCycle…that’s where. Rip a wheel off of a Segway and get ready for a whole new way to ride on a wheel. Consisting of a simple wheel attached to a seat all nicely balanced by a self-balancing gyroscope system, the eniCycle will certainly enable you to stand out from the rest of the crowd the next time you go wheeling around in public. While it looks like it would be hard to ride and take a great deal of practice to master let alone wobble a few feet, Aleksander Polutnik, the Slovenian inventor claims that anyone can become masters of the eniCycle within 30 minutes — no small claim by any means. Though, until I have a ride for myself I find it slightly hard to believe. Pricing information is as of right now, a tad elusive though expect to pay for the latest in self-balancing, people moving technology. A video of the eniCycle in action is right inside.
