Dean Kamen's Ginger: What's the deal?

Why will it revolutionize short trip transportation? Why is it so different from a conventional motorized scooter? If it only goes 17 miles an hour, then how will it compete with psycho car drivers? Anybody got a picture of it?

From what I read so far, the difference is that the IT/Ginger/Segway is self-balancing and has a very intuitive control. This means anyone can ride the Segway safely without any training, even people who never learned to ride a bike. Also, normal two-wheeled vehicles take a certain amount of concentration to ride. You’ve probably gotten used to it, but ride a recumbent tricycle some time and you’ll see how much more relaxing it is. Presumably the Segway is also easier and more relaxing to ride than scooters or bikes.

17mph is a respectable speed and very practical in a city. My average speed on a bike or trike is about 12mph and it’s sufficient for commuting and shopping. Under typical road conditions (moderate to heavy traffic) I find it’s only about 20% slower than driving. Riding at 17mph on the road isn’t very dangerous if you ride predictably, following all traffic rules - I do it every single day. Of course there is some danger, but driving a car has its dangers as well.

The interesting thing to me is that the Segway looks small enough to take onto commuter trains. If they let us do that, the two forms of transport complement each other very well - just use the Segway to and from the train station.

as someone whi cant ride a bike due to physical problems this sounds like its heaven sent … anywhere i can get info on it ?

Wait wait wait, hold the phone pal. I was under the impression that he was not revealing it for about another 4 hours and that any information on it was purely specualtion. Where are you getting these “facts”?

nightshadea, the links were posted in another thread. Here they are again:

http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,186660,00.html
http://www.drudgereport.com/

It’s still a couple of years before it becomes available to consumers. If you have problems with your balance or your legs, have you considered handcycles or recumbent tricycles? I don’t have any disabilities but ride a trike just for fun.