Well, it has been a while since this thing was announced to the world…to judge from the blather, it was supposed to be the best thing since sliced bread! Well, nobody seems to buying these things…except for overweight cops who need a boost to the doughnut shop! The whole premise of the thing seems slightly screwy…who needs something so expensive, that really substitute for your own (free!) ability to walk?
Anyway, I’ve heard thta the inventor (Dean Kamen) blew a fortune on developing this…and he also bought and equipped a factory to mass-produce them…will this product go?
Or, is it doomed to join such flops as dehydrated pizza, paper underwear,jellied deorderant, and the hula hoop? :eek:
The U.S. Postal service bought a bunch, but the Segway plant is running at about half capacity (full capacity = 40k a month).
Segway isn’t releasing figures yet.
The word is SEGWAY and I believe these things always take a while to catch on. From what I’ve heard, the worth is all in the numerous patents covering the various parts, especially the “balancing” feedback (which uses gyroscopes??).
And so, the next thing which uses the same technology but might not even look like the scooter embodiment is the real success.
I don’t think they will catch on in the US due to the utter supremacy of car-oriented town planning. Europe might be a better bet but, hey, why not ride a bike?
I think you’ll see more of them as the price falls. Assuming (as I do) that the price will fall.
The City of Atlanta has purchased a number of them, and you see them downtown. Don’t see any private citizens on one though. (Again, because of the price I think.) I would buy one myself if they were reasonable. On nice days (of which there are plenty here), it would provide me with a pleasant and cheap way to commute to work. It would be handy for running errands downtown during the day, too.
Aren’t they used in Paris for guided tours of the city? I thought that was a pretty neat idea.
PepBoys has a look-alike except it’s far from a WORK-alike, using the two big wheels in front and two smaller drive and steering wheels hidden below. It avoids the patent issues by not having the gyroscopic stabilization but it also looks suicidal to drive because it doesn’t have the gyroscopic stabilization and teeters on a four points about a foot apart. OTOH, it’s selling for less than a grand so you can bust your nose for less.
They recently had a recall because a few people got injured falling off when the batteries ran out. As a result of the recall it was revealed that they have only sold around 6,000 units. Not very many at all. It has been referred to as a menace, the SUV of the sidewalks, and seeing one in action tends to inspire more laughter than “Oh, cool!” type statements (in my experience). A pretty rotten start for sure, but hope springs eternal. . .
The Pentagon thinks that the Segway People Mover’s would make a perfect base for robotic soldiers. They claim it’s to carry gear, do recon work, and for mine/bomb/toxic materials related tasks which are too dangerous for humans. But it’s not a big stretch to imagine them mounting a couple of guns and missiles on the thing as well (like they did with the Predator drones). Maybe even lasers. It’s kind of funny that the inventor thought they would change the world by helping people to move around. In reality they may change the world by helping us to kill each other better. This guy may be responsible for the first Terminator. Although, the idea of being able to fight on the ground with a 0% chance of human casualties, thusly keeping our troops safe, sounds appealing.
In addition, the kids over at MIT intend to use the SPM as the base for a 3-armed robot. Their project is a little less sinister, aspiring to create robots that can help everyday humans with a wide array of tasks.
So, is it a flop? The answers are: Yes, No, Maybe, and Maybe Not.
DaLovin’ Dj
Do you all remember the footage of Our Fearless Leader trying to ride one and managing to crash, pitching himself into some eponymous vegatation in a most foolish and ungainly fashion?
Anyway, yeah I’d say the stupid things are the second most embarrassing flop of the new millennium.
They’ve also started an acting career. You can frequently see one on the Ron Howard created TV Show “Arrested Development”. Every time they show the guy on one it inspires a laugh. It is used for comedic effect quite, well, effectively. The things are pretty laughable now, but when you end up staring one down while it is pointing a machine gun at you, and then realize that the last thing you’ll ever see is a souped up version of a marketing flop that you used to make fun of, you might not think it’s so funny. When the robot overlords take over, it won’t be because we enslaved them, it will be because we made fun of them . . .
DaLovin’ Dj
As I recall, Bush (or was is Bush Sr.) tried to get on one but forgot to turn it on. Personally, I’ve never seen one in the flesh. But why spend a fortune just to get less of what is good for you, namely exercise?
I think the Segway is in a Catch-22 situation; its inventor predicted it would cause cities to be designed in a new way, but I think that would have to happen first before the Segway would really catch on. That is, it just doesn’t fit neatly into the existing traffic infrastructure (at least in a city like Atlanta). It’s too slow for car lanes, but would be a danger to pedestrians on the sidewalk. On the other hand, the nearby town of Peachtree City has far less auto traffic, and in fact most of the inhabitants get around on golf carts. A Segway might work fine there.
Note: the Hula Hoop can hardly be called a “flop”. It’s been in continuous production since 1958, with hundreds of millions sold. It had a peak of popularity and then faded, with occasional resurgences, just like yo-yos, Slinkies, pogo sticks, Silly Putty – just about any well-known toy.
Note further: a machine with enhanced performance is suped up, not “souped up”. I believe it derives from “supercharged”. Soup is not involved, unless the mechanic happens to be having some for lunch.
I’ve never heard of that before. And Google returns 8 times as many hits for “souped up” as for “suped up”, so I doubt I’m alone.
The Segway is impressive, if impractical right now. I’m still much more impressed by the wheelchair from the same inventor which uses the gyroscope technology.
In this powered wheelchair, the handicapped user can negotiate uneven terrain, sand/gravel, curbs, even stairs. It has the ability to raise iteself up on on pair of wheels, allowing the user to reach high shelves and cabinets. Unfortunately, last I checked, they were going for about $20,000 - about as much as a car (or several Segways). But when I win the lottery, I’m going to get one for my sister-in-law who has MS.
Sorry for the sequential posts, but here is a better link: IBOT.
Personally I find these a lot more exciting the the Segways.
I’d say it’s been a flop thus far. Basically, the segway is a solution looking for a problem. Very impressive technology, but not of particular use for the common man.
Sometimes this model works, such as with lasers. When lasers were invented, it was a scientific curiosity, but the technology found a multitude of uses over the years. Perhaps we will find great stuff 10-50 years down the road that uses segway technology.
I’m gonna have to disagree. So does the Cambridge Dictionary, which returns an entry for souped-up, but but gives nothing for suped-up. Care to explain what you based this on? It seems untrue as far as common usage, but as always, one is free to invent new words at will. Did you just make this up, or was this something you have a cite for?
DaLovin’ Dj
Just to add a thought: I would guess that the term “souped-up” derives from the fact that you use an array of different things together to make something (soup) that is better than any of its individual parts alone. Pure speculation on my part, however. Maybe the origin of the phrase would be a good one for GQ. . .
DaLovin’ Dj
My dictionary says it’s “souped up,” and that the etymology has to do with injecting drugs (“soup”) into racehorses.
As for the Segway, I have yet to see anyone ride one except on TV. I’ve seen quite a few electric scooters, though. I guess that the motorized wheels are worth the $150 the scooters cost, but the balancing stuff doesn’t quite justify the additional $4,350 if you already have a sense of balance.
That said, I think the techology is going to be huge before too long, although I doubt the Segway itself will make it.
A little searching on the origins of the phrase led me to a quote from this page:
Now, this information is taken from GasPumpClassics.com, so their expertise in etymology may be questionable. Either way, it seems to be to derived from slang for racing related concoctions (soup) that make things go faster; be they horses or cars.
DaLovin’ Dj
Employees of Disney World use them to scoot about. But they were banned by city ordnance in Key West, FL.
No, of course I didn’t make it up. I’m sorry if the Cambridge Dictionary’s entry is incomplete; it should include both spellings. And now I must eat crow to the extent of admitting that “souped-up” seems to be at least as commonly used as “suped-up”, and probably more so. Upon a little further digging, I find that there’s an amusing ambiguity regarding the origin of the phrase; it may relate to previous slang uses of “soup”, and may equally well relate to “supercharging” or simply the prefix “super-”. The English language never ceases to be entertaining.
Back to the OP – has anybody here actually ridden one of these things?