I got to ride the Segway

It just got FDA approval Thursday/Friday

Gunner

But WTF good is that when it isn't food and it isn't a drug!? :^)

Tim

-- In the immortal words of Ned Flanders: "No foot longs!" Website @

Dean Kamen certainly does not come on like a crass or greedy capitalist. And he has a right to survive and prosper. I'm thinking that the technology and manufacturing costs of that chair might justify it's price.

In the 60 minutes spread they had a guy (with 20-odd years in wheel chairs because he lost the use of his legs) and trained him to use the new chair. His disbelief at what he found he could do in it and the joy it brought to him was very heartwarming.

And when he stood it on the back two wheels and had the mobility and movement to play catch with his son it was simply beyond words. This is a machine that will make a major improvement in the quality of life for people who can use it.

How does it avoid woodpeckering if you try to carry on accellerating once it's at top speed?

It depends.

I have not yet had the opportunity to take a segway apart, so I can't really comment. (donation of segways greatly appreciated) It may well be that it's possible to do it in an utterly safe way relatively easily. It might be that it would require replacing all the programmable logic on board, and writing new programming.

Maybe on this one, you can chew the tires.

And thus, you get tired from all that eating... ;)

Tim

-- In the immortal words of Ned Flanders: "No foot longs!" Website @

This is exactly why I wouldn't ride a Segway that had been reprogrammed. The answer to this question is not obvious; the Segway "tells" you when you are approaching top speed and prevents you from increasing your speed beyond that point. It changes its riding attitude to a more stick-upright position, pressing the handlebars into your belly. You can't lean it farther forward. The Segway NEEDS that extra margin of speed to bring its contact patch back under your center of gravity. Just as you will fall on your face if you step off a vehicle moving faster than you can move your feet, the Segway would risk a forward spill if it ran all the way up to its maximum speed.

Let me know when you have spent $90,000,000 and several years testing your theory of how to program a Segway; I might consider riding it. I do know now that riding it as directed, and even pushing the envelope slightly, makes me feel that the Segway, as programmed by Kamen and Co., operates safely and has displayed no nasty surprising behavior to me or any of my guest riders.

-- --Pete "Peter W. Meek"

The FDA also regulates medical devices. To get insurance companies, or Medicare, to pay for it, a wheelchair has to have FDA approval as a medical device. Of course getting this approval runs the price up dramatically, so most people can't afford it without insurance or the government paying for it. Catch 22.

Gary

Years ago I saw a cauterizing tool. It had two differences from a standard Weller soldering gun that you can buy for a few bucks. One was that the case was white instead of brown. The other was that the price was two orders of magnitude higher.

Ted