SlashGear » Segway

GoPet personal electric scooter is extra geeky

Shane McGlaun — Wed, 26 Aug 2009 13:51:25 +0000

Every time I go to the mall, I get a chuckle out of the portly security guard that rides around on his Segway. I am pretty sure they based Paul Blart: Mall Cop on the guy. I will admit that the Segway is pretty cool, even if it is uber geeky.

If you like the thought of the Segway, but don’t want to spend much loot to get one, the new GoPet may be a viable alternative. The company fails to mention a price, but it has to be cheaper than the Segway. The MyPet is powered by a 48V, 350W front hub direct drive motor.

The motor can push the GoPet to a top speed of 16mph and it has a driving range of up to 25 miles on a single charge. The battery can charge fully in 4-6 hours at a cost of about ten cents per charge. A 110V smart charger is included that turns off automatically once the battery is full. The scooter can be optioned with a trailer and a seat as well.

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Segway P.U.M.A. Project

Chris Davies — Tue, 07 Apr 2009 15:02:51 +0000

Segway and GM have partnered to develop the P.U.M.A., a self-balancing individual vehicle in which the two riders have some degree of weather protection. The Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility (P.U.M.A.) Project can travel up to 35mph, run 35 miles from one charge, and uses vehicle-to-vehicle communications to avoid collisions.

Neither firm are saying whether the P.U.M.A. will ever actually hit production, nor naming specific sales figures, but they reckon it’ll cost around one-quarter of a “normal” car. They’re launching it properly today, in advance of the New York Motor Show.

The P.U.M.A. reminds me a little of the BMW C1, though of course while that had two wheels it placed them in a more traditional layout. Like Segway are doing now, BMW billed the C1 as a low-cost, safe alternative to compact cars. Segway are likely hoping not to follow entirely in the German brands footsteps, however; BMW canned the C1 after just two years, having sold less than 13,000.

Press Release:

GM and Segway Join Forces to Reinvent Urban Transportation

NEW YORK – General Motors Corp. and Segway today demonstrated a new type of vehicle that could change the way we move around in cities.

Dubbed Project P.U.M.A. (Personal Urban Mobility and Accessibility), GM and Segway are developing an electrically powered, two-seat prototype vehicle that has only two wheels. It could allow people to travel around cities more quickly, safely, quietly and cleanly – and at a lower total cost. The vehicle also enables design creativity, fashion, fun and social networking.

GM and Segway announced their collaboration, while demonstrating the Project P.U.M.A. prototype in New York City this morning.

“Project P.U.M.A. represents a unique solution to moving about and interacting in cities, where more than half of the world’s people live,” said Larry Burns, GM vice president of research and development, and strategic planning. “Imagine small, nimble electric vehicles that know where other moving objects are and avoid running into them. Now, connect those vehicles in an Internet-like web and you can greatly enhance the ability of people to move through cities, find places to park and connect to their social and business networks.”

Trends indicate that urbanization is growing, and with that comes increased congestion and more competition for parking. Cities around the world are actively looking for solutions to alleviate congestion and pollution. Project P.U.M.A. addresses those concerns. It combines several technologies demonstrated by GM and Segway, including electric drive and batteries; dynamic stabilization (two-wheel balancing); all-electronic acceleration, steering and braking; vehicle-to-vehicle communications; and autonomous driving and parking. Those technologies integrate in Project P.U.M.A. to increase mobility freedom, while also enabling energy efficiency, zero emissions, enhanced safety, seamless connectivity and reduced congestion in cities.

“We are excited to be working together to demonstrate a dramatically different approach to urban mobility,” said Jim Norrod, CEO of Segway Inc. “There’s an emotional connection you get when using Segway products. The Project P.U.M.A. prototype vehicle embodies this through the combination of advanced technologies that Segway and GM bring to the table to complete the connection between the rider, environment, and others.”

Project P.U.M.A. vehicles will also allow designers to create new fashion trends for cars, and to focus on the passion and emotion that people express through their vehicles while creating solutions that anticipate the future needs of urban customers.

The Project P.U.M.A. prototype vehicle integrates a lithium-ion battery, digital smart energy management, two-wheel balancing, dual electric wheel motors, and a dockable user interface that allows off-board connectivity. The result is an advanced and functional concept that demonstrates the capabilities of technology that exists today.

Built to carry two or more passengers, it can travel at speeds up to 35 miles per hour (56 kph), with a range up to 35 miles (56 km) between recharges.

Since the introduction of the Segway Personal Transporter (PT), Segway has established itself as the leader in the small electric vehicle space. Its approach to congestion and environmental challenges is balanced with a strong understanding of the functional needs of its customers, enabling them to do more with less. Segway has delivered more than 60,000 lithium-ion batteries to the market.

GM has been a leader in “connected vehicle” technologies since it introduced OnStar in 1996. Today, this on-board communications package connects six million subscribers in North America to OnStar safety and security services. GM has also pioneered vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communications systems and transponder technology. These and additional connected vehicle technologies could ultimately enable vehicles that don’t crash and drive themselves.

“Imagine moving about cities in a vehicle fashioned to your taste, that’s fun to drive and ride in, that safely takes you where you want to go, and “connects” you to friends and family, while using clean, renewable energy, producing zero vehicle tailpipe emissions, and without the stress of traffic jams,” said Burns. “And imagine doing this for one-fourth to one-third the cost of what you pay to own and operate today’s automobile. This is what Project P.U.M.A. is capable of delivering.”

[via Autoblog]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Cajun Crawler: Segway concept gets legs

Chris Davies — Mon, 16 Mar 2009 12:15:33 +0000

We saw a DIY Segway all the way back in August 2007, but it’s taken a little longer for wheels to evolve into legs. The Cajun Crawler was built by a team at the University of Louisiana, with the platform design of a Segway but moving on legs rather than a pair of self-balancing wheels.

Video demo after the cut

The leg mechanism is based on a kinetic walking sculpture by Theo Jansen, and made from standard 5052 aluminum with deep-groove ball bearings in the joints. There are actually six pairs of legs in total, inching the Cajun Crawler along with riders either standing or sitting on the platform.

Incidentally, the most entertaining part of MWC last month was watching two Segway-riding execs be roundly scolded by on-site security staff, and made to slowly walk their electric-steeds into the building. They were moving quite a bit faster than the Cajun Crawler, though.

[via OhGizmo!]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Segway inventor creates ‘Net Zero Energy’ LED island

Chris Davies — Fri, 05 Dec 2008 11:58:33 +0000

Segway inventor Dean Kamen is turning his three-acre island home, the regrettably-named North Dumpling, into the first “net zero energy” island. With no mainland electricity connection, the entire island uses solar power; Kamen has brought in Philips Color Kinetics to replace all lighting with LEDs. Kamen has also fitted energy efficient appliances and water purification systems, some of which he invented himself.

“With increasing strain on our world’s energy resources, our goal is to make North Dumpling a small but prominent example of what can be achieved on a larger scale with today’s emerging energy-saving technologies. It’s an excellent demonstration of science and engineering as the antidote to the complex challenges of our time” Dean Kamen

Replacing the standard bulbs with LEDs in the various buildings on the island is enough to cut the overall lighting bill by 70-percent. Of course, that doesn’t let you illuminate, among other things, your replica Stonehenge (what, you mean you don’t have one?) with multicolor LEDs; still, even with the extra feature lighting, the bill is still halved.

Kamen has previously attempted to establish North Dumpling as an independent nation state, with a separate flag, constitution and national anthem. Perhaps unsurprisingly, his move has not been legally recognized.

[via designboom]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Self-Balancing DIY Robot: video demo

Chris Davies — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 12:47:15 +0000

Two-wheels good, more-wheels bad. That’s the principle behind this self-balancing DIY robot, which uses similar principles to the Segway to scuttle about the room. The work of Italian programmer Nicola, the robot is based on an Arduino mainboard and gyros, together with a couple of motors capable of feeding back their position.

Video demos of the self-balancing robot after the cut

Basically, the gyros work with accelerometers to monitor whether the robot is moving forward or backward, spinning, tipping forward or falling back. That data is handed over to the Arduino, which also gets input from the motors to figure out the robot’s velocity. All that is crunched together and the robot shuttles its wheels to keep everything upright.

So far its cost around $350 to build, and the results are generally good. Eventually the robot does fall, but it gets in some decent balancing before that happens – Nicola believes that with a couple more weeks of tweaking and testing the settings the consistency rate will improve vastly.

[via Hack N Mod]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

VertiPod taking the Segway to the skies

James Allan Brady — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 21:08:04 +0000

So this VertiPod thing works like a Segway, the only difference being that a Segway doesn’t generally hover 5-15 feet in the air or use fuel. You can even get going a zippy 40 miles per hour in this little thing, I don’t know about you, but having your VertiPod “trip” over something mid air while going 40 seems like a painful possibility to me.

The steering is much the same as a Segway though, lean in whatever direction you want to go, and then its opposite to cease going that direction. The kits, which you have to put together yourself, come with your choice of petrol or ethanol engines.

Those kits will also cost you a hefty ten grand ($10,000) if you want one bad enough. However, for the privilege to “float” to work (as long as there aren’t any roads with a speed limit above 40) I’d say that was a deal, now the only question is how long does a tank of fuel last you?

VertiPod, the “Segway of the Sky” looks dangerous. I want. [via shinyshiny]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

GroundSurf, it’s a skateboard with Segway tech built in

James Allan Brady — Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:21:58 +0000

So it has an electric motor on the front wheel that works like a Segway, lean forward, you go forward, lean back, you slow or stop. The rear truck also sounds pretty complicated with a 3D cinematic (does it have a camera?) rear truck.

Sensors on the board are what control the motor on the front wheel. Kind of boring right? Wrong, wait till you hear what it can do with a mobile phone.

If you have a touch-screen based mobile phone, it can connect to the board and you can control the boards motor with the touchscreen, now if only you could steer it with your mobile phone too. Anyways, it will cost you between $1770 and $2040 when it releases. And the software for the HTC Touch to control it should be out some time next Spring.

Groudsurf: Drive There With Your HTC Cruise, Literally [via unwiredview]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Segway PT i2 Ferrari Limited Edition – $12k for a fancy paint job

Chris Scott Barr — Tue, 23 Oct 2007 18:21:44 +0000

When you think about a Segway, I’m sure that the term “speed demon” doesn’t exactly come to mind. Ferrari, now that’s a name that is synonymous with speed. Oddly enough, these two companies have teamed up to produce the Segway PT i2 Ferrari Limited Edition.

I hope that I’m not the only one that sees the irony in this unlikely alliance. So what exactly is the benefit of purchasing the Ferrari-branded Segway? Well, it bears the classic Ferrari colors and the Ferrari logo. Oh it has leather handlebars too.

You’ll pay a whopping $12,000 for the cool paint job and leather handlebars. Seriously, just whip out the old can of spray paint and wrap the handlebars yourself, you’ll save a ton of cash.

Segway’s Ferrari edition (that’s right) [via crave]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

The DIY Segway – Lighter and cheaper than the real deal

Chris Scott Barr — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 20:28:24 +0000

I’ve always been a little intrigued by the Segway. I’m fairly sure that even if I could afford one, I wouldn’t actually be caught dead riding one, let alone throwing down the cash required for one. If you don’t mind being seen on one and have some spare time and money on your hands, you might just be able to make one yourself.

A group of students from several schools including MIT have created their own DIY Segway. Their initial goals were modest: the device must weigh less than 50lbs (including battery), cost less than $1000, have “lean steering” and be able to be ridden through a door.

Needless to say that they managed (almost) all of their goals. They only went over their total weight limit by 2lbs. When stacked up against an actual Segway, their home-brew unit kept up pace quite well with a top speed of 11mph vs 12.5mph in the newer Segways. Despite going over their weight limit they were still more than 30lbs lighter than the real thing. Now that’s DIY engineering at its finest.

Thanks Dan!

The DIY Segway [via official site]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Segway x2 Golf Edition

Rue Liu — Thu, 09 Nov 2006 17:07:58 +0000

Despite some malfunctions and recalls, the Segway is still moving along and has come back with a new version called the x2 Golf. What better crowd to target with its nice hefty price tag than those who spend their sunny days out on the green. They’ve had previous golf editions, but this one is built on their heavy-duty x2 platform. The x2 Golf is meant as a replacement for the golf cart, with its golf bag carrier attachment placed strategically so the device maintains balance on its low-pressure tires that wont tear up the turf. Pricing and availability have not yet been released.

Segway x2 – Golf Edition [Via: Ohgizmo]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Segway Recalled Over 23000 Units Due to Software Problem

Staff Editor — Fri, 15 Sep 2006 15:37:07 +0000

Over 23000 Segway has recalled in order to fix a software problem that caused the Segway to spontaneously go in reverse when user is trying to go forward. The fix can be easily applied at the dealership where you bought the Segway. So far it’s been reported that six people are injured because of the problem with their Segway. The models affected are the Segway PT i167, i170 and i180 (“i Series”) models, the p133 (“p Series”), XT (“cross-terrain transporter”), GT (“golf transporter”), i2 models, and all e167 (“e Series”) models. This is the 2nd recall for Segway, the first recall was in 2003 where 6000 units was effected.

Injury risk prompts recall of all Segways [via cnet]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Segway i2 and x2 Official Announcement – watch the video!

Vincent Nguyen — Mon, 14 Aug 2006 06:02:49 +0000

It’s official – Segway is introducing the street version known as the i2 and an all-terrain model, the x2. The x2 can travel across dirt, grass, gravel and sand. The price will range from $4,995 for the i2 and $5,495 for the x2. The maximum speed is 12.5 mph, and can go for 24 miles before requiring a charge. The new models will feature a new technology called LeanStear, allowing the vehicle to know whether the rider wants to go left or right! They’ll also come with wireless controller that looks something like a big digital watch. The wireless controller allows the user to turn the vehicle on from a distance. The new models can sense when someone else steps on to help the rider keep track of speed and mileage.

Click through to watch the video of the new Segways in action!

Watch the Segway i2 and x2 in action!

Product Page [Segway]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Rumor of New Segway i2 and x2 Coming Tomorrow

Vincent Nguyen — Sun, 13 Aug 2006 23:39:59 +0000

Engadget is reporting that multiple sources are claiming that Segway is expected to release a brand new version of the self-stabilizing human transporter tomorrow. This is one hell of rumor being that we just informed you of FCC’s blessing of the Segway i2 and x2 a few days back. According to one tipster, Segway reps told him that the new models would be “70% new and very different from the old models.” The image below depicts the rumored i2; sent in by another tipster.

One of our very own reader test ride the new Segway and has this to say about it:

[daveklements] I rode the new segway today and it is so small and compact you could ride it right up to the class room and park it in front. It even had a remote alarm that detaches and snaps onto a bracelet you can wear like a watch, so if someone touches it, it alert you. It was very trick.

Relate: Segway i2 and x2 final announcement and watch the video!

Relevant Entries on SlashGear

Segway i2 and x2 Personal Transporter Gets FCC Approval

Vincent Nguyen — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 15:14:24 +0000

Segway enthusiast will be happy to know that FCC just gave the nod to two new Personal Transporter (PT) systems called the i2 and x2. The Segway PT i2 is designed for indoor and outdoor use. The PT x2 is optimized for outdoor use only, sporting larger and wider tires, knobby treads and wider stance.

Both models are capable of cruising speed of 12.5 mph, running on Lithium-Ion batteries. The PT i2 can go for 16-24 miles on a full charge, while the x2 gets around 12 miles. Pricing isn’t available yet.

Relate: Segway i2 and x2 final announcement and watch the video!

Segway i2 and x2 Video
FCC [via MobileWhack: Segway]

Relevant Entries on SlashGear