[newbie1234]

What do people think of this as means of transportation?

http://www.segway.com/

Since I can't ride a bike due to chronic arthritis...I would consider one of these as a viable alternative to getting around.

Perhaps we can avoid a major crisis if everyone switches to a segway, bicycle, and taking the bus, subway or train?

[bruin]

It's a POS. $5k. What a joke.

It's not street legal, and it's not sidewalk legal.

[newbie1234]

ok, what do people think of Dean kamen's other invention featured on 60 minutes?

The machine that makes dirty water clean?

see link: http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2002/11/ ... 9070.shtml

[tdrive]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'T')he machine that makes dirty water clean?

[newbie1234]

Does anyone have anything worthwhile to contribute to how these inventions will effect upcoming energy solutions?

[tdrive]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('newbie1234', 'D')oes anyone have anything worthwhile to contribute to how these inventions will effect upcoming energy solutions?

[JR]

They use Segways in the Disneyland theme parks. We were there in January and the management staff use them to get around the park faster. They are really cool to watch.

Didn't know till after we left that they offered a tour where you can learn how to use one.

Not sure how they work, etc. or how they would help PO. But, I'd sure like to ride one.



JR

[boilingleadbath]

Ok, the segway is energy expensive to make, but maybe not as much as a car or motorbike. On the other hand, those are more usefull. The segway has low ground clearence, so it doesn't do great on deteriating roads.
It also uses miniscule amounts of energy to charge.

The water distiler is on significantly more shaky ground.
Mainly because it has the stirling engien, thus making it expensive, and as such will be hard to get the poor nations people to buy them. (or aid groups)
Not to mention that distiling water takes large amounts of energy - and fuel is getting rarer (including wood) in those poor countries.

[newbie1234]

"Not to mention that distiling water takes large amounts of energy - and fuel is getting rarer (including wood) in those poor countries."

My understanding though was that this a low energy water distiller. (I may be wrong though...)

[mgibbons19]

I think the segway is a great invention with tons of potential. I think their range is up to 10 miles or so, so they would be useful for commuting for lots of ppl who live too far to walk. They cannot replace cars since they are single passenger, low cargo vehicles. But, since most car trips are with one person anyway, such a thing could replace those trips. And since most of the families I know have a family car and a commuter, this would fit right in with the commuter.

The commuter is a used old wreck, probably worth 5k. So the Segway fits right in pricewise. They don't replace the station wagon, but they do supplement it. And given the hidden costs of driving, using a product such as the segway could really save the average family a lot of money.

Now, will it be embraced? Will the necessary legal and infrastructural hurdles be passed for these to be useful on a large scale? That's the real question. They have potential, they can help individual families, but to be truly useful, we need to see some specific developments. Incidentally this is all true of public transit too.

[Antimatter]

Segway's are a novelty more than anything else, there are far more practicle alternatives. Even a cheap $200 Chinese electric scooter can travel as far and as fast as a $5000 Segway. You can get lots of electric scooters and bikes of various quality - check ebay.

[jesus_of_suburbia_old]

I would just like to add that anyone wearing a helmet while riding their Segway deserves a serious beat-down.

[pup55]

I have seen these in various places.

In your case, where you have trouble getting around, I can see it would be useful.

However, there are a few issues in my case: I am up here in suburbia, and go 14 miles through heavy traffic to work. This is about 75% of my fuel consumption. There is no sidewalk for approximately 50% of the route, so impractical for me.

It's about 30 miles down to the central city. No way to make it down there, even if I wanted to, which I don't.

Now, it could be useful to travel the 1 mile up to the grocery store. However, haulage space on these things has got to be limited to approximately a backpack full.

In the Kunstleresque world of small towns and localized communities, where everyone can work and/or get most of services they need within a range of a mile or so, these could be wonderful. But, in suburbia, it does not address the root cause, which is things are too spread out.

There is another issue: I have never seen a female on one. The soccer moms probably burn 40% of the gas in suburbia hauling their kids around and going to wherever they go during the day. The can of worms here is that in Kunstlerworld, the kids are free to get wherever they want on their own, like we did in the early 60's. We are currently not set up for that.

(I must tell you a parenthetical story, this is another true story: No one out here in Suburbia would think of letting their kids (and I am talking 14 and 15 year olds) ride a bike to the movies, which for me is about 3 miles away, 100% sidewalked. It's considered too dangerous. They continue to drive them up until the time they are old enough to use the car themselves. Not only that but the herd instinct is so strong out here that some of these kids would be literally embarassed to appear at the movies in any other way than their mom dropping them off. The local shopping malls do not even allow bikes on their property.)

So, unless things change out here, the amount of fuel saved by these things will be zero.

[oowolf]

A clever invention that accomplishes nothing. Something George Jetson might have owned. What the hell is wrong with walking?

The illusion of progress: 40 years ago in a small Montana town, the post office and the grocery store were in adjacent buildings. It took a person about 5 to 10 seconds to walk from one building to the other. Today, the post office and grocery store are 2 1/4 miles apart. It takes at least 5 minutes to DRIVE a 3000 pound ICE powered vehicle from one to the other. Human beings do this all day, every day, and apparently don't see anything ludicrous or harmful in such a BIZARRE mode of existence.

Its a wonder I haven't OD'ed on sarcasm.

[Ryan]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('oowolf', 'A') clever invention that accomplishes nothing. Something George Jetson might have owned. What the hell is wrong with walking?

The illusion of progress: 40 years ago in a small Montana town, the post office and the grocery store were in adjacent buildings. It took a person about 5 to 10 seconds to walk from one building to the other. Today, the post office and grocery store are 2 1/4 miles apart. It takes at least 5 minutes to DRIVE a 3000 pound ICE powered vehicle from one to the other. Human beings do this all day, every day, and apparently don't see anything ludicrous or harmful in such a BIZARRE mode of existence.

Its a wonder I haven't OD'ed on sarcasm.

[Claudia]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'S')ince I can't ride a bike due to chronic arthritis...I would consider one of these as a viable alternative to getting around.

[I_Like_Plants]

At the last Robo-Nexus, a robot show, I saw a guy on a Segway. I thought that was pretty cool, although I had this urge to give him a shove, to see if he could balance and recover. It's probably a good thing I didn't do that though, the guy probably would have kicked my ass - it was Dean Kaman.

[smallpoxgirl]

Thought you guys would get a kick out of this picture: