Vietnam Segway

[mario-ramos]

Another clone:
http://english.vietnamnet.vn/tech/2007/06/701662/

[pam]

Moved this because I thought members might like to comment on it.

The first thought that came to my mind was, wonder how much redundancy it has.
Pam

[Tarkus]

Seems like a nice concept. They have a ways to go but you never know.

I can't make a judgement based on the little info in the story but It's good to see people working on other forms of self balancing tech.

Be Big,
Alan

[quade]

Building a self balancing two wheeled device is not rocket science. Seriously a kid with a Lego Mindstorms set should be able to do it.

THAT isn't really what makes the Segway a Segway anyway!

The dificulty is making it so that an average person can use it on a daily basis, not kill himself in the process and not have the company go out of business as a result. This requires a bit more knowledge in materials, design, software redundancy . . .

[Tarkus]

Building a self balancing two wheeled device is not rocket science. Seriously a kid with a Lego Mindstorms set should be able to do it.

THAT isn't really what makes the Segway a Segway anyway!

The dificulty is making it so that an average person can use it on a daily basis, not kill himself in the process and not have the company go out of business as a result. This requires a bit more knowledge in materials, design, software redundancy . . .

and the day will come when all thats in a package that is called something other than Segway.

Thats inevidable.

Be Big,
Alan

[quade]

Thats inevidable.



Maybe . . . (just thinkiing off the top of my head here so don't get too caught up in what I might be about to write).

However, I'm nearly convinced that, no matter how much the world actually needs the Segway, the infrastructure of the planet currently doesn't really support it. The legacy transportation systems are too entrenched right now and actually create obstacles to the acceptance of a new device such as the Segway.

Case in point, AmTrak, which doesn't really allow use by the majority users, or freeways that create a "great wall" that can become nearly impassible except via overpasses, which can be trecherously designed, or underpasses, which, in my opinion are almost always trecherously designed when it comes to anything using them except a 3,000 pound suit of armor otherwise known as a car. As long as these and other obstacles remain, the Segway will continue to have a difficult time as a commuter replacement for a car. Only the truly dedicated individuals will be willing to put up with the costs and infrastucture issues. Heck, even sidewalks in my town are usually somewhat "ornamental" in design and don't really lend themselves to either walking or riding. To me, that's an infrastructure issue.

As long as the Segway remains a niche market, it will be difficult for any competition to start up and actually be successful since Segway Inc. has such a huge head start on so many aspects of the basic design. If Segway Inc. remains a viable company for another, say . . . 10 years . . . and people no longer question the very existance and validity of such a device, then we may start seeing some actual EPAMD competition, but I highly doubt we'll see much before those conditions are met.

So, while space travel is also inevitable, I highly doubt I'm going to see much wide spread space travel in my lifetime. :)

[Tarkus]

No question about it. Until then world is ready there really is no market room for a competitor at the moment.

Now a little "chicken & egg". If there were more of this type of device would the infrastructure change faster ?

Who knows, but for now we glide on the best.

Be big,
Alan

[KSagal]

I agree with these arguments thus far, but wish to point out a couple items...

I believe that I read that China expects to build 50 cities of over 100, 000 people in the next century. I suspect that new infrastructure, especially in Asia, where alternatives to cars is more common, will include provisions for segways and other items...

In many parts of the country, where trolleys and local trains are no longer being used, the tracks are being paved over and used as bike trails or multi-use trails. I suspect this may be the first of the infrastructure changes that will include Segways....

I believe that there were some threads of trails in the suburbs of Atlanta Georga that were restricted to cars, and that golf carts are the common conveyance. Again, ripe to be picked by the Segway user with some legislative capacity...

So while I agree that the entrenched will not easily give up, they are eventually going to be overthrown anyway... eventually...