cstull
03-16-2003, 02:08 AM
I figured I was ready to show this baby of mine off to the masses. I took it to a car show that is held every Saturday in the parking lot of a large shopping center here in Scottsdale. It's a casual affair, no charge to get in, but it is well organized with a dj playing music and the cars sorted by genre.
I parked my car in one slot and the HT in the adjoining slot in the "Speciality car" section. Everyone who saw the Segway loved it. I showed it off and gave demos for just under six hours. I am exhausted! I answered the famous five questions about 100 times. I only had one annoying braniac who claimed that HT's were outlawed in every state and we'd all be fat if we had them (I aced him on both comments so he shut up and left.)
I did get some new questions... "Did you build that yourself?" "Are you the inventor? I didn't think so cause I saw him on TV and you don't look like him."
Two people asked if there was a way to tell the HT to not move when standing still. I explained that the slight movement is because of my movements. At first I thought this would be difficult/impossible to do what they asked, but the more I think about it, it probably would be possible. If you think of the movements of the HT being necessary to keep the CG correct, it seems illogical for it to handle a "stand-still" mode. But if you think about how it pushes the handle back when you max out on speed, and apply that to standing still, it might be able to be programmed to "force" you to stand centered and therefore not move at all when standing still.
Well bottom line, it is a lot of fun sharing the HT with large crowds of friendly people. Anyone who doesn't think using a Segway burns some calories should try riding one for 6 hours. By the way, I still had 40% battery left. I was mostly going slow speed and doing lots of tight turns in an area of 50x50 feet. I am so graceful now I feel like an olympic ice skater.
Craig
I parked my car in one slot and the HT in the adjoining slot in the "Speciality car" section. Everyone who saw the Segway loved it. I showed it off and gave demos for just under six hours. I am exhausted! I answered the famous five questions about 100 times. I only had one annoying braniac who claimed that HT's were outlawed in every state and we'd all be fat if we had them (I aced him on both comments so he shut up and left.)
I did get some new questions... "Did you build that yourself?" "Are you the inventor? I didn't think so cause I saw him on TV and you don't look like him."
Two people asked if there was a way to tell the HT to not move when standing still. I explained that the slight movement is because of my movements. At first I thought this would be difficult/impossible to do what they asked, but the more I think about it, it probably would be possible. If you think of the movements of the HT being necessary to keep the CG correct, it seems illogical for it to handle a "stand-still" mode. But if you think about how it pushes the handle back when you max out on speed, and apply that to standing still, it might be able to be programmed to "force" you to stand centered and therefore not move at all when standing still.
Well bottom line, it is a lot of fun sharing the HT with large crowds of friendly people. Anyone who doesn't think using a Segway burns some calories should try riding one for 6 hours. By the way, I still had 40% battery left. I was mostly going slow speed and doing lots of tight turns in an area of 50x50 feet. I am so graceful now I feel like an olympic ice skater.
Craig