Rode a free Segway today!

Everybody's probably heard about the human transporter vehicle that was code-named Ginger or IT that was going to revolutionize human transportation. It's called the Segway, and it was invented by famous inventor Dean Kamen who also invented a vehicle to assist the disabled in maneuvering stairs inside the home, among his more than 150 U.S. and foreign patents.

Now, Segway is available in Ontario as I witnessed today at U of T. There was a free Segway demo and ride at lunch today, which me and my labmates went to. I've always wanted to ride a Segway so today was my chance!

The Segway works with your body's centre of gravity. If you lean forward on the Segway, then you move forward. If you lean more forward, then you go faster forward. If you lean a little back, then you go backwards. You reverse your direction of leaning if you want to stop (so if you're going forward, to stop, you then pull back). So how do you turn? Easy, on the left handlebar is a dial. You just turn this dial up to turn left, and turn the dial down to turn right.

At first, I was questioning the stability of the Segway. But when I got on it, it was extremely stable. For the technical people, it has gyroscopes that assist in the stability. You can read here to know how it works. And it feels very natural and extremely well engineered and designed. There are Segways in many parts of the world and many enthusiasts as seen on their Segway chats. There are some companies that use Segways to help their employees maneuver around in factories. Segways can be used for security, for the disabled and physically challenged.

The Segway that was used at U of T was the I-180 model which is the 8th generation from what the Segway authorized dealer representative told me. There are other models, apparently there is one for golf and one where you can use for grocery shopping and carrying bags. But it's still extremely pricey (the cheapest is $5195.00 Canadian), but much lower than when they first came out.

Here are some pictures of me on the Segway, it was fun. Will I buy one? No, of course not. But it was nice to try and now I can truly say, I've riden a Segway since I am the Gadget Man!!!! Note: All these were taken with my Palm Zire 71 camera, so I apologize if the photos are not that great (but it seems good to me).

The first guinea pig to try the Segway was the U of T parking constable


Here's the second guy who tried the Segway


My labmate, Ben, on the Segway




Now, it's Sina's turn on the Segway



Now, it's my turn!


Hmm, now I am getting the hang of the Segway, it's pretty cool!


A picture of the wheels of the Segway


Alvin scooting down the road on the Segway


Alvin turning the pylons on the Segway


Alvin close up turning on the Segway


Iqbal's turn on the Segway



Now, it's Wei's turn on the Segway



Jing's next




Finally, Jim was the last!