First of all, the user should stand on a flat plate supported by two wheels with both feet and hold the handle similar to a bicycle. Then learn how to move the scooter back and forth and turn the handle to turn the direction. The car is equipped with two wheels, which are controlled by gyroscopes, and the width does not exceed the shoulder width of ordinary adults. It weighs 80 pounds and is powered by batteries. Cars don't need brakes or throttle levers when they are running. The locomotive will stop when the driver leans forward. Segway SUV adopts the principle of dynamic balance. When the body moves, the center of gravity in the movement will change constantly to achieve balance. Segway replaced the function of feet with wheels, and copied the high-precision balancing action of human beings. Quiet and easy to move. Its power source is two sets of Ni-MH rechargeable batteries or rechargeable lithium batteries, and it is equipped with an electronic charging system. When fully charged, the average cruising range exceeds 8 kilometers. It originated from Dean Carmen's DEKA and Johnson &; -iBOT is a self-balancing power wheelchair developed by Johnson's subsidiary Independent Technology Company. People realize that human beings can walk upright smoothly because the sensitive balance organs in the body can accurately judge the change of the body's center of gravity, and then use the muscles of the legs to balance the dumping situation through the immediate reaction of the cerebellum. Therefore, when the human body leans forward, this involuntary reaction will prompt the human body to stretch out a foot and step forward to balance the body. Therefore, through this movement cycle of leaning forward, stepping forward, stepping forward and stepping forward, it constitutes a "walking" action. So Carmen tried to replace human vestibule, cochlea and other balancing organs with sophisticated gyroscopes, and replaced human feet with motors and wheels, and developed the so-called "dynamic stability" concept. Jiao Sheng obtained the patent right of this technology for commercial sales in the medical field, and established independent technology to sell iBOT.
In February of 20001year, the new R&D and manufacturing plant broke ground in Bedford, New Hampshire, USA. In June of 20001year, the company name was changed to Segway Co., Ltd., but few people knew the details.
June 65438+10/October 65438+June 2003, Keolis, a French private transportation company, signed an agreement with Segway to make a plan to use Segway as a public transport in France. In addition to setting up Segway rental service points in railway stations and airports all over France, it also includes an innovative plan called "Station Oxygene", which is expected to set up a rental network of Segway convenience cars and other zero-pollution vehicles in major cities all over France, so that passengers can rent cars from one place to another and rent suitable vehicles only at time pricing, which will also reduce air pollution caused by urban personnel transportation. The company's plan was realized in mid-2003, and Dijon's city sightseeing office was its first customer. It began to provide Segway cars for local tourists as a tool for city sightseeing. In addition, you can rent a Segway car as an alternative to walking in the pedestrian areas such as the Champs Elysé es and La Dé fense in Paris.
In 2003, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) affiliated to the US Department of Defense signed a contract with Segway to convert 15 Segway convenience vehicles into robot mobile platforms (RMP), so that relevant research institutions can serve as stable and low-cost platforms for robot system development. SPAWAR, located in San Diego, California, also purchased 14 RMP and distributed it to various government and university research units as a platform for robot research projects, which is a derivative case of Segway's practical application in military and technological development. Segway reached an agreement with Brookstone, a large American household goods distributor, to become Segway's first nationwide physical sales network, hoping to save Segway's promotion position in the initial stage of listing, which was limited to online mail-order virtual sales. (Segway originally expected the sales of new cars to reach 500,000 to 654,380+10,000 in the first year after listing, but the result was 266,000.
In 2004, Segway announced a four-wheel concept car named "Segway Concept Centaur", which was the first four-wheel Segway car. The motorcade named "America at a speed of 10 miles per hour" composed of enthusiasts completed the attempt to ride Segway from Seattle to Boston and cross the American continent.
On March 1 day, 2005, Segway released three new derivative models, including off-road version (XT) and golf transport vehicle (GT).
Although long before Segway's random car went on the market, both industry, academia and financial investment circles had high hopes for it, thinking that it was an epoch-making great idea and could change the mode of human transportation, in fact, after several years of actual observation, people found that Segway did not attract consumers' attention as expected. In fact, it is still difficult to balance the initial R&D investment.
Segway's journey has come again, that is, a new product like Segway has never existed in the past road regulations, and different regions have different understandings of which level of transportation should be classified. In the United States, Segway was originally classified as a low-output power vehicle for power bicycles. To this end, Segway Company has made great efforts to lobby the competent departments of American states and even countries around the world, and finally succeeded in extending Segway's driving range to the original expectation, but it also delayed the promotion of new product concepts.
However, contrary to the situation in the United States, in some areas, such as Taiwan Province Province, whether a motor vehicle can drive on the road depends on whether it has a license plate or not. Segway can't legally drive on the road because it doesn't belong to any kind of power vehicle. In July 2005, a new vehicle classification system was implemented, including all electric scooters with small light locomotives. But will Segway, who can drive in the driveway after obtaining a license, lose the qualification to drive on the sidewalk? This may be one of the biggest problems in promoting new modes of transportation.