http://news.com.com/Segway+may+go+of...3-5407205.html
found it!

 

when i was in college, a student had one. i think she was just lazy and rich, and didn't want to walk or get a bike. but it was cool. she had a red one

it pretty much can't be knocked over. when it was first made, one of the demonstrations was them throwing a big bag of lead weights at it, and it didn't fall over.

 

how the hell does it work?

 

gyroscopes they measure relative movement, acceleration, etc.

 

and throw some spinners on it.

 

over at the disneyland around here... it's what security uses to get around the park

 

my dad works for oregon dept. of transportation and had a conference at oregon state
they had a few of them at the conference and i got to try it out for a bit
pretty cool, weird at first but after a lap or two its real natural to ride around
standing still was weird, like on a skateboard but it would catch you if you tried to fall over
damn impressive technology though, wish i could actually understand how the hell it works

dad then took me to lunch and a beer ftw

 

It's pretty simple really, using a tilt sensor, it can detect when it's tilting forward or back. It just simply moves in the way it's falling and the speed is adjusted for how much it's falling in that direction.

Same thing if you try to balance a bottle of soda on your forehead, or something. You and see and feel which way it's going to fall and compensate to keep it vertical.

 

I used to live in Bedford. Dean Camen's house is :eek5:

I've ridden one, my friends dad knows Dean. Things are weird, but cool. But definately not worth $3,000.