Author Topic: Whatever Happened To Segway  (Read 2847 times)

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Offline jonovidTopic starter

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Whatever Happened To Segway
« on: June 14, 2023, 12:04:48 pm »
was a time when any two-wheeled self-balancing personal transporter was desirable.
even Boston Dynamics had a two-wheeled self-balancing unit dubbed Handle.
did cheap hoverboards give them an unfavorable reputation? or was the two-wheeled design too inefficient?
compared to robotic walking legs. will electric motorcycles ever become self-balancing parallel wheeled like a Segway.
or is speed a limiting factor. poor braking distance.
Hobbyist with a basic knowledge of electronics
 

Online xrunner

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #1 on: June 14, 2023, 12:10:10 pm »
Whatever happened to them?

Nothing:

https://www.segway.com/
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Online wraper

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #2 on: June 14, 2023, 12:11:30 pm »
It's bulky, slow, expensive and overall not very good. For general public there are electric scooters now which are easier and safer to use, take less space and are much cheaper. For someone who wants something more extreme and self balancing, there are EUC, Onewheel, hoverboards.
« Last Edit: June 14, 2023, 12:41:29 pm by wraper »
 
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Online wraper

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #3 on: June 14, 2023, 12:15:08 pm »
Whatever happened to them?

Nothing:
Company itself remains only in name, it's actually a Chinese Ninebot now. But it's not the question that was asked.
 

Offline Psi

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #4 on: June 14, 2023, 12:18:59 pm »
2 wheel balance robots have their place.
But the goal is a humanoid robot that can replace workers doing all the boring repetitive tasks that current robots just can't do because they require too much hand dexterity and hand eye co-ordination .
« Last Edit: June 14, 2023, 12:39:58 pm by Psi »
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Offline tom66

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #5 on: June 14, 2023, 12:42:02 pm »
They're making e-scooters for a lot of the rental e-scooter companies around here, going by the labels on the devices.  Seems like a good market to be in:  you want a durable, long range product (short range means more frequent trips back to base to charge it) with good anti-theft functions.  That means it won't be total race to the bottom on price.
 

Offline Andy Watson

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #6 on: June 14, 2023, 12:54:12 pm »
Didn't the relatively new owner of the company demonstrate how dangerous they could be by collecting a Darwin award a few years back?
 
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Online CatalinaWOW

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #7 on: June 14, 2023, 01:25:40 pm »
While it was hyped as a solution for all personal transportation, it wasn't.  It wasn't legal in the streets, and wasn't  safe for those who didn't care about the law, so it was limited to routes without steps or curbs were viable.  It cost too much to leave casually by a door when shopping or working.   You couldn't carry large or heavy items.  And it was unpleasant at  best in foul weather.  If it had ever been adopted by a significant portion of the population it would have required dedicated roads just like automobiles (admittedly narrower).  So it combined the bad features of public transportation with those of private transport with few advantages.   

It was a neat idea, but once the WOW factor wore off it just didn't fit anyone's urgent needs, and was so expensive that only a few could buy it for fun.
 
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Offline MK14

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #8 on: June 14, 2023, 02:20:10 pm »
Didn't the relatively new owner of the company demonstrate how dangerous they could be by collecting a Darwin award a few years back?

Here we go:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jimi_Heselden
 
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Offline AndyBeez

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #9 on: June 14, 2023, 02:55:42 pm »
They're all in France. You know when you're in the French speaking world as there's always a tourist, gendarme or suited bureaucrat tottering along on a Segway. Popular too is the lighter 'on pavement' Gyropode. Crash helmets are obligatory, especially if you are six feet tall, are rolling under a low subway, and fail to realise that faible hauteur libre means duck!

 >:( Segways: If it looks wrong, it probably is. Except if you're French.
 
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Offline TimFox

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #10 on: June 14, 2023, 03:48:11 pm »
 
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Offline Bryn

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #11 on: July 02, 2023, 10:01:54 am »
Only ever seen a Segway once in my life, when a shopping centre employee was moving around on one. That was like ten years ago...

Nowadays, at least in the UK, people prefer to look "hip" on those e-scooters...
 

Offline mendip_discovery

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #12 on: July 02, 2023, 10:25:59 am »

I think they fell off a cliff after a PR disaster with the CEO.

Motorcyclist, Nerd, and I work in a Calibration Lab :-)
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Online coppercone2

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #13 on: July 02, 2023, 04:58:48 pm »
sales people use it
 

Offline ebastler

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #14 on: July 02, 2023, 06:22:15 pm »
I think they fell off a cliff after a PR disaster with the CEO.

It was not just a PR desaster -- Jim Heselden,who had taken over Segway a year earlier, literally drove his Segway off a cliff in a 2010 accident.

Not sure whether that triggered Segway's decline. To me it always felt like an over-engineered product, which made its users look a bit dorky. While I don't like the electric scooters either, they seem like a much more pragmatic solution for local transportation. Feels a bit like a repeat of what happened in the PDA market, with the Newton coming early and with an over-engineered and expensive solution, and then Palm taking ocer the market with a pragmatic "good enough" product.
 

Offline mendip_discovery

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #15 on: July 02, 2023, 07:03:40 pm »
I think they fell off a cliff after a PR disaster with the CEO.

It was not just a PR desaster -- Jim Heselden,who had taken over Segway a year earlier, literally drove his Segway off a cliff in a 2010 accident.


Yup, that was my dark sense of humor.

Quote
Not sure whether that triggered Segway's decline. To me it always felt like an over-engineered product, which made its users look a bit dorky. While I don't like the electric scooters either, they seem like a much more pragmatic solution for local transportation. Feels a bit like a repeat of what happened in the PDA market, with the Newton coming early and with an over-engineered and expensive solution, and then Palm taking ocer the market with a pragmatic "good enough" product.

I felt they were a bit of a novelty. They spent well on pr, giving them to the police etc.. It was somthing to do on a holiday trip. If they were new today then I think they would have a lot of success as the mega money investors spend could mean the things being on every street in town as rentals like those scooters.
Motorcyclist, Nerd, and I work in a Calibration Lab :-)
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So everyone is clear, Calibration = Taking Measurement against a known source, Verification = Checking Calibration against Specification, Adjustment = Adjusting the unit to be within specifications.
 

Online wraper

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #16 on: July 02, 2023, 07:24:48 pm »
Segway did cost $5000+, quite an investment for something like that. For that you can get 5 really good electric scooters, 10 decent, or 20-30 entry level. Economically Segways make little sense. Nor they can be used without training, which really hurts ride-sharing.
 

Offline mairo

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #17 on: July 03, 2023, 11:10:19 am »
Someone (Ninebot) bought them and then they closed - a large auction happened around 2020-21. Lots of new segways and ninebots went virtually for free, but the important bits were the quite modern production, compliance and RnD test gear  :P
 

Offline G7PSK

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #18 on: July 03, 2023, 01:56:43 pm »
This company in New Zealand uses Segway base for its wheel chair they even sell a kit to convert the Segway that has put you in a wheel chair. https://omeotechnology.com/
 
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Online SiliconWizard

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #19 on: July 03, 2023, 09:54:14 pm »
This company in New Zealand uses Segway base for its wheel chair they even sell a kit to convert the Segway that has put you in a wheel chair. https://omeotechnology.com/

That's a clever way of recycling what would otherwise end up in the trash. Kudos.
 

Offline james_s

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #20 on: July 03, 2023, 10:20:37 pm »
They were a gimmick right from the start. The self balancing aspect was a neat technological achievement but didn't really solve any actual problem, and they cost thousands of dollars, more than a fairly nice used car at the time. A more conventional scooter or e-bike was more practical and a lot cheaper.
 

Offline Black Phoenix

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #21 on: July 10, 2023, 11:24:08 am »
Someone (Ninebot) bought them and then they closed - a large auction happened around 2020-21. Lots of new segways and ninebots went virtually for free, but the important bits were the quite modern production, compliance and RnD test gear  :P

Ninebot still exists and still sells products in Mainland China, including a small EV powered kart car:





They also have EV Piaggio like motorcycles, who are one of the best ones being sold in the market in terms of build construction and design, without the cut corners that is common in most brands being sold in China, with prices to match that quality (one of the more expensive options).
 

Offline MarkS

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #22 on: July 10, 2023, 07:34:29 pm »
It was an overhyped massive disappointment. The novelty quickly wore off and they were sold to a Chinese company.
 

Offline Black Phoenix

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #23 on: July 11, 2023, 02:25:24 am »
It was an overhyped massive disappointment. The novelty quickly wore off and they were sold to a Chinese company.

Although I had the chance to use one back in 2008, it was a novelty at best. Not a city transport as they wanted, not a small terrain crawler as the TT version they sold.

It's best use was really for shopping centre security patrols and police patrols in city centres
- PSP in Lisbon use them in the tourist part of the city, close to the river and Shenzhen Police also on the Huaqiangbei district, on the electronics supermarkets avenue - or for big warehouses or company headquarters where you have a big area with tons of warehouses and labs and want a fast way to go from point A to B.

But the price of it was the biggest no-no, specially with other transportation methods as the typical bicycle or even by foot.

Basically a solution looking for a problem.
« Last Edit: July 11, 2023, 02:27:22 am by Black Phoenix »
 
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Offline Bud

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Re: Whatever Happened To Segway
« Reply #24 on: July 11, 2023, 03:56:42 am »
I am pretty sure I saw a security guard strolling around on one in a restricted area near the White House.
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