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Segway by Honda

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I see this and I think about the fat people in Wall-E.

What's wrong with using your legs?

I think Honda and Toyota are designing these devices for their growing elderly population in Japan.

Does it look like a device convenient to use for an elder or someone disabled?

It looks like it may be difficult to mount & balance yourself on this if your mobility is limited.

See the few seconds starting at 1:13 in the video.

Many elderly suffer from amyotrophia, I doubt this being usefull device, except for people which are disabled.

While Honda, Toyota, and many companies in the Japanese robotics space do devote quite a lot of resources to thinking about the elderly population, a significant amount of the R&D work done is not done with the intent of being immediately productizable, but rather to do basic R&D and to fly the company flag. (See Asimo or, indeed, any robot which looks remotely like a human. Or the gigantic eight-legged spider robot who existed to wave a large fan at people that my tech incubator made, which existed to say "Look at us, we're capable of making a gigantic semi-autonomous eight legged robot with one functional limb which you could mount all sorts of things that are not cooling devices on.")

I think honda is targeting old people and using young people to demo how it works.

PS: If your legs actually work then clearly you should be using these 24/7.

http://www.gizmag.com/powerbocking/12337/

Old people give up their mobility way too fast, often because of depression, isolation, or sheer lack of anything to do. A device like this will only accelerate the process. Young or old, we all tend to perceive a certain level of exertion as unpleasant, even dangerous, and that level is well below the level of exertion required to keep us fit and healthy. Obviously we are very poorly adapted to living in an environment where physical exertion is optional. The more we make exertion optional, the faster our bodies will degenerate.

I'd rather keep my legs working - those look very prone to ankle/knee levering injuries.

Funny, I saw it and thought fat people in wal-mart. This could revolutionize the electric shopping cart industry, much as the segway turned the airport police patrol and guided tour sectors on their ears almost a decade agoe.

Stupid for humans, maybe, but that'd be a cool mobility platform for robots.

I think this is the right way to approach this kind of technology.

Actually, I just remembered something along the same lines from a few months ago: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bI06lujiD7E

I was hoping to see Asimo riding it.

Like Paul Graham said in July 2009[1] The trouble with the Segway is that it makes you look smug. This thing will make you look even more so.

[1]: http://www.paulgraham.com/segway.html

i guess that's why such technologies take a while to get broadly adopted. i think in 10 or 20 years almost everybody might use those, and segway will look kinda old-school.

I think this has more practical use whereas Segway is like an expensive car. Show this to any caretaker looking after people with stroke, disabilities etc. I am sure they will find it useful. Think about how many falls this can prevent indoors? They probably need to cap the max speed for old people to their walking speed. A back rest will be nice.

Really? I think it makes you look less smug. It doesn't make you effectively taller the way Segway does, and sitting is a more casual position.

I think the people in this video look smug, for various reasons unrelated to the U3-X itself.

Additionally, your arms are free which is a big win, and at least in the video, it didn't require wearing a helmet. I think they've made leaps and bounds over the smug issue.

It looks like this only targets indoor super smooth surfaces, but I think it could definitely find a niche.

I thought the blonde would say, "That's uncool. We're not friends anymore." But the tech is cool.

I wonder if it could handle a skateboard park in some way?

They pretty much always make me think of Dr Seuss. Perhaps once the technology is perfected, I can finally ride around on something fit for a Who.

Part of why the Segway makes you look smug is because you're standing up.

This thing has you sitting down so its ok... Closer to other riding vehicles

A part of me thinks that Honda has solved the problem of walking. Something evolution solved a long time ago. The evolved solution also allows us to go up steps!

While it's cool it seems like there is a long way to go before it's useful/cost effective.

None of the above undermines the technology btw, just the application.

Another thing about this particular execution is that it is still not cool. It's even worse than the conventional segway: you necessarily sit shorter than everyone around you which will make an impact. We as a species favor tall individuals on a subconscious level (think of US presidents). Whatever alternate mode of locomotion is to be created, it needs to be cool. Think jetpacks.

I actually think that it's better than the Segway for making you slightly shorter. One of the problems with the Segway is that the increased height (and width) makes you so conspicuous as to practically be flaunting your use of it, and how independent you are from the lowly ambulating masses.

Whereas someone riding a Vespa can still come off as cool. (Though they'll immediately look silly next to someone on a Harley.)

Well, yes. Someone sitting lower than others around him/her is not necessarily bad: think driving a Ferrari vs walking down the street. But this thing does not look cool. It looks more like you are somehow incapacitated (I think some other comments mention knee injuries). Even a hover chair from the Austin Powers movies would be better. Jetpacks would be ideal.

I agree with you. I don't think this thing is going to take off as a mainstream transportation device. I just think it's less awkward than the Segway.

Yes, it seems like it won't go as fast as a Segway, so it will just make you look lazy.

"Do you have a knee injury?"

I could see a device with two "legs" like this being optimal for some tasks. It could ideally walk up stairs, or skate along flat surfaces.

For those who haven't seen it:

http://tlb.org/eunicycle.html

I kinda expected to be invented by some girl named Eunice.

Accidental acceleration will have a whole new set of consequences.

No-one has topped motor assist on a bicycle yet. It's fun and useful to be able to move 20+ mph all day without being a top-notch athlete (or while wearing business clothes).

What a waste. I want one. I'm so conflicted. Does wanting to buy consumer oriented yet entirely unnecessary products make me more American, dumb or both?

It's not socially acceptable to want one until someone uses it to put her life in jeopardy before a worldwide audience.

There is also this device:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0S_SL8IWObY

They will need vastly more rugged versions for your average American. I say this being from Texas.

In the mall near me all the security personnel rides around on "conventional" segways, presumably to get to whatever issue arises faster. Mind you the mall is a two story mall with stairs and escalators. What exactly happens if the security office is on the bottom floor and the issue that needs immediate attention is on the top floor? I imagine ditching the segway would be a bad idea.

Power wheelchairs are better, comfortable and ergonomic.

But then you'll look like a crippled.

So take a La-z-boy and add power wheels to it. Then sell it for $999.

This is infinitely more maneuverable, especially in the house e.g. the kitchen. A house has to be made wheelchair-compatible. This avoids that cost. And makes you look more human.

I think, for more or less healthy people (being able to walk) it's the opposite what would be usefull, not sitting/being passive when we were once moving/using our muscles, but running/using muscles when we were once just sitting (more or less passively), I remember a standing desk with a running treadmill underneath as a nice example.

That's actually a pretty cool wheel design.

I'm not particularly impressed by the chair (references to both pg's Segway essay and the fat people in Wall.E come to mind), but I'm very interested in the omniwheel technology.

Imagine a wheelchair with one omnidirectional wheel instead of four. That'd make a world of difference for disabled people!

They didn't invent the omni wheel, been around for a while. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omni_wheel

I'm sure Honda tuned it up a bit though.

Also, there have been some wheelchairs made with omni-directional wheels, although I'm not sure if they are only a prototypes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecanum_wheel

Are you sure? This omniwheel is novel because the rollers are powered. This is the first device I've seen that can move in any direction with a single wheel.

Um...Wow.

Aside from Mr. Garrison's gyro-thingie ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Entity_%28South_Park%29 ), that's the most emasculating mode of travel I've ever seen.

Need a monster version built out of top fuel dragster components.

Segway is Dean Kamen's company, not the product. The product is the Human Transporter (or HT). They make other things, too, including the Segway Centaur.

Looks like you have to stoop forward constantly to stay in motion. Not useful as a vehicle, not even for a short while.

Maybe useful as an office-chair replacement?

But this is kind of what you do when you walk. Walking is effectively controlled falling.

People moving on this device are probably just thinking "move forward" rather than "lean forward", in the same way as we turn left or right by (subconsciously) leaning slightly on a bicycle.

Office chair was the first thing I thought of when I saw them sliding sideways. I wonder how hard it would be to stay still enough to type accurately.

Just talked to a friend who runs a kitchen, thinks it would be ideal for a commercial cook.

Only practical -- if that! -- during dry days. I wouldn't want to see the state of my pants after using this on a wet pavement or street.

I'd love to see the off-road version!

I hope it comes with the ability to dodge trees on its own. I'm guessing an outdoor model would have to be very smart, almost self-guiding.

Slightly faster than walking, without all the messy dignity.

All examples of use are indoors. Rough outdoor floors may prove too much. In any case an impressive device.

They haven't learn anything from Segway, you look utterly ridiculous riding one of those things (even worse than someone riding a Segway).

Note how they didn't let us hear how it sounds, but they visually suggested that one could tour an art gallery. I'm guessing it sounds almost as menacing as Big Dog.

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