Segway Personal Transporter
Segway PT
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| Type | Electric vehicle |
|---|---|
| Wheels | Two |
| Inventor | Dean Kamen |
| Introduced | 2001 |
| Chief engineer | Doug Field |
| Dynamics engineers | David Robinson John Morrell Jon Stevens Jon Pompa |
| Programmers | Chuck Herscovici Gerry Rigdon Michael Kaufman Eric Pribyl Jim Dattalo |
| Electrical engineers | Phil Lemay Mike Gansler JD Heinzmann Jason Sachs Larry Liberman Chris Kastel Zeta Electronics |
| Mechanical engineers | Ron Reich Mike Martin Andrew Steiner Ray Debruin Patrick Kelly Jeremy Lund Mike Slate JR Holt |
| Industrial designers | Scott Waters Tao Chang |
The Segway PT (originally Segway HT) is a two-wheeled, self-balancing, personal transporter which uses computers, sensors, and electric motors in the base of the Segway PT to keep the device upright when powered on with balancing enabled. The rider commands the PT to go forward or backward by shifting their weight forward or backward on the platform. The maximum speed of the Segway PT is 12.5 miles per hour (20.1 km/h). The product is capable of covering 24 mi (39 km) on a fully charged lithium-ion battery, depending on terrain, riding style, and the condition of the batteries.
Invented by Dean Kamen, it is produced by Segway Inc. of New Hampshire. The name Segway is derived from the word segue (/ˈsɛɡ-weɪ/), meaning smooth transition. PT is an abbreviation for personal transporter (the old suffix HT was an initialism for human transporter).
The PT uses gyroscopic sensors and accelerometer-based leveling sensors to detect the resulting changes in its pitch angle and, to maintain balance, it drives its wheels forward or backward as needed to return its pitch to upright. In the process, the rider establishes and then maintains a desired speed by modulating the extent and duration of their fore/aft weight shifts. To turn and steer, the rider shifts the handlebar to the left or right. The PT responds by adjusting the speeds of the wheels in opposite directions causing the PT to yaw and, if not traveling forward or backward, turn in place. At speed, the amount of shift of the handlebar corresponds to the amount of left or right lean required by the rider to balance themselves on the platform during a turn.
The Segway PT was known by the names Ginger and IT before it was unveiled. Ginger came out of the first product that used Kamen's balancing technology, the iBOT wheelchair. During development at the University of Plymouth, in conjunction with BAE Systems and Sumitomo Precision Products, the iBot was nicknamed Fred Upstairs (after Fred Astaire) because it can climb stairs: hence the name Ginger, after Astaire's regular film partner, Ginger Rogers, for a successor product.
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