Taking the Segway for a spin

Curious about whether the machine formerly known as Ginger lives up to its price and the tidal wave of hype, and about what its inventor, Dean Kamen, has to say, CNET visited Segway's headquarters in Manchest N.H. to check it out.

The bottom line? Segway has built a machine that's both fun and nearly effortless to ride. A commuter should be able to scoot to work on a hot summer day and never break a sweat. The learning curve is minimal, and taking curves is as simple as a flick of the wrist.

But riders will have to bundle up to run errands in the rain or snow--the machine offers no shelter from the elements. And forget about bringing home groceries, since the two-wheeler provides little more in the way of built-in storage than its owner's pockets.

And given the machine's estimated price tag of S$8,000, Segway does need to think about a payment plan.

I took my test drive on the device--known in its secretive phase as Ginger and, less fetchingly, as It--on a clear, 40-degree day amid a host of Segway engineers zipping around inside the company's lab and the adjoining parking lot. When mounted up, the riders look something like the robot Johnny 5 from the movie "Short Circuit".

Segway's 100 employees are spread out over two former mill buildings along the Merrimack River. The buildings include the company's corporate offices as well as its large research and development stress-test lab, which incorporates an obstacle course of plywood ramps, sets of stairs, various bumps and jumps, and 6-inch-high enclosures filled with rocks, dirt and cobblestones. The factory that soon will be cranking out the Human Transporters is located about five miles away in the town of Bedford.

Safety first
Finishing up with a film crew from the Discovery Channel, Kamen zips in on his "HT" dressed in a fleece jacket, blue shirt and jeans. He seems about seven-and-a-half feet tall on the machine, which looks an awful lot like an old-fashioned, unmotorized push lawnmower, or a Radio Flyer wagon that's missing the rear wheels--and the wagon itself. Even before he dismounts, we shake hands, and then he nudges the scooter against me to show me how it reacts when it comes in contact with someone. It stops.

Kamen explains that once the machine's "control stalk" moves backward a certain distance, the Segway device stops. It's a safety feature designed to reduce injury, should one come in contact with a pedestrian--or a tree. At this rather pedestrian speed, the feature appears to work well. I am no worse for the wear.

Manchester, about 50 miles north of Boston, has its share of technology: Texas Instruments and software maker AutoDesk maintain offices there. But Kamen says he likes New Hampshire for other reasons, mainly its low taxes and its freethinking. It is, after all, the "Live Free or Die" state.

"Its infrastructure is young and new, and I think it's conducive to creativity," Kamen said.

Meanwhile, with Manchester's proximity to Boston, and therefore some of the most highly regarded colleges on the East Coast, Segway can recruit top engineering talent. It helps that Kamen is a visiting lecturer at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. With his HT plugged in and charging--it typically gets about 11 miles to the charge, and as much as 17--we grab a corner of the R&D lab to chat.

Kamen explains that the technology for the HT came from a similar machine, dubbed IBOT, a six-wheeled system he designed to help make physically disabled people more mobile. But the HT addresses a more widespread problem, that of moving efficiently throughout an urban setting.

"We've used technology to solve all of the long-haul problems," Kamen said, listing planes, trains and automobiles as methods of hauling people and freight over long distances at high speeds.

"But when we finally come back to the pedestrian... the (only) technology we've added in the last 5,000 years is a pair of sandals," he said, ignoring for the moment the merits of Air Jordans. "The big idea here is two things. Technology, which is really neat. It's also that we're building on the most fundamental element of society, the sidewalk, and the ability to walk around."