1 00:00:04,240 --> 00:00:07,240 Speaker 1: Welcome to tex Stuff, a production of I Heart Radios 2 00:00:07,320 --> 00:00:13,920 Speaker 1: How Stuff Works. Hey there, and welcome to tex Stuff. 3 00:00:13,920 --> 00:00:16,480 Speaker 1: I'm your host, Jonathan Strickland. I'm an executive producer with 4 00:00:16,560 --> 00:00:20,520 Speaker 1: I Heart Radio and love all Things Tech. And it 5 00:00:20,640 --> 00:00:24,920 Speaker 1: is Friday, so it's time for another classic episode. This 6 00:00:25,000 --> 00:00:28,560 Speaker 1: episode is How Segways Work, and it originally published our 7 00:00:28,680 --> 00:00:36,880 Speaker 1: March two thousand. Segways were supposed to truly transform everything. 8 00:00:37,000 --> 00:00:40,519 Speaker 1: The prediction was that they were going to make cities 9 00:00:40,600 --> 00:00:44,479 Speaker 1: completely different. Um, I would argue that that didn't happen, 10 00:00:44,640 --> 00:00:48,120 Speaker 1: but we probably saw them pave the way, for lack 11 00:00:48,159 --> 00:00:52,120 Speaker 1: of a better word, for the e scooter revolution that 12 00:00:52,400 --> 00:00:56,480 Speaker 1: started around. But let's sit back and listen to this 13 00:00:56,720 --> 00:01:01,480 Speaker 1: classic episode. Lauren, you pointed out to me that we 14 00:01:01,720 --> 00:01:05,560 Speaker 1: actually we as in tech stuff recorded in an episode 15 00:01:05,560 --> 00:01:09,560 Speaker 1: about Dean Cayman, who is the founder of Segue a 16 00:01:09,680 --> 00:01:11,880 Speaker 1: long long time ago, a very long time agoack in 17 00:01:11,920 --> 00:01:14,160 Speaker 1: two thousand eight. Yeah, well, he's done a whole bunch 18 00:01:14,240 --> 00:01:18,720 Speaker 1: of other really cool stuff. Yeah. He invented a thing 19 00:01:18,760 --> 00:01:22,080 Speaker 1: called a Luke arm, which is a robotic arm that 20 00:01:22,240 --> 00:01:24,440 Speaker 1: for people who have lost a limb. Yeah, we talked 21 00:01:24,440 --> 00:01:26,360 Speaker 1: a little bit. I bet about that in a whole 22 00:01:26,360 --> 00:01:29,280 Speaker 1: other podcast thing we're doing. Yeah, over and Forward Thinking. 23 00:01:29,560 --> 00:01:31,759 Speaker 1: It's great show, you guys. If you haven't checked out 24 00:01:31,760 --> 00:01:34,800 Speaker 1: Forward Thinking, you should definitely check it out. It's great stuff. Uh. 25 00:01:34,959 --> 00:01:39,520 Speaker 1: He also invented a water purification device called the sling Shot, 26 00:01:39,640 --> 00:01:42,720 Speaker 1: which can take pretty much anything that has water content 27 00:01:42,840 --> 00:01:46,080 Speaker 1: in it and purify it into drinkable water. So you 28 00:01:46,080 --> 00:01:48,360 Speaker 1: can take sewage and put it through this thing and 29 00:01:48,360 --> 00:01:51,640 Speaker 1: it would actually produce clean, drinkable water and it's meant 30 00:01:51,680 --> 00:01:56,120 Speaker 1: for communities that have uh, you know, have trouble accessing 31 00:01:56,240 --> 00:02:00,240 Speaker 1: clean water. Fantastic thing. He's partnered with some pretty big 32 00:02:00,240 --> 00:02:02,920 Speaker 1: companies for that. But the segue, I think is where 33 00:02:03,000 --> 00:02:06,760 Speaker 1: a lot of people no Dean Cayman like they they 34 00:02:06,840 --> 00:02:09,400 Speaker 1: heard about it that because of the segue, well it got. 35 00:02:09,440 --> 00:02:11,560 Speaker 1: It got a great deal of publicity, which we will 36 00:02:11,600 --> 00:02:13,840 Speaker 1: talk about later in the episode. Because it was the 37 00:02:14,280 --> 00:02:16,840 Speaker 1: hype for it is can really only be called hype. 38 00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:18,480 Speaker 1: It was very intent. It was it was like it 39 00:02:18,560 --> 00:02:21,200 Speaker 1: was like if you had heard that this rock and 40 00:02:21,320 --> 00:02:24,200 Speaker 1: roll band that had not released an album in like 41 00:02:24,320 --> 00:02:26,760 Speaker 1: ten years was getting back together to do their first 42 00:02:26,760 --> 00:02:30,040 Speaker 1: studio album. Uh, and that you know in a decade, 43 00:02:30,040 --> 00:02:32,200 Speaker 1: and that would that would be kind of similar to 44 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:34,120 Speaker 1: the hype build up that not only were they going 45 00:02:34,120 --> 00:02:36,360 Speaker 1: to do an album, but they were going to revolutionize 46 00:02:36,360 --> 00:02:39,600 Speaker 1: the entire music industry with this album. That's that's the level. Yeah, 47 00:02:39,639 --> 00:02:42,480 Speaker 1: that's fair. So we'll talk about that in a bit, 48 00:02:42,560 --> 00:02:44,400 Speaker 1: but first we wanted to kind of talk about actually 49 00:02:44,760 --> 00:02:47,120 Speaker 1: what it was and how it worked. So if you 50 00:02:47,160 --> 00:02:48,600 Speaker 1: were to look at one of these things, in case 51 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:50,960 Speaker 1: you have not seen it, it looks like a little 52 00:02:51,000 --> 00:02:54,880 Speaker 1: two wheeled scooter, but the wheels are are side by side. 53 00:02:54,919 --> 00:02:58,000 Speaker 1: They're not in line with one another. Their side by side. 54 00:02:58,000 --> 00:02:59,880 Speaker 1: And when you would stand on a platform with the 55 00:03:00,080 --> 00:03:02,000 Speaker 1: left wheel to your left and the right wheel to 56 00:03:02,000 --> 00:03:05,280 Speaker 1: your right, there's a bar that comes straight up vertically 57 00:03:05,480 --> 00:03:08,880 Speaker 1: from the platform. Their handlebars handle bars that you hold 58 00:03:08,919 --> 00:03:12,400 Speaker 1: onto and then when you when you lean, it moves. 59 00:03:12,560 --> 00:03:14,880 Speaker 1: When you lean forward, it starts to move forward. When 60 00:03:14,880 --> 00:03:17,320 Speaker 1: you lean backward, it stops. If you lean back enough, 61 00:03:17,360 --> 00:03:20,200 Speaker 1: it'll go backward a little bit. But it's um and 62 00:03:20,320 --> 00:03:22,440 Speaker 1: uh and and the new models these days, when you 63 00:03:22,520 --> 00:03:25,520 Speaker 1: tilt the handlebars, that is how you steer. Yeah, and 64 00:03:25,560 --> 00:03:28,760 Speaker 1: the original one, you would twist one of the handlebars 65 00:03:28,760 --> 00:03:31,400 Speaker 1: the right handlebars, so rapping a motorcycle style exactly. And 66 00:03:31,440 --> 00:03:33,760 Speaker 1: if you if you twisted, if you twisted one way, 67 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:35,440 Speaker 1: it would turn left, and you twist the other way, 68 00:03:35,480 --> 00:03:37,400 Speaker 1: it turns right. And the way it turns is kind 69 00:03:37,400 --> 00:03:41,360 Speaker 1: of cool. Uh. When you lean forward, both wheels engage 70 00:03:41,480 --> 00:03:44,800 Speaker 1: and start moving forward simultaneously. Correct. When you turn, only 71 00:03:44,880 --> 00:03:47,560 Speaker 1: one wheel starts to move in one direction and the 72 00:03:47,560 --> 00:03:51,920 Speaker 1: other wheel allows you to pivot on on a dine 73 00:03:52,240 --> 00:03:55,520 Speaker 1: right right. Yeah, it's a turning radius of zero zero 74 00:03:55,640 --> 00:03:58,800 Speaker 1: turning radius, which is pretty amazing. And Uh, we'll talk 75 00:03:58,840 --> 00:04:01,480 Speaker 1: about what he intend did this device to do in 76 00:04:01,520 --> 00:04:03,440 Speaker 1: the second half, I think, but first we wanted to 77 00:04:03,480 --> 00:04:06,720 Speaker 1: kind of talk about the actual technology that makes this possible. 78 00:04:07,000 --> 00:04:10,360 Speaker 1: And Dean came in. Before he had gone into developing 79 00:04:10,400 --> 00:04:12,680 Speaker 1: the Segway, had already started to work on some pretty 80 00:04:12,680 --> 00:04:18,080 Speaker 1: cool systems. He did some work on motorized wheelchairs that 81 00:04:18,120 --> 00:04:21,560 Speaker 1: were capable of doing things like climbing up staircases, and 82 00:04:21,640 --> 00:04:24,320 Speaker 1: that work kind of led him to the idea of 83 00:04:24,440 --> 00:04:28,320 Speaker 1: what if I created a device that could transport people 84 00:04:28,440 --> 00:04:31,520 Speaker 1: at a good clip, uh, and make it so that 85 00:04:31,720 --> 00:04:35,240 Speaker 1: it it works on the same principle as what it's 86 00:04:35,279 --> 00:04:40,120 Speaker 1: like when you're walking. So when you're walk yeah, exactly, 87 00:04:40,200 --> 00:04:44,040 Speaker 1: it works in a way that feels natural to us. 88 00:04:44,080 --> 00:04:46,480 Speaker 1: Although I will tell you the first time you get 89 00:04:46,480 --> 00:04:49,479 Speaker 1: on a segway, nothing feels natural about it. I haven't 90 00:04:49,480 --> 00:04:51,600 Speaker 1: actually been on one. You have, I have, I've done. 91 00:04:51,680 --> 00:04:54,240 Speaker 1: I've been on a segway. I really enjoyed it. I 92 00:04:54,320 --> 00:04:58,560 Speaker 1: had a great time. But have you ever engaged in 93 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:02,400 Speaker 1: an activity where the first step requires you to do 94 00:05:02,520 --> 00:05:05,720 Speaker 1: something that feels totally unnatural to you, so that there's 95 00:05:05,760 --> 00:05:08,640 Speaker 1: like your body is actually resisting what you have to do. 96 00:05:09,160 --> 00:05:11,560 Speaker 1: But basically that's me walking every day. But I mean, 97 00:05:11,600 --> 00:05:14,000 Speaker 1: but for for example, when I switched from a W 98 00:05:14,120 --> 00:05:19,400 Speaker 1: A S D keyboard uh First Person Shooters to Xbox controller, 99 00:05:19,440 --> 00:05:21,599 Speaker 1: I was like, what is this? See? For me, what 100 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:24,159 Speaker 1: I think of is like the first time when I 101 00:05:24,200 --> 00:05:27,640 Speaker 1: was a little kid that I ever tried snorkeling. Because 102 00:05:27,680 --> 00:05:30,080 Speaker 1: I put my face in the water and my body 103 00:05:30,160 --> 00:05:34,160 Speaker 1: is telling me, for goodness sakes, man, whatever you do, 104 00:05:34,160 --> 00:05:38,400 Speaker 1: don't breathe. Then you're underwater, and you know, my my 105 00:05:38,480 --> 00:05:42,240 Speaker 1: breast of my brain is saying, foolish, scary, reptile brain, 106 00:05:42,960 --> 00:05:45,720 Speaker 1: that's not anything to worry about. You have a tube, 107 00:05:45,720 --> 00:05:48,719 Speaker 1: but to the air, which is unobstructed, you can breathe 108 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:53,080 Speaker 1: all you like. And it took that leaped not literally 109 00:05:53,360 --> 00:05:57,719 Speaker 1: did literally leap, but no, yeah, I couldn't get enough traction, 110 00:05:58,040 --> 00:06:00,839 Speaker 1: but it took that mental to get to a point 111 00:06:00,839 --> 00:06:03,000 Speaker 1: where I felt comfortable. Same sort of thing on a segue, 112 00:06:03,080 --> 00:06:05,400 Speaker 1: because the way it works is that you start to 113 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:08,120 Speaker 1: lean forward as if you're going to take a step, 114 00:06:09,000 --> 00:06:13,039 Speaker 1: because basically what walking is is controlled falling. Right Yeah, 115 00:06:13,800 --> 00:06:16,600 Speaker 1: You're you're you're throwing the upper part of your body forward. 116 00:06:16,880 --> 00:06:20,120 Speaker 1: You're you're essentially unbalancing yourself and then counting on one 117 00:06:20,200 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 1: leg or the other hypothetically to catch it. Right, Yeah, 118 00:06:24,520 --> 00:06:27,200 Speaker 1: you just you're constantly catching yourself with your legs. You're 119 00:06:27,440 --> 00:06:29,479 Speaker 1: you know, especially if you're if you're walking at a 120 00:06:29,520 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: good pace, you know, you'll see people they're leaning into 121 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:34,880 Speaker 1: it and uh and that weight is what's helping them 122 00:06:34,880 --> 00:06:37,240 Speaker 1: propel forward. And then they swing a leg out, which 123 00:06:37,320 --> 00:06:40,120 Speaker 1: catches them, stops them from falling, and they use that 124 00:06:40,240 --> 00:06:42,760 Speaker 1: leg to push them forward, and then the other leg 125 00:06:42,800 --> 00:06:45,039 Speaker 1: and so on and so forth. And it's something that 126 00:06:45,200 --> 00:06:47,719 Speaker 1: we once we start to learn how to walk. It 127 00:06:47,800 --> 00:06:50,760 Speaker 1: just becomes natural to us. We don't even think about it, right, right, Well, 128 00:06:50,760 --> 00:06:53,520 Speaker 1: we've got all kinds of a really really intricate inner 129 00:06:53,560 --> 00:06:56,159 Speaker 1: ear sensory mechanisms to tell us when we're balanced and 130 00:06:56,160 --> 00:06:58,800 Speaker 1: when we're off balanced, and how everything is going. It's 131 00:06:58,800 --> 00:07:01,160 Speaker 1: a really it's such an automatic process that when you're 132 00:07:01,200 --> 00:07:03,520 Speaker 1: not too you're not thinking about it. Yeah. And what's 133 00:07:03,720 --> 00:07:07,560 Speaker 1: also funny is that that that same system of sensors 134 00:07:07,560 --> 00:07:09,480 Speaker 1: that we have in our brain. Well, two things are funny. 135 00:07:09,560 --> 00:07:12,040 Speaker 1: One thing is that a lot of that informed Dean 136 00:07:12,120 --> 00:07:14,320 Speaker 1: Cayman when he was designing the segue. He wanted to 137 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:18,120 Speaker 1: have a mechanical means to sort of recreate that. And 138 00:07:18,160 --> 00:07:21,640 Speaker 1: the other thing is that these sensors are not fails there, 139 00:07:21,760 --> 00:07:26,160 Speaker 1: they're they're not foolproof. We we can fool ourselves. Uh. 140 00:07:26,280 --> 00:07:29,520 Speaker 1: This is partially what leads us to things like motion sickness, 141 00:07:29,600 --> 00:07:33,000 Speaker 1: where we get one set of input from a set 142 00:07:33,000 --> 00:07:35,440 Speaker 1: of senses telling us one thing, and a different set 143 00:07:35,440 --> 00:07:37,880 Speaker 1: of input from other senses telling us another thing, and 144 00:07:37,920 --> 00:07:42,120 Speaker 1: that that conflict makes our brain say, Okay, if that's 145 00:07:42,120 --> 00:07:46,840 Speaker 1: how you're gonna play it, we're losing lunch. That's it. Uh, 146 00:07:46,960 --> 00:07:51,560 Speaker 1: someone who has suffered from from car sickness, motion sickness 147 00:07:51,640 --> 00:07:55,320 Speaker 1: that way. Strangely enough, never got sea sick, but I've 148 00:07:55,360 --> 00:07:59,440 Speaker 1: been motion sick from a car before. But anyway, so 149 00:07:59,480 --> 00:08:02,840 Speaker 1: the the they are fallible, these systems in our our 150 00:08:02,880 --> 00:08:05,680 Speaker 1: brains and in the segway. As it turns out, So 151 00:08:06,160 --> 00:08:08,280 Speaker 1: Dean came and wanted to create the segue in such 152 00:08:08,280 --> 00:08:12,560 Speaker 1: a way that it would require you to lean forward 153 00:08:12,600 --> 00:08:14,360 Speaker 1: as if you were going to take a step, and 154 00:08:14,440 --> 00:08:16,600 Speaker 1: that would be the indicator to move right and then 155 00:08:16,640 --> 00:08:18,880 Speaker 1: and then sort of trust the machine. I imagine that 156 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,520 Speaker 1: that's where you have your initial problem, because you're you're 157 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,680 Speaker 1: you're leaning forward and you're not catching yourself. Yeah, and 158 00:08:25,040 --> 00:08:27,440 Speaker 1: you know you've already been told, You've already been told, 159 00:08:27,560 --> 00:08:30,440 Speaker 1: do not take your foot off the platform to step 160 00:08:30,480 --> 00:08:34,560 Speaker 1: and catch yourself, because then you run yourself over. So 161 00:08:34,640 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: not only do you not wearing a helmet at the 162 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,280 Speaker 1: time hypothetically, yes, I was wearing a helmet at the time. 163 00:08:40,400 --> 00:08:43,840 Speaker 1: That was that was that was a requirement. I want 164 00:08:43,840 --> 00:08:46,160 Speaker 1: to say that I was at Disney when I did this. 165 00:08:46,440 --> 00:08:48,760 Speaker 1: It was at some park and I think it was Disney, 166 00:08:48,800 --> 00:08:51,760 Speaker 1: and it was it was not the full epp Cut tour, 167 00:08:51,800 --> 00:08:54,360 Speaker 1: which we can talk about. I've got a little factoid 168 00:08:54,400 --> 00:08:57,959 Speaker 1: on that. Uh, there is a tour that very popular 169 00:08:58,000 --> 00:09:01,280 Speaker 1: tour at Epcot that use as segways. It wasn't that, 170 00:09:01,320 --> 00:09:03,880 Speaker 1: it was just a little like familiarize yourself with this 171 00:09:03,920 --> 00:09:06,360 Speaker 1: technology thing, and I was like, I've always wanted to 172 00:09:06,440 --> 00:09:07,880 Speaker 1: do this, and that's when I tried it. So I've 173 00:09:07,880 --> 00:09:10,400 Speaker 1: only done at the one time, and I really would 174 00:09:10,400 --> 00:09:12,560 Speaker 1: love to have more time with it because it was 175 00:09:12,600 --> 00:09:16,560 Speaker 1: an interesting experience. But yes, it requires you to move 176 00:09:16,679 --> 00:09:18,640 Speaker 1: forward as if you were going to take a step, 177 00:09:18,679 --> 00:09:21,520 Speaker 1: but not take your weight completely off your foot, just 178 00:09:21,640 --> 00:09:23,840 Speaker 1: lean forward as if you were about to start walking, 179 00:09:24,160 --> 00:09:29,120 Speaker 1: and that makes the segway go, which is kind of cool. Um. Now, 180 00:09:29,280 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: the way it does that is it has a complex 181 00:09:31,760 --> 00:09:36,040 Speaker 1: system of gyroscopes inside to kind of let it know 182 00:09:36,920 --> 00:09:40,719 Speaker 1: what orientation the segue is in relative to the ground. Right. 183 00:09:40,720 --> 00:09:43,480 Speaker 1: It has five gyroscopes in fact, and technically it's really 184 00:09:43,520 --> 00:09:46,480 Speaker 1: only using three of them. Two of them are fail safe. Yeah. Yeah, 185 00:09:46,559 --> 00:09:48,960 Speaker 1: three of them are meant to detect things like forward, 186 00:09:49,559 --> 00:09:52,439 Speaker 1: leaning forward, leaning backward, and tilt to the left or 187 00:09:52,520 --> 00:09:54,640 Speaker 1: right right. Okay, but so so a gyroscope. Let's talk 188 00:09:54,640 --> 00:09:57,600 Speaker 1: about what a gyroscope is because a little bit integral. Yeah, 189 00:09:58,000 --> 00:10:01,600 Speaker 1: so it's basically just a spinning we will inside a frame. Yeah, 190 00:10:01,679 --> 00:10:05,640 Speaker 1: the frame itself is stable and free. The spinning wheel 191 00:10:06,480 --> 00:10:11,320 Speaker 1: has um well, it's rotating around an axis, right, so 192 00:10:11,320 --> 00:10:12,920 Speaker 1: you've got the access at the center of the wheel. 193 00:10:12,920 --> 00:10:17,120 Speaker 1: The wheel rotates and then it was it resists changes 194 00:10:17,320 --> 00:10:22,400 Speaker 1: forces that would change the alignment of that gyroscope so well, 195 00:10:22,480 --> 00:10:24,800 Speaker 1: because if you push on the on the spinning wheel, 196 00:10:25,600 --> 00:10:29,760 Speaker 1: it's just going to transfer into it's it's called precessing. 197 00:10:30,280 --> 00:10:32,880 Speaker 1: This is a really this is an interesting thing. It's 198 00:10:32,920 --> 00:10:35,400 Speaker 1: actually it's one of those things that's kind of difficult 199 00:10:35,440 --> 00:10:38,360 Speaker 1: to explain in an audio podcast. First of all, let 200 00:10:38,360 --> 00:10:41,120 Speaker 1: me tell you that at how stuff works dot com 201 00:10:41,280 --> 00:10:44,240 Speaker 1: we have an article on how gyroscopes work, which includes 202 00:10:44,400 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 1: video showing what I'm about to talk about. So if 203 00:10:47,120 --> 00:10:50,040 Speaker 1: you have trouble visualizing what I'm about to explain, despite 204 00:10:50,040 --> 00:10:53,679 Speaker 1: the fact that we're both gesticulating wildly, yeah, really, I mean, 205 00:10:53,720 --> 00:10:56,000 Speaker 1: there's only so much I can get across and radio, right, 206 00:10:56,480 --> 00:10:58,440 Speaker 1: but you can go there and look it up. But 207 00:10:58,480 --> 00:11:00,800 Speaker 1: what the gyroscope does is the this whole thing of 208 00:11:00,880 --> 00:11:05,400 Speaker 1: precessing is Imagine that you have a bicycle wheel suspended 209 00:11:05,640 --> 00:11:08,760 Speaker 1: from a string. Strings tied to the ceiling somewhere. The 210 00:11:08,760 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 1: bicycle wheels hanging down the The string is tied to 211 00:11:12,720 --> 00:11:15,600 Speaker 1: the axis of the wheel, so it could still spin freely. Okay, 212 00:11:15,760 --> 00:11:18,840 Speaker 1: got it. Now, if you were to align that wheel 213 00:11:18,880 --> 00:11:22,320 Speaker 1: so it's vertical relative to the ground, so the wheel 214 00:11:22,400 --> 00:11:24,160 Speaker 1: is as if it was on a bicycle that you 215 00:11:24,160 --> 00:11:27,120 Speaker 1: were riding down the street. Okay. The string is tied 216 00:11:27,160 --> 00:11:30,440 Speaker 1: to one side of that axis, so there's a string 217 00:11:30,480 --> 00:11:32,199 Speaker 1: that's coming down on one side of the access to 218 00:11:32,200 --> 00:11:33,720 Speaker 1: the other side of the access doesn't have a string 219 00:11:33,720 --> 00:11:36,120 Speaker 1: tied to it, so there's nothing to keep it vertical. 220 00:11:36,559 --> 00:11:38,280 Speaker 1: If you were to just let go, that wheel would 221 00:11:38,280 --> 00:11:42,160 Speaker 1: flop down into the horizontal uh formation. It would just 222 00:11:42,200 --> 00:11:44,920 Speaker 1: be parallel to the ground. Correct more or less. If 223 00:11:44,960 --> 00:11:46,959 Speaker 1: you were to turn a vertical and then start spinning 224 00:11:47,000 --> 00:11:51,280 Speaker 1: the wheel, it would remain vertically and it would slowly 225 00:11:51,400 --> 00:11:55,439 Speaker 1: begin to rotate around the string. So that's the precession, 226 00:11:55,520 --> 00:11:58,600 Speaker 1: is that it's rotating around a different access perpendicular to 227 00:11:58,600 --> 00:12:01,360 Speaker 1: the one of its main mos. Now, why is it 228 00:12:01,480 --> 00:12:04,720 Speaker 1: staying vertical as opposed to flopping over. The reason for 229 00:12:04,760 --> 00:12:08,720 Speaker 1: that is that if you were to apply a force 230 00:12:08,920 --> 00:12:12,720 Speaker 1: to say, let's say you've got the bicycle wheel spinning 231 00:12:12,800 --> 00:12:15,439 Speaker 1: in your arms. Okay, you're you're holding the you're holding 232 00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:18,400 Speaker 1: the axis in front of you, and the wheel is 233 00:12:18,520 --> 00:12:21,439 Speaker 1: vertical and you've got spinning. You can do this. I've 234 00:12:21,480 --> 00:12:23,439 Speaker 1: seen science museums that have had this where you sit 235 00:12:23,480 --> 00:12:27,920 Speaker 1: in a swivel chair and you hold the bicycle wheel 236 00:12:27,920 --> 00:12:29,640 Speaker 1: in front of you, like you extend your arms out 237 00:12:29,679 --> 00:12:31,600 Speaker 1: so that the wheel can spin freely in front of you. 238 00:12:32,320 --> 00:12:35,199 Speaker 1: If you try and tilt that wheel, you'll feel resistance. 239 00:12:35,200 --> 00:12:39,000 Speaker 1: And the reason for that is that imagine that, you know, 240 00:12:39,160 --> 00:12:42,319 Speaker 1: take a still image, like you're able to freeze time. Okay, 241 00:12:42,920 --> 00:12:45,360 Speaker 1: I can so, all right, Well that's good, And you're 242 00:12:45,360 --> 00:12:47,480 Speaker 1: going to tilt the wheel so that the top of 243 00:12:47,520 --> 00:12:50,080 Speaker 1: the wheel from your perspective, would be moving to the 244 00:12:50,160 --> 00:12:52,160 Speaker 1: left and the bottom of the wheel would be moving 245 00:12:52,160 --> 00:12:55,560 Speaker 1: to the right. You're tilting it on a diagonal. Okay. Now, 246 00:12:55,679 --> 00:12:58,720 Speaker 1: as that wheel is spinning the point where you would 247 00:12:58,720 --> 00:13:00,880 Speaker 1: be turning it to the left, that that's you're applying 248 00:13:00,920 --> 00:13:04,319 Speaker 1: a force to that section. So imagine imagine a spot 249 00:13:04,360 --> 00:13:06,280 Speaker 1: at the very top of the wheel, at the vertical 250 00:13:06,520 --> 00:13:10,480 Speaker 1: apex of that wheel. Okay, that's where you're applying the 251 00:13:10,520 --> 00:13:12,839 Speaker 1: force to move to the left. Now the wheel is 252 00:13:12,840 --> 00:13:17,120 Speaker 1: actually spinning. So if we were to jump ahead twenty frames, 253 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:19,840 Speaker 1: now the point is directly in front of the wheel, 254 00:13:19,880 --> 00:13:22,160 Speaker 1: it's no longer at the top. It is rotated around 255 00:13:22,240 --> 00:13:25,560 Speaker 1: to be in the front, and uh, it still wants 256 00:13:25,559 --> 00:13:28,560 Speaker 1: to go toward the left. Go ahead another twenty frames. 257 00:13:28,600 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: Now the point is at the bottom of the wheel. 258 00:13:30,720 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: It still wants to go to the left. But the 259 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:35,920 Speaker 1: force you're applying is trying to make the bottom of 260 00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:38,559 Speaker 1: the wheel go to the right. So the force you're 261 00:13:38,559 --> 00:13:42,080 Speaker 1: applying is trying to push the wheels direction in one way. 262 00:13:42,600 --> 00:13:45,400 Speaker 1: But because that reference point was at the top at 263 00:13:45,520 --> 00:13:47,640 Speaker 1: the beginning and it's still trying to go to the 264 00:13:47,720 --> 00:13:49,319 Speaker 1: left from when you were applying the force at the 265 00:13:49,400 --> 00:13:52,280 Speaker 1: very beginning, those two forces cancel each other out. It 266 00:13:52,320 --> 00:13:56,560 Speaker 1: resists the force to make it move in a different direction, 267 00:13:57,080 --> 00:13:59,120 Speaker 1: and then you also have the precession. So if you're 268 00:13:59,120 --> 00:14:01,040 Speaker 1: singing a swivel chair you start to spin around. It's 269 00:14:01,080 --> 00:14:03,680 Speaker 1: kind of fun. Uh, this is a great cheap way 270 00:14:03,679 --> 00:14:09,440 Speaker 1: to entertain small children. Um. Anyway, it's an interesting just 271 00:14:09,480 --> 00:14:13,240 Speaker 1: an interesting fact of physics is that the gyroscope in 272 00:14:13,400 --> 00:14:18,520 Speaker 1: this this stable frame will react in this way. But so, okay, So, 273 00:14:18,520 --> 00:14:21,480 Speaker 1: so the point of gyroscopes being in devices like this 274 00:14:21,560 --> 00:14:24,040 Speaker 1: is that if you measure the position of the spinning 275 00:14:24,080 --> 00:14:27,480 Speaker 1: wheel inside of its frame, you can determine the the 276 00:14:27,640 --> 00:14:30,160 Speaker 1: pitch and the pitch rate. Yeah, exactly, You're you're looking 277 00:14:30,200 --> 00:14:33,520 Speaker 1: at like the the frame itself can move freely within 278 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:36,920 Speaker 1: the confines of whatever it is you're talking what you're 279 00:14:36,920 --> 00:14:38,880 Speaker 1: talking about, whether it's it could be a segue, could 280 00:14:38,880 --> 00:14:41,920 Speaker 1: be an airplane, it could be a phone, um, and 281 00:14:42,000 --> 00:14:44,720 Speaker 1: so it can move freely within that context. And it 282 00:14:44,760 --> 00:14:47,320 Speaker 1: maybe a solid state drive, as is the case with 283 00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:50,440 Speaker 1: the segue, may not be an actual physical gyros Yeah, 284 00:14:50,640 --> 00:14:52,400 Speaker 1: and we'll we'll get into that in just a second, right. 285 00:14:52,560 --> 00:14:54,440 Speaker 1: And but if you're able to do that in such 286 00:14:54,480 --> 00:14:58,640 Speaker 1: a way, then the gyroscope and the pitch detection will 287 00:14:58,680 --> 00:15:03,600 Speaker 1: allow the UH will give enough information so that some 288 00:15:03,680 --> 00:15:06,640 Speaker 1: sort of processor can take that information in and know 289 00:15:07,240 --> 00:15:10,440 Speaker 1: what orientation the segue is in relative to the ground. 290 00:15:11,000 --> 00:15:15,200 Speaker 1: So by detecting these changes and by detecting the forces 291 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:18,880 Speaker 1: that are enacting upon these different gyroscopes. The segue can 292 00:15:18,960 --> 00:15:22,880 Speaker 1: interpret that and say, oh, I should engage the motor 293 00:15:23,000 --> 00:15:26,360 Speaker 1: to drive forward, or I should stop, or I should 294 00:15:26,480 --> 00:15:30,280 Speaker 1: move back backward exactly, or I should I should probably 295 00:15:30,280 --> 00:15:32,760 Speaker 1: put up a warning because this guy is really leaning 296 00:15:32,760 --> 00:15:35,760 Speaker 1: over a bit too far right right? Um, but so 297 00:15:35,760 --> 00:15:37,480 Speaker 1: so yeah, So the kind of gyroscopes that are that 298 00:15:37,480 --> 00:15:42,080 Speaker 1: are in a segue are the solid state angular rate sensors. Yes, 299 00:15:42,480 --> 00:15:45,120 Speaker 1: that that are basically the way that I understand. It's 300 00:15:45,120 --> 00:15:47,880 Speaker 1: a little silicon plate. Yes, and I think I actually 301 00:15:47,880 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: said that the correct way the first time. Yes, you 302 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:55,400 Speaker 1: did silicon, not silicone. You're exactly right, two separate issues. Um. 303 00:15:55,480 --> 00:15:59,480 Speaker 1: And so it's a it's a silicon silicon plate mounted 304 00:15:59,480 --> 00:16:02,000 Speaker 1: on the support frame and you run. You run an 305 00:16:02,000 --> 00:16:06,040 Speaker 1: electrostatic current across the plate and wiggles the silicon particles 306 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:09,120 Speaker 1: around and makes the plate as a whole vibrate in 307 00:16:09,160 --> 00:16:13,640 Speaker 1: a very predictable way. Um. And when there's a physical 308 00:16:13,720 --> 00:16:18,000 Speaker 1: change in the forces, meaning when you've tilted in some way. Yeah, yeah, 309 00:16:18,000 --> 00:16:21,480 Speaker 1: when when you physically move the plate on its access 310 00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:25,760 Speaker 1: access Yes, talking is great. The particles suddenly shift and 311 00:16:25,800 --> 00:16:29,120 Speaker 1: the vibration changes right, And by changing of vibration, you 312 00:16:29,160 --> 00:16:31,320 Speaker 1: know that there's a change in the state that you 313 00:16:31,360 --> 00:16:34,240 Speaker 1: are in, whether that's a tilt or you know, whatever 314 00:16:34,680 --> 00:16:36,600 Speaker 1: other thing you might have this gyroscope, and but in 315 00:16:36,600 --> 00:16:38,680 Speaker 1: the case of the segue, we're talking about specifically the 316 00:16:38,720 --> 00:16:41,280 Speaker 1: tilt of the segue itself. Right, So if you hook 317 00:16:41,280 --> 00:16:44,320 Speaker 1: a computer up to this, that can measure the precise 318 00:16:44,400 --> 00:16:47,560 Speaker 1: change right and interpret it exactly. So if it says like, oh, 319 00:16:47,640 --> 00:16:50,160 Speaker 1: it's changed a little bit, like the vibration has changed 320 00:16:50,200 --> 00:16:52,240 Speaker 1: a little bit, indicating that the person is starting to 321 00:16:52,320 --> 00:16:55,240 Speaker 1: lean forward, time to engage the motors. If it's changed 322 00:16:55,280 --> 00:16:57,360 Speaker 1: a lot, in mind, meaning that the person has leaned 323 00:16:57,400 --> 00:16:59,640 Speaker 1: forward pretty hard, which indicates that you should move at 324 00:16:59,640 --> 00:17:02,600 Speaker 1: a fat your pace. So you've got these motors that 325 00:17:02,640 --> 00:17:05,720 Speaker 1: will engage in order to activate the wheels, and the 326 00:17:05,720 --> 00:17:08,119 Speaker 1: wheels begin to turn and that's where you get the motion. 327 00:17:08,600 --> 00:17:12,400 Speaker 1: So the thing that's keeping this all going is um 328 00:17:12,680 --> 00:17:15,560 Speaker 1: you know, you've got the gyroscopic sensors that's giving the information, 329 00:17:15,600 --> 00:17:18,359 Speaker 1: But then you have two circuit boards that have controllers 330 00:17:18,400 --> 00:17:22,399 Speaker 1: on them as ten microprocessors total in the original segue, 331 00:17:22,640 --> 00:17:26,080 Speaker 1: and those microprocessors are what's taking in all this information 332 00:17:26,240 --> 00:17:30,040 Speaker 1: and uh and and translating it into action. Yeah, yeah, 333 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,840 Speaker 1: that that first one. Um, the microprocessors would check the 334 00:17:33,880 --> 00:17:37,480 Speaker 1: position sensors about a hundred times per second, that's right. Yeah, 335 00:17:37,520 --> 00:17:39,520 Speaker 1: So that way it can make sure that it's giving 336 00:17:39,520 --> 00:17:41,680 Speaker 1: the right information to the motors so that you're you're 337 00:17:41,720 --> 00:17:44,040 Speaker 1: moving at the right speed compared to how you are 338 00:17:44,680 --> 00:17:48,440 Speaker 1: how you're physically manipulating the segue right right. It's it's 339 00:17:48,440 --> 00:17:50,400 Speaker 1: also got in there, um, a couple of tilt sensors 340 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,520 Speaker 1: filled with electrolyte fluid, electrolytes being of course what plants crave, 341 00:17:53,680 --> 00:17:59,600 Speaker 1: thank you, which which is again just like your inner ear. Yeah, yeah, 342 00:17:59,600 --> 00:18:01,879 Speaker 1: it's your interear has fluid in it, and that's what 343 00:18:02,040 --> 00:18:06,640 Speaker 1: helps you determine what your orientation is relative to your environment. 344 00:18:06,680 --> 00:18:10,119 Speaker 1: This is why one of the reasons why when people 345 00:18:10,200 --> 00:18:14,439 Speaker 1: go up in the vomit commet, that's why it's called that, 346 00:18:14,600 --> 00:18:17,919 Speaker 1: because when you're in the vomit commet, you're you're the 347 00:18:17,960 --> 00:18:20,560 Speaker 1: sensory information you're getting from your eyes and from your 348 00:18:20,680 --> 00:18:23,680 Speaker 1: your you know, what you're feeling is so different from 349 00:18:23,680 --> 00:18:26,040 Speaker 1: what your inner ear is trying to make sense of. 350 00:18:26,119 --> 00:18:29,200 Speaker 1: When this fluid is something. Yeah. Yeah, it's basically, you've 351 00:18:29,240 --> 00:18:31,160 Speaker 1: just got this little sensor in your head where you've 352 00:18:31,160 --> 00:18:32,960 Speaker 1: got a level of fluid, and that is how you 353 00:18:33,040 --> 00:18:35,960 Speaker 1: calibrate yourself to the ground by based on on where 354 00:18:36,080 --> 00:18:39,080 Speaker 1: the fluid is tilting right and in a freefall motion. 355 00:18:39,280 --> 00:18:42,080 Speaker 1: That that information ends up being a little weird and 356 00:18:42,160 --> 00:18:46,119 Speaker 1: so a lot of people end up again losing their lunch, 357 00:18:46,359 --> 00:18:49,240 Speaker 1: which is why they often refer to the planes that 358 00:18:49,280 --> 00:18:52,399 Speaker 1: take these these flights as the vomit commet. Yeah, but 359 00:18:52,480 --> 00:18:55,840 Speaker 1: it is interesting that the segue itself has this electoral life. 360 00:18:55,920 --> 00:18:58,160 Speaker 1: Not you don't have to worry about your segue losing 361 00:18:58,160 --> 00:19:01,159 Speaker 1: its lunch. Don't worry about that part. That part similarity 362 00:19:01,200 --> 00:19:03,480 Speaker 1: has now ended. But other than that, it is using 363 00:19:03,480 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 1: a very similar approach to detect tilt as the way 364 00:19:06,520 --> 00:19:09,200 Speaker 1: humans do which again kind of cool that Dean came 365 00:19:09,240 --> 00:19:13,120 Speaker 1: and is taking taking direction from the way our bodies 366 00:19:13,200 --> 00:19:15,720 Speaker 1: do stuff to help inform him on the way he 367 00:19:15,760 --> 00:19:20,600 Speaker 1: makes technology. I blame it on his extensive medical background. Yeah, 368 00:19:20,840 --> 00:19:23,439 Speaker 1: and again the Luke arm another example of that. Right, 369 00:19:23,520 --> 00:19:26,560 Speaker 1: he's taking that that how do humans do things and 370 00:19:26,600 --> 00:19:29,320 Speaker 1: how can we make technology that emulates this? He was 371 00:19:29,359 --> 00:19:31,679 Speaker 1: also when he was in college. He was the first 372 00:19:31,960 --> 00:19:35,439 Speaker 1: He invented the first drug injection pump and later the 373 00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:37,960 Speaker 1: first portable insulin pump, which is part of how he 374 00:19:38,080 --> 00:19:42,080 Speaker 1: made such such much money. And the cool thing to 375 00:19:42,119 --> 00:19:45,520 Speaker 1: me is that it's obvious that what drives him is 376 00:19:45,520 --> 00:19:48,600 Speaker 1: a desire to innovate and to help people yea, And 377 00:19:48,640 --> 00:19:51,480 Speaker 1: he talks very passionately. There's some really really good interviews 378 00:19:51,520 --> 00:19:54,800 Speaker 1: with him will Lincome on social where he's talking about 379 00:19:55,000 --> 00:19:58,119 Speaker 1: watching people use his inventions for the first time and 380 00:19:58,119 --> 00:20:00,359 Speaker 1: and them kind of you know, people who haven't been 381 00:20:00,359 --> 00:20:04,000 Speaker 1: able to move this way ever and in some cases 382 00:20:04,000 --> 00:20:06,600 Speaker 1: and in them and just the amount of pride and 383 00:20:06,600 --> 00:20:08,840 Speaker 1: and just awesome that happens, and the fact that that 384 00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:12,359 Speaker 1: that is what what really uh gives them an incentive 385 00:20:12,400 --> 00:20:15,560 Speaker 1: to continue. It's pretty interesting stuff. It's it's a really 386 00:20:15,680 --> 00:20:18,040 Speaker 1: cool story. And in fact, there's a whole section of 387 00:20:18,080 --> 00:20:20,400 Speaker 1: the Segway story that we need to get into, which 388 00:20:20,440 --> 00:20:23,760 Speaker 1: involves the whole hype issue and a little bit more 389 00:20:23,800 --> 00:20:27,640 Speaker 1: about the the original Segue models that came out and 390 00:20:27,640 --> 00:20:30,200 Speaker 1: and some controversy that Segue has had over the years. 391 00:20:30,520 --> 00:20:32,320 Speaker 1: We'll talk about that in just a minute, but first 392 00:20:32,400 --> 00:20:34,280 Speaker 1: Before we do that, let's take a quick moment to 393 00:20:34,320 --> 00:20:45,760 Speaker 1: thank our sponsor. Let's segue back into our episode. I 394 00:20:45,800 --> 00:20:49,480 Speaker 1: couldn't resist, and so just a few more facts about 395 00:20:49,480 --> 00:20:53,080 Speaker 1: the original segue. Keep in mind that they've made several 396 00:20:53,160 --> 00:20:57,240 Speaker 1: different models over the course of the segways life, but 397 00:20:57,400 --> 00:21:00,280 Speaker 1: the earlier ones they had a top speed of about 398 00:21:00,280 --> 00:21:02,399 Speaker 1: twelve and a half miles per hour, which is around 399 00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:05,000 Speaker 1: twenty kilometers per hour, right, I think, and I think 400 00:21:05,000 --> 00:21:07,280 Speaker 1: in some other countries it was maybe thirteen and a half. 401 00:21:07,359 --> 00:21:10,360 Speaker 1: But but yes, yeah, yeah, it all depended on well, 402 00:21:10,359 --> 00:21:12,960 Speaker 1: I also depend on what which model you had, because 403 00:21:13,000 --> 00:21:15,760 Speaker 1: they did, they did do a range of them. We 404 00:21:15,800 --> 00:21:18,159 Speaker 1: have an article on our site how the Segway works, 405 00:21:18,200 --> 00:21:21,320 Speaker 1: and that one we specifically looked at the segwe HT, 406 00:21:21,520 --> 00:21:24,760 Speaker 1: which was one of the earlier models. Um it required 407 00:21:24,800 --> 00:21:27,480 Speaker 1: about six hours of charging, It had a range of 408 00:21:27,520 --> 00:21:31,600 Speaker 1: around seventeen miles, which was about twenty eight kilometers, and um. 409 00:21:32,600 --> 00:21:36,320 Speaker 1: The current segways are called PT, which stands for Personal Transporter, 410 00:21:37,359 --> 00:21:39,480 Speaker 1: and they have a whole line of them that do 411 00:21:39,600 --> 00:21:43,920 Speaker 1: different things. Yeah, for for for like ce travel versus 412 00:21:43,960 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: off roads, versus security purposes. But they've got one specifically 413 00:21:47,240 --> 00:21:50,440 Speaker 1: for golf courses. Yep, they've got somewhere. They have like 414 00:21:50,880 --> 00:21:53,359 Speaker 1: all these containers on them so that you can carry 415 00:21:53,480 --> 00:21:56,520 Speaker 1: stuff so if you have to transport things. Granted, none 416 00:21:56,520 --> 00:21:59,479 Speaker 1: of them are going to replace the minivan, so soccer 417 00:21:59,520 --> 00:22:01,160 Speaker 1: moms are not going to be able to I mean, 418 00:22:01,160 --> 00:22:03,720 Speaker 1: I guess you could maybe tie a couple of of 419 00:22:03,800 --> 00:22:09,160 Speaker 1: a red wagons behind and just like like a mama duck. 420 00:22:09,680 --> 00:22:11,560 Speaker 1: I was really waiting for you to say, like small 421 00:22:11,640 --> 00:22:13,960 Speaker 1: children to the handlebars, and it was like, I don't 422 00:22:14,000 --> 00:22:16,560 Speaker 1: think that I would. I wouldn't advocate that. I wouldn't 423 00:22:16,560 --> 00:22:19,960 Speaker 1: advocate that. I wouldn't advocate the wagons actually either. That 424 00:22:20,000 --> 00:22:23,960 Speaker 1: would be a disaster. But anyway, Um, the the motors 425 00:22:24,000 --> 00:22:27,320 Speaker 1: of those early segues had about two horsepower worth of 426 00:22:27,359 --> 00:22:30,240 Speaker 1: power and had a two stage transmission with a four 427 00:22:30,320 --> 00:22:33,720 Speaker 1: to one gear ratio with a helical gear assembly and 428 00:22:33,720 --> 00:22:37,040 Speaker 1: it was actually a harmonic assembly. Yeah. They engineered it 429 00:22:37,119 --> 00:22:39,560 Speaker 1: so that the sounds that the two meshes in the 430 00:22:39,560 --> 00:22:44,240 Speaker 1: gearbox would were exactly two octaves apart, so they would harmonize. Yeah, 431 00:22:44,280 --> 00:22:48,040 Speaker 1: it's kind of interesting, some might say crazy. Um it 432 00:22:48,119 --> 00:22:50,880 Speaker 1: weighed the original the HT, the one that we talked 433 00:22:50,880 --> 00:22:53,640 Speaker 1: about in our article. Weighed about eighty three pounds, which 434 00:22:53,680 --> 00:22:56,000 Speaker 1: is about thirty eight KOs, and it could carry a 435 00:22:56,040 --> 00:22:58,080 Speaker 1: person of up to two d sixty pounds, which is 436 00:22:58,080 --> 00:23:01,280 Speaker 1: about hundred eighteen ms or for my friends in England 437 00:23:01,600 --> 00:23:05,720 Speaker 1: eighteen and a half stone. Uh. It had two lithium 438 00:23:05,720 --> 00:23:10,120 Speaker 1: ion batteries to supply power recharge. Obviously you wouldn't want 439 00:23:10,119 --> 00:23:13,120 Speaker 1: to have to PLoP out a different battery every fifteen 440 00:23:13,280 --> 00:23:16,479 Speaker 1: to seventeen miles or so um. And it used an 441 00:23:16,480 --> 00:23:20,280 Speaker 1: electronic key system with a bit encrypted digital code, so 442 00:23:20,320 --> 00:23:23,240 Speaker 1: you had this key that would plug into It's sort 443 00:23:23,280 --> 00:23:26,280 Speaker 1: of like a little like like flash drive, except you 444 00:23:26,280 --> 00:23:28,600 Speaker 1: wouldn't have called it that then, because right you would 445 00:23:28,600 --> 00:23:30,240 Speaker 1: have called it, well, you could have called it that 446 00:23:30,280 --> 00:23:32,480 Speaker 1: then they'd had to flash at that point. But it 447 00:23:32,520 --> 00:23:34,600 Speaker 1: really wasn't. But it was a digital key that has 448 00:23:34,640 --> 00:23:37,160 Speaker 1: a hundred twenty eight bit encrypted code on it, so 449 00:23:37,200 --> 00:23:39,760 Speaker 1: that the segue will only work with that code and 450 00:23:39,920 --> 00:23:42,240 Speaker 1: you don't have to worry about someone We not necessarily 451 00:23:42,320 --> 00:23:43,920 Speaker 1: not have to worry about it. But if someone did 452 00:23:44,000 --> 00:23:46,520 Speaker 1: run off with your segue, they couldn't use it. They 453 00:23:46,520 --> 00:23:48,560 Speaker 1: would have to literally lift it up and move it away, 454 00:23:48,640 --> 00:23:51,560 Speaker 1: which kind of defeats the point, right. So that's that's 455 00:23:51,600 --> 00:23:54,840 Speaker 1: the that's the basic model that we talked about in 456 00:23:54,840 --> 00:23:58,880 Speaker 1: our in our not our podcasts, our article. But there 457 00:23:58,880 --> 00:24:00,760 Speaker 1: are quite a few others that are out now. Like 458 00:24:00,800 --> 00:24:02,879 Speaker 1: I said, there's a the Eye two, which is your 459 00:24:02,920 --> 00:24:07,600 Speaker 1: basic normal terrain segue, and then there's two which is 460 00:24:07,680 --> 00:24:12,360 Speaker 1: the the off road next to Adventure next to adventure 461 00:24:12,400 --> 00:24:14,760 Speaker 1: off road travel. Yeah, and they've even got some that 462 00:24:14,800 --> 00:24:17,240 Speaker 1: were you know, they worked with DARPA to to design 463 00:24:17,880 --> 00:24:20,760 Speaker 1: a kind of segue that was used as a platform 464 00:24:20,800 --> 00:24:25,159 Speaker 1: for robotics UM. They've worked they've created different models like 465 00:24:25,240 --> 00:24:28,920 Speaker 1: three wheeled and four wheeled vehicles based on the Seguay 466 00:24:29,040 --> 00:24:33,600 Speaker 1: technology UM for various things. Here in Atlanta, we have 467 00:24:33,960 --> 00:24:37,560 Speaker 1: Atlanta Ambassadors. These are people who are in downtown Atlanta 468 00:24:37,600 --> 00:24:41,000 Speaker 1: who often help out during big events, like when when 469 00:24:41,080 --> 00:24:44,080 Speaker 1: something's going on downtown and uh, you know there's gonna 470 00:24:44,080 --> 00:24:46,280 Speaker 1: be a lot of people there. Uh. These folks are 471 00:24:46,280 --> 00:24:49,240 Speaker 1: there to kind of help give directions and and you 472 00:24:49,280 --> 00:24:52,520 Speaker 1: know someone's like, hey, I'm looking for the Georgia Aquarium. 473 00:24:52,520 --> 00:24:53,800 Speaker 1: Where do I go from here? I was, Oh, you 474 00:24:53,800 --> 00:24:55,840 Speaker 1: need to walk down this two blocks and take a left, 475 00:24:55,880 --> 00:24:58,200 Speaker 1: that kind of thing. A lot of them have segways, 476 00:24:58,600 --> 00:25:00,960 Speaker 1: so I see them whenever i'm down town for you know, 477 00:25:01,040 --> 00:25:05,040 Speaker 1: Dragon con St. Patrick's Day Parade, which at the time 478 00:25:05,040 --> 00:25:07,520 Speaker 1: of this recording will be in just a couple of days. 479 00:25:07,920 --> 00:25:11,679 Speaker 1: Um So, but they have them. I've seen them in airports, 480 00:25:11,880 --> 00:25:15,120 Speaker 1: a lot of airports, have I've seen, especially airports security 481 00:25:15,240 --> 00:25:18,400 Speaker 1: on movies. I've seen police on these. Yeah. They were 482 00:25:18,400 --> 00:25:22,240 Speaker 1: big at the Beijing Olympics. In In fact, I want 483 00:25:22,240 --> 00:25:27,240 Speaker 1: to say that, um that the most I well, I 484 00:25:27,280 --> 00:25:29,119 Speaker 1: think the most I ever saw at one point was 485 00:25:29,160 --> 00:25:32,840 Speaker 1: actually at Epcot because, like I said, Epcot Center, uh 486 00:25:33,000 --> 00:25:35,560 Speaker 1: not Epcot Center, they used to be called Epcot Center. 487 00:25:36,160 --> 00:25:38,199 Speaker 1: I was there when it opened, because, as Lauren has 488 00:25:38,240 --> 00:25:42,160 Speaker 1: pointed out numerous times, I'm old, but I remember going 489 00:25:42,200 --> 00:25:44,040 Speaker 1: to Epcot and seeing people on these and that was 490 00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:45,639 Speaker 1: probably the first time I saw them in person. But 491 00:25:45,800 --> 00:25:49,000 Speaker 1: go back to when it was unveiled, or even before 492 00:25:49,040 --> 00:25:50,879 Speaker 1: it was unveiled. Came in actually came up with the 493 00:25:50,920 --> 00:25:54,480 Speaker 1: idea in the late nineties, like and he had this 494 00:25:54,560 --> 00:25:58,040 Speaker 1: idea of creating devices that could operate on pedestrian sidewalks 495 00:25:58,040 --> 00:26:01,960 Speaker 1: and paths, and in two thousand one, the company that 496 00:26:02,040 --> 00:26:05,480 Speaker 1: would become Segue broke ground on its manufacturing plant in 497 00:26:05,520 --> 00:26:09,119 Speaker 1: New Hampshire, which is where Dean caymans from. Yeah. They 498 00:26:09,240 --> 00:26:12,080 Speaker 1: they broke around in February and I think completed it 499 00:26:12,119 --> 00:26:14,840 Speaker 1: in November. Yep, yep, right in November December, and they 500 00:26:14,880 --> 00:26:17,399 Speaker 1: adopted the name Segue in December two thous one. And 501 00:26:17,480 --> 00:26:21,200 Speaker 1: that's actually when they unveiled the Segue, the first models 502 00:26:21,240 --> 00:26:25,320 Speaker 1: of it on Good Morning America, a television program that's 503 00:26:25,400 --> 00:26:28,879 Speaker 1: kind of a news oriented television program here in the 504 00:26:28,920 --> 00:26:32,280 Speaker 1: United States. And I actually saw this. I saw the 505 00:26:32,359 --> 00:26:36,640 Speaker 1: unveiling episode. You you stayed home, stayed home from work. 506 00:26:36,720 --> 00:26:39,640 Speaker 1: You I didn't stay home from work. I delayed leaving. 507 00:26:40,760 --> 00:26:44,000 Speaker 1: Uh Am, I gonna get in trouble. I mean, I 508 00:26:44,000 --> 00:26:46,679 Speaker 1: haven't worked for this company in years. Two thousand one, 509 00:26:46,720 --> 00:26:49,720 Speaker 1: I was not working for How Stuff Works, I was 510 00:26:50,240 --> 00:26:52,120 Speaker 1: I was not here. I was working for a totally 511 00:26:52,119 --> 00:26:54,960 Speaker 1: different company. I did drag my feet leaving the house 512 00:26:55,000 --> 00:26:58,119 Speaker 1: that morning because I knew that this was happening everywhere 513 00:26:58,119 --> 00:26:59,680 Speaker 1: in the news. It had been that there was going 514 00:26:59,720 --> 00:27:03,560 Speaker 1: to be the incredible, incredible device, and it had two 515 00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:06,520 Speaker 1: code names that I recall off top my head. One 516 00:27:06,600 --> 00:27:11,080 Speaker 1: was it right all caps, it like a very clown, 517 00:27:12,480 --> 00:27:15,360 Speaker 1: and then the other one was nice Pennywise. The other 518 00:27:15,400 --> 00:27:20,359 Speaker 1: one was Tim Curry, was the television ad uptation Stephen King. 519 00:27:21,359 --> 00:27:25,280 Speaker 1: The second one was Ginger Ginger, Yeah, and that was 520 00:27:25,359 --> 00:27:27,720 Speaker 1: it was. It had been codenamed Ginger based on the 521 00:27:27,720 --> 00:27:33,280 Speaker 1: fact that the wheelchair that Decca had designed earlier was 522 00:27:33,320 --> 00:27:36,960 Speaker 1: called Fred upstairs within the lab based on Fred a 523 00:27:37,080 --> 00:27:39,199 Speaker 1: stair because they were they were saying that it just 524 00:27:39,280 --> 00:27:41,280 Speaker 1: dances right up the stairs and there was a wheelchair 525 00:27:41,359 --> 00:27:44,320 Speaker 1: that could climb stairs Fred and then Ginger and so 526 00:27:44,440 --> 00:27:47,479 Speaker 1: and so Ginger Ginger could do everything Fred could do 527 00:27:48,280 --> 00:27:53,200 Speaker 1: backwards in hesh. So not that the segue necessarily did, 528 00:27:53,200 --> 00:27:55,040 Speaker 1: but I it's just one of my favorite little quotes, 529 00:27:55,480 --> 00:27:58,399 Speaker 1: um um. But but so, a journalist had started writing 530 00:27:58,480 --> 00:28:02,080 Speaker 1: this book called Code named Ginger, and it was leaked 531 00:28:02,200 --> 00:28:04,560 Speaker 1: at the beginning of two thousand one, I think by 532 00:28:04,560 --> 00:28:08,399 Speaker 1: Inside dot com. And this is I think what really 533 00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:11,960 Speaker 1: created all of this insane hype, because it was the 534 00:28:11,960 --> 00:28:15,399 Speaker 1: book took such pains to not talk specifically about what 535 00:28:15,440 --> 00:28:19,040 Speaker 1: this machine did, but it was going to change the world. 536 00:28:19,320 --> 00:28:21,840 Speaker 1: And you got these quotes from people like like Steve 537 00:28:21,960 --> 00:28:24,320 Speaker 1: Jobs that were like, this is this is going to 538 00:28:24,440 --> 00:28:28,760 Speaker 1: be bigger than the PC again without it actually revealing 539 00:28:28,800 --> 00:28:32,119 Speaker 1: what it was. Is that the people who had found 540 00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:35,600 Speaker 1: out about it said it was going to be this 541 00:28:35,640 --> 00:28:39,040 Speaker 1: phenomenal technology that was going to fundamentally change the way 542 00:28:39,360 --> 00:28:43,760 Speaker 1: we live, and and it was built up so much. 543 00:28:43,800 --> 00:28:46,880 Speaker 1: I mean, hype is seems like a like a good 544 00:28:46,880 --> 00:28:49,200 Speaker 1: thing hypothetically. Well, I was going to say that hype 545 00:28:49,240 --> 00:28:51,720 Speaker 1: is probably not even strong enough at a word, considering that, 546 00:28:51,840 --> 00:28:54,600 Speaker 1: you know, the deliverables that were being promised on based 547 00:28:54,640 --> 00:28:57,440 Speaker 1: on this technology that no one outside of a very 548 00:28:57,520 --> 00:29:00,640 Speaker 1: small group of people had any knowledge about, and people 549 00:29:00,640 --> 00:29:03,040 Speaker 1: were saying that that cities were going to be redesigned 550 00:29:03,080 --> 00:29:05,600 Speaker 1: around this thing, and that it was going to be 551 00:29:05,640 --> 00:29:09,600 Speaker 1: bigger than the Internet. Yeah, and then Good Morning America 552 00:29:09,680 --> 00:29:13,840 Speaker 1: had its unveiling and before the show, I remember, like 553 00:29:14,160 --> 00:29:17,480 Speaker 1: days before the show aired, Uh, there were already rumors 554 00:29:17,480 --> 00:29:19,480 Speaker 1: that it was going to be some sort of motorized 555 00:29:19,560 --> 00:29:22,880 Speaker 1: scooter device. And this was based off patents that had 556 00:29:22,880 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: been filed as well as Dean Cayman's previous work with 557 00:29:25,440 --> 00:29:28,720 Speaker 1: the wheelchairs and things of that nature. And so when 558 00:29:28,760 --> 00:29:30,640 Speaker 1: it actually happened. Like I was hoping at the time 559 00:29:30,640 --> 00:29:32,280 Speaker 1: that it wasn't going to end up being a scooter, 560 00:29:32,320 --> 00:29:34,520 Speaker 1: because I was thinking, like, if it's something totally different, 561 00:29:34,560 --> 00:29:36,760 Speaker 1: that's gonna be awesome. If it's a scooter, it still 562 00:29:36,800 --> 00:29:38,800 Speaker 1: could be awesome, but it's gonna be it's not going 563 00:29:38,840 --> 00:29:40,560 Speaker 1: to be as cool as if it were something totally 564 00:29:40,560 --> 00:29:42,280 Speaker 1: out of left field. And then I saw it and 565 00:29:42,360 --> 00:29:46,000 Speaker 1: I thought, well, that's interesting, but is it really going 566 00:29:46,000 --> 00:29:48,640 Speaker 1: to change the world? And I understood what they were 567 00:29:48,640 --> 00:29:51,880 Speaker 1: going for. They were saying that, you know, especially in cities, 568 00:29:51,920 --> 00:29:55,200 Speaker 1: particularly in cities, which is where the majority of people 569 00:29:55,280 --> 00:29:57,680 Speaker 1: tend to live. Not that not that there aren't plenty 570 00:29:57,680 --> 00:30:00,360 Speaker 1: of people on rural area population density, Yeah, yeah, you've 571 00:30:00,360 --> 00:30:04,320 Speaker 1: got very dense populations in cities that traffic is a 572 00:30:04,360 --> 00:30:06,960 Speaker 1: real problem. You've got people who are getting in their 573 00:30:06,960 --> 00:30:13,840 Speaker 1: cars to go relatively short distances to do basic stuff 574 00:30:13,880 --> 00:30:17,080 Speaker 1: like here in Atlanta. Uh, there's scree mentioned the traffic 575 00:30:17,080 --> 00:30:19,360 Speaker 1: on the show about once every other episode. And not 576 00:30:19,520 --> 00:30:21,000 Speaker 1: just traffic though I was going to say that we 577 00:30:21,080 --> 00:30:24,360 Speaker 1: don't have like our our public transportation system is not 578 00:30:24,880 --> 00:30:28,480 Speaker 1: doesn't measure up to public transportation systems, and some other 579 00:30:28,520 --> 00:30:33,000 Speaker 1: cities like DC or New York or Chicago. Um, now 580 00:30:33,080 --> 00:30:35,840 Speaker 1: we do have one and and you can use it, 581 00:30:36,160 --> 00:30:38,840 Speaker 1: but it's just not ideal. It's not doesn't run as 582 00:30:38,840 --> 00:30:41,120 Speaker 1: frequently as some other cities, and it doesn't doesn't go 583 00:30:41,200 --> 00:30:44,320 Speaker 1: to as many places exactly. So that means that if 584 00:30:44,360 --> 00:30:45,920 Speaker 1: you want to get around Atlanta and you want to 585 00:30:45,920 --> 00:30:47,800 Speaker 1: do it effectively, you pretty much have to have a car. 586 00:30:48,160 --> 00:30:50,479 Speaker 1: And the idea was that for cities like Atlanta and 587 00:30:50,480 --> 00:30:54,280 Speaker 1: other cities that have similar issues, the segue could end 588 00:30:54,360 --> 00:30:56,920 Speaker 1: up allowing you to go further than you would if 589 00:30:56,920 --> 00:31:00,280 Speaker 1: you were on foot, uh, and not clog up all 590 00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 1: the streets. So it would alleviate traffic problems. It would 591 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:06,960 Speaker 1: start because as an electric vehicle, it does not actually 592 00:31:06,960 --> 00:31:12,600 Speaker 1: generate any any greenhouse gases or toxins, although you could 593 00:31:12,640 --> 00:31:15,560 Speaker 1: argue that depending on how the electricity was generated, that's 594 00:31:15,600 --> 00:31:18,240 Speaker 1: still a problem. It's just not being created by the 595 00:31:18,640 --> 00:31:22,520 Speaker 1: vehicle itself. It's not direct. It's a couple steps, yeah, exactly. Um, 596 00:31:22,560 --> 00:31:25,640 Speaker 1: but that would also be a thing, and that it 597 00:31:25,640 --> 00:31:28,120 Speaker 1: would uh, you know, it could. It could really be 598 00:31:28,200 --> 00:31:32,239 Speaker 1: a big benefit. But for that to work, you have 599 00:31:32,360 --> 00:31:36,080 Speaker 1: to have an infrastructure that supports that kind of transportation 600 00:31:36,360 --> 00:31:40,800 Speaker 1: at the very least bike lanes or or really wide sidewalks, 601 00:31:40,760 --> 00:31:43,880 Speaker 1: really wid sidewalks. One of the big things that that 602 00:31:44,240 --> 00:31:49,280 Speaker 1: Decca and sege we're trying to do was create legislature 603 00:31:49,320 --> 00:31:52,680 Speaker 1: that would allow the segway to to go on sidewalks. 604 00:31:53,120 --> 00:31:55,360 Speaker 1: They had huge pushback from a lot of communities. I 605 00:31:55,360 --> 00:31:58,280 Speaker 1: think that it's that they're banned entirely on sidewalks in 606 00:31:58,280 --> 00:32:00,760 Speaker 1: the UK maybe and some as they are I know 607 00:32:00,800 --> 00:32:03,240 Speaker 1: in some cities. They definitely are very state by state 608 00:32:03,240 --> 00:32:06,320 Speaker 1: and municipality by municipality. It probably doesn't surprise you to 609 00:32:06,440 --> 00:32:09,800 Speaker 1: know that the first state to legalize the segue on 610 00:32:09,880 --> 00:32:13,120 Speaker 1: pedestrian sidewalks was in fact New Hampshire, where the Segue 611 00:32:13,240 --> 00:32:15,760 Speaker 1: was located. It was that that was passed into law 612 00:32:15,760 --> 00:32:19,760 Speaker 1: on February two thousand two. Uh and uh. And it 613 00:32:19,760 --> 00:32:22,560 Speaker 1: wasn't until November eighteenth, two thousand two that segways went 614 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:24,440 Speaker 1: on sale to the public for the first time on 615 00:32:24,480 --> 00:32:28,200 Speaker 1: Amazon dot Com. Hey guys, I want to take a 616 00:32:28,240 --> 00:32:32,080 Speaker 1: break here. I want to transition from this episode into 617 00:32:32,120 --> 00:32:35,240 Speaker 1: an ad break. So we're going to call that a segue. 618 00:32:35,760 --> 00:32:46,640 Speaker 1: Segue two thousand five was when Disney World was introducing 619 00:32:46,680 --> 00:32:50,040 Speaker 1: the Around the World at Epcot Segue Tour. So for 620 00:32:50,080 --> 00:32:52,280 Speaker 1: those who have not been to Epcot, it's divided into 621 00:32:52,360 --> 00:32:55,880 Speaker 1: two big sections. You have the Future World section, where 622 00:32:55,880 --> 00:33:00,800 Speaker 1: it's all about energy and transportation and the things that 623 00:33:00,840 --> 00:33:03,080 Speaker 1: are going to be important to us in the years 624 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:05,440 Speaker 1: to come, and kind of the innovations that we can expect, 625 00:33:05,520 --> 00:33:08,560 Speaker 1: or maybe even stuff that you know is really far 626 00:33:08,560 --> 00:33:11,760 Speaker 1: out there, maybe it will never happen. The other one 627 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:14,840 Speaker 1: is the World Showcase, which has it's almost like a 628 00:33:14,880 --> 00:33:18,520 Speaker 1: permanent World's Fair. It has a has different pavilions that 629 00:33:18,600 --> 00:33:22,240 Speaker 1: represent various countries in the world, and they are the 630 00:33:22,320 --> 00:33:25,960 Speaker 1: Around the World Segue Tour was a segue tour that 631 00:33:26,000 --> 00:33:28,400 Speaker 1: would take you around the World Showcase, and it was 632 00:33:28,400 --> 00:33:30,240 Speaker 1: like a two hour long tour, and it would allow 633 00:33:30,280 --> 00:33:34,160 Speaker 1: you to start to explore the World Showcase a couple 634 00:33:34,160 --> 00:33:36,320 Speaker 1: of hours before it was open to the general public. 635 00:33:36,520 --> 00:33:38,640 Speaker 1: Because the way that Epcot works, or at least it 636 00:33:38,840 --> 00:33:41,560 Speaker 1: used to I assume it still does, is when the 637 00:33:41,600 --> 00:33:44,480 Speaker 1: doors would open, meaning that when they would let you 638 00:33:44,480 --> 00:33:46,760 Speaker 1: into the park, you could only go into the Future 639 00:33:46,760 --> 00:33:48,840 Speaker 1: World part for the first couple of hours. The World 640 00:33:48,840 --> 00:33:51,360 Speaker 1: Showcase would be held off and like like if the 641 00:33:51,400 --> 00:33:53,920 Speaker 1: park opens at eight am, then the World Showcase would 642 00:33:53,920 --> 00:33:57,120 Speaker 1: open at ten. So this tour would allow you to 643 00:33:57,160 --> 00:33:59,560 Speaker 1: go through the World Showcase at eight am, so you 644 00:33:59,560 --> 00:34:02,400 Speaker 1: don't have to worry about running down Jimmy who isn't 645 00:34:02,400 --> 00:34:06,280 Speaker 1: paying attention because he wants a Mickey Mousetall right. Yeah, 646 00:34:06,320 --> 00:34:09,200 Speaker 1: Disney is actually banned the use of segways other than 647 00:34:09,320 --> 00:34:12,719 Speaker 1: in their tours. Yeah, that doesn't surprise me. Yeah. One 648 00:34:12,719 --> 00:34:14,359 Speaker 1: of the problems that it's had with all of this 649 00:34:14,480 --> 00:34:17,919 Speaker 1: is that UM segways are not technically graded for medical use. 650 00:34:18,560 --> 00:34:22,040 Speaker 1: UM they are, although they can help people with disabilities 651 00:34:22,040 --> 00:34:26,560 Speaker 1: move from one place to another because because Decca worked 652 00:34:26,560 --> 00:34:29,359 Speaker 1: with Johnson and Johnson on some of their UM some 653 00:34:29,440 --> 00:34:33,600 Speaker 1: of the gyroscopic platform technology, Johnson and Johnson actually owns 654 00:34:33,880 --> 00:34:37,719 Speaker 1: that copyright and for for medical use and interesting, Yeah, 655 00:34:37,880 --> 00:34:39,400 Speaker 1: I did not know that. That didn't come up in 656 00:34:39,440 --> 00:34:42,280 Speaker 1: my research. I know that on September four, two thousand 657 00:34:42,280 --> 00:34:46,200 Speaker 1: and six, they actually issued a recall for twenty three 658 00:34:46,360 --> 00:34:49,200 Speaker 1: thousand segways and all of them and that was that 659 00:34:49,320 --> 00:34:51,240 Speaker 1: was all of them at that at that time because 660 00:34:51,239 --> 00:34:53,919 Speaker 1: there was a software glitch and that software glitch would 661 00:34:53,960 --> 00:34:58,719 Speaker 1: cause the wheels to occasionally and spontaneously reverse direction, which 662 00:34:58,719 --> 00:35:01,440 Speaker 1: obviously that would be bad thing. I mean if you're 663 00:35:01,480 --> 00:35:03,160 Speaker 1: writing on it and you're not strapped into this thing, 664 00:35:03,200 --> 00:35:06,120 Speaker 1: which you're not. Yeah, well, it's like the way I 665 00:35:06,160 --> 00:35:08,480 Speaker 1: explained it to people, as I imagine you're walking down 666 00:35:09,120 --> 00:35:11,640 Speaker 1: down the street and then suddenly the ground underneath you 667 00:35:11,719 --> 00:35:13,839 Speaker 1: shifts direction to opposite the way. You know, you would 668 00:35:13,920 --> 00:35:16,560 Speaker 1: end up on your back pretty quickly. And in fact, 669 00:35:16,560 --> 00:35:19,640 Speaker 1: there were people who fell off the segway, which you know, 670 00:35:19,880 --> 00:35:21,880 Speaker 1: when when I was first introduced, that was one of 671 00:35:21,920 --> 00:35:23,400 Speaker 1: the big things that they were saying that, you know, 672 00:35:23,440 --> 00:35:25,480 Speaker 1: because of all the gyroscopes would be really not that 673 00:35:25,520 --> 00:35:27,920 Speaker 1: would be impossible, but it would be hard. People have 674 00:35:28,000 --> 00:35:31,040 Speaker 1: to be trying. But then with this software glitch, you know, 675 00:35:31,280 --> 00:35:34,000 Speaker 1: made it very easy to fall off a segue if 676 00:35:34,000 --> 00:35:35,960 Speaker 1: it happened, and in fact, people were ended up getting 677 00:35:36,000 --> 00:35:38,680 Speaker 1: some injuries, like some broken wrists and things like that. 678 00:35:38,760 --> 00:35:40,800 Speaker 1: There was a smaller recall back in A two thousand 679 00:35:40,960 --> 00:35:43,600 Speaker 1: three because when the charge got too low, the segway 680 00:35:43,600 --> 00:35:47,120 Speaker 1: would just stop very abruptly and they had to you 681 00:35:47,120 --> 00:35:50,279 Speaker 1: start tumbling off the same sort of thing. Um. I 682 00:35:50,360 --> 00:35:53,480 Speaker 1: know that in in two thousand nine, Dean came and 683 00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:55,719 Speaker 1: ended up selling the company, and he sold it to 684 00:35:56,080 --> 00:35:59,880 Speaker 1: Jim Hesseldon. Last name, I'm not sure if I'm pronouncing correctly. 685 00:36:00,080 --> 00:36:03,600 Speaker 1: I'm not sure. He known as Jimmy Jimmy in the UK, 686 00:36:04,360 --> 00:36:07,719 Speaker 1: who this guy who's a businessman and a philanthropist, really 687 00:36:07,760 --> 00:36:12,440 Speaker 1: really known for his philanthropic endeavors. And tragically in September 688 00:36:13,640 --> 00:36:18,040 Speaker 1: he uh hesseled and died in an accident. He actually 689 00:36:19,040 --> 00:36:21,760 Speaker 1: he was on a segway and he ended up falling 690 00:36:21,800 --> 00:36:23,799 Speaker 1: off the edge of a cliff in a wooded area. 691 00:36:23,800 --> 00:36:26,239 Speaker 1: He was in one of the off road segways and 692 00:36:26,320 --> 00:36:29,960 Speaker 1: supposedly he encountered a walker on a path and uh 693 00:36:29,960 --> 00:36:32,640 Speaker 1: and reversed to get out of the walker's way and 694 00:36:32,800 --> 00:36:35,279 Speaker 1: templed over. Oh I did not, I didn't see that. 695 00:36:35,280 --> 00:36:37,560 Speaker 1: That's that's that's kind of unconfirmed. I think that I 696 00:36:37,600 --> 00:36:41,240 Speaker 1: read that on like on like daily mail or something. Yeah. 697 00:36:41,280 --> 00:36:43,719 Speaker 1: So anyway, it was a tragic accident. It was a 698 00:36:43,840 --> 00:36:47,280 Speaker 1: terrible thing. And uh, you know, I cannot say for certain, 699 00:36:47,440 --> 00:36:49,600 Speaker 1: but I have a feeling that that was part of 700 00:36:49,600 --> 00:36:53,359 Speaker 1: what prompted segue to uh inserts so if you go 701 00:36:53,480 --> 00:36:57,000 Speaker 1: to visit the Segway website, a little Segway safety pop 702 00:36:57,080 --> 00:36:59,640 Speaker 1: up will appear and tell you that, you know, you 703 00:36:59,680 --> 00:37:04,319 Speaker 1: need to review the safety procedures of and know how 704 00:37:04,400 --> 00:37:07,520 Speaker 1: to write a segue in order for you to operate 705 00:37:07,520 --> 00:37:10,279 Speaker 1: one safely. And so there's a there's an actual pop 706 00:37:10,320 --> 00:37:13,680 Speaker 1: up that will obscure your view of the Segue website 707 00:37:13,719 --> 00:37:17,319 Speaker 1: until you dismiss it. And um, they even have a 708 00:37:17,320 --> 00:37:20,400 Speaker 1: full video that explains you know, how the segway works 709 00:37:20,840 --> 00:37:23,279 Speaker 1: and the best way to operate it safely so that 710 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:26,960 Speaker 1: you don't end up injuring yourself. Um. And on February, 711 00:37:28,400 --> 00:37:33,560 Speaker 1: Segue was acquired by Summit Strategic Investments l C, which 712 00:37:33,600 --> 00:37:37,440 Speaker 1: is the current company that owns the brand. And uh, yeah, 713 00:37:37,480 --> 00:37:39,600 Speaker 1: that's that's kind of where we are right now, just 714 00:37:39,600 --> 00:37:42,880 Speaker 1: just a few Actually, on this March sixth, they announced 715 00:37:42,920 --> 00:37:46,279 Speaker 1: the development of a three wheel security device planned to 716 00:37:46,520 --> 00:37:49,759 Speaker 1: be coming out in Q four, uh this this year. 717 00:37:51,200 --> 00:37:53,200 Speaker 1: Um and yeah, I mean, you know, so it's a 718 00:37:53,920 --> 00:37:56,360 Speaker 1: reading all about this kind of broke my heart because 719 00:37:56,480 --> 00:38:01,640 Speaker 1: because Cayman was so passionate about how this this terrific 720 00:38:01,640 --> 00:38:04,280 Speaker 1: device could really change the world and change people's lives 721 00:38:04,320 --> 00:38:07,840 Speaker 1: and change our city escapes for the better. And it 722 00:38:07,920 --> 00:38:11,560 Speaker 1: fizzled so much. You know, it's we we talked about 723 00:38:11,560 --> 00:38:14,280 Speaker 1: how a company debuted in two thousand two, they started 724 00:38:14,280 --> 00:38:16,879 Speaker 1: selling the things. In two thousand six, they had only 725 00:38:16,920 --> 00:38:20,680 Speaker 1: sold twenty three thousand units. They were hoping to have 726 00:38:20,760 --> 00:38:24,319 Speaker 1: been selling forty thousand per year um and you know, 727 00:38:24,400 --> 00:38:27,279 Speaker 1: a lot of things happened. It was It's been a 728 00:38:27,320 --> 00:38:31,279 Speaker 1: tough time the past decade or so for consumer right. Yeah, 729 00:38:31,320 --> 00:38:34,200 Speaker 1: you've had economic downturns, You've had resistance on the part 730 00:38:34,239 --> 00:38:38,120 Speaker 1: of many municipalities to allow the segue to travel along 731 00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:42,640 Speaker 1: things like sidewalks. There's also other just practical considerations. I mean, 732 00:38:42,640 --> 00:38:45,640 Speaker 1: obviously a segue is great if you happen to live 733 00:38:45,640 --> 00:38:47,840 Speaker 1: in a place where the climate is nice and mild. 734 00:38:48,360 --> 00:38:49,880 Speaker 1: But if you are in a place that gets a 735 00:38:49,920 --> 00:38:52,479 Speaker 1: lot of rain, says you're not going to be covered 736 00:38:52,520 --> 00:38:54,479 Speaker 1: in the rain, You're going to actually be out there, 737 00:38:54,920 --> 00:38:57,320 Speaker 1: and depending upon those segways made, it may not operate 738 00:38:57,360 --> 00:38:59,200 Speaker 1: so well in the right after a while, or you know, 739 00:38:59,239 --> 00:39:01,360 Speaker 1: like I've hung out New Hampshire, there are many months 740 00:39:01,360 --> 00:39:02,960 Speaker 1: in New Hampshire that I would not want to be 741 00:39:04,840 --> 00:39:07,560 Speaker 1: k yeah, So there's there's lots of reasons why the 742 00:39:07,600 --> 00:39:09,880 Speaker 1: segua adoption may have been slower, and I think the 743 00:39:09,880 --> 00:39:12,759 Speaker 1: main one is just that, you know, we were so 744 00:39:12,800 --> 00:39:15,960 Speaker 1: far along in the infrastructure that we rely on already, 745 00:39:16,360 --> 00:39:18,960 Speaker 1: like we're so dependent upon a certain way for our 746 00:39:19,000 --> 00:39:21,560 Speaker 1: cities to to work for us to get around and 747 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:24,680 Speaker 1: comfortably that to expect a change in that is a 748 00:39:24,760 --> 00:39:28,400 Speaker 1: little on the optimistic side. It would require a huge 749 00:39:28,440 --> 00:39:32,000 Speaker 1: amount of effort, time and money, and and when I 750 00:39:32,040 --> 00:39:34,279 Speaker 1: say a huge amount of time, I'm talking decades to 751 00:39:34,400 --> 00:39:36,759 Speaker 1: really refit a city in such a way. So it 752 00:39:36,760 --> 00:39:40,240 Speaker 1: would be ideal for using something like a segue, particularly 753 00:39:40,280 --> 00:39:42,560 Speaker 1: if you're in a city that has a actually a 754 00:39:42,560 --> 00:39:46,040 Speaker 1: fairly healthy pedestrian population, healthy and is in there are 755 00:39:46,040 --> 00:39:48,960 Speaker 1: a lot of people out there walking, not necessarily that 756 00:39:49,000 --> 00:39:53,160 Speaker 1: they're all in great health. Atlanta not so great for pedestrians, 757 00:39:53,440 --> 00:39:56,160 Speaker 1: I would say, I mean pedestrians. We have very few 758 00:39:56,200 --> 00:39:59,239 Speaker 1: sidewalks outside of our main metropolitan areas. And you know, 759 00:39:59,280 --> 00:40:00,920 Speaker 1: that's the other thing with the segways is that I 760 00:40:00,960 --> 00:40:02,960 Speaker 1: think that the concept was always for them to be 761 00:40:03,280 --> 00:40:05,520 Speaker 1: secondary to a car, to like have a car and 762 00:40:05,560 --> 00:40:07,600 Speaker 1: then have the segway in it, and you know, park 763 00:40:07,680 --> 00:40:09,920 Speaker 1: the car somewhere and then take the segway out and 764 00:40:09,960 --> 00:40:12,719 Speaker 1: go about your business. Right, or if you happen to live, like, 765 00:40:12,960 --> 00:40:14,840 Speaker 1: you know, two miles away from a market, then you 766 00:40:14,840 --> 00:40:17,040 Speaker 1: can just take for that. Sure. But you know, but 767 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:20,160 Speaker 1: when these units cost over five grand to pop, yeah, 768 00:40:20,200 --> 00:40:22,880 Speaker 1: and they weigh almost a hundred pounds, then you know 769 00:40:22,960 --> 00:40:25,880 Speaker 1: that's it's not easy to carry them around. Yeah, that's 770 00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:28,360 Speaker 1: that's that's one of me. So that's you know, yeah, 771 00:40:28,400 --> 00:40:33,600 Speaker 1: that's right, Like okay, So anyway, I'm just depressed now 772 00:40:33,640 --> 00:40:35,120 Speaker 1: because I'm thinking about how much weight I need to 773 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:38,840 Speaker 1: lose before I come close to being a segway. Um. 774 00:40:38,880 --> 00:40:40,719 Speaker 1: But anyway, yeah, there there are a lot of There 775 00:40:40,719 --> 00:40:43,440 Speaker 1: are a lot of reasons. I think that that explained 776 00:40:43,480 --> 00:40:46,600 Speaker 1: why the segue did not become the thing of the future. 777 00:40:46,960 --> 00:40:50,840 Speaker 1: It was certainly an incredible innovation. It was a really interesting, 778 00:40:51,360 --> 00:40:56,799 Speaker 1: uh engineering feat. I've seen similar products come out that 779 00:40:56,840 --> 00:40:59,960 Speaker 1: are based on the same general principles as the Segue. 780 00:41:00,120 --> 00:41:03,520 Speaker 1: Some of them are things like motorized roller skates or 781 00:41:03,560 --> 00:41:07,719 Speaker 1: a motorized skateboard kind of thing. Um, Honda came out 782 00:41:07,760 --> 00:41:10,480 Speaker 1: with a unicycle looking sort of thing that that that 783 00:41:10,520 --> 00:41:12,640 Speaker 1: works on a similar basis. And I think that Toyota, 784 00:41:12,760 --> 00:41:14,960 Speaker 1: I mean, they didn't come out with it. It's in prototype. 785 00:41:15,520 --> 00:41:18,320 Speaker 1: I've seen him. Let's see us. I've seen a motorized Essentially, 786 00:41:18,360 --> 00:41:21,640 Speaker 1: it's a motorized unicycle that you stand on and again, 787 00:41:21,719 --> 00:41:23,840 Speaker 1: just like with the segue, you would lean forward to 788 00:41:23,880 --> 00:41:26,640 Speaker 1: indicate that you want to move forward. And I remember 789 00:41:26,840 --> 00:41:29,280 Speaker 1: hearing that it takes about thirty to forty five minutes 790 00:41:29,320 --> 00:41:31,560 Speaker 1: to kind of acclimate yourself to it to where you 791 00:41:31,600 --> 00:41:36,000 Speaker 1: can comfortably maneuver through an environment. Say, I don't know, 792 00:41:36,120 --> 00:41:39,920 Speaker 1: a giant conference room that's filled with hundreds of thousands 793 00:41:39,920 --> 00:41:42,480 Speaker 1: of people like cees just high example, if I had 794 00:41:42,480 --> 00:41:44,920 Speaker 1: been on there, I would have probably mangled at least 795 00:41:44,960 --> 00:41:49,040 Speaker 1: forty or fifty people before I Actually, no, let's be fair, 796 00:41:49,080 --> 00:41:52,600 Speaker 1: I probably would have run over myself. And yeah, yeah, 797 00:41:52,760 --> 00:41:55,240 Speaker 1: and you know hypothetically, and these things only go twelve 798 00:41:55,239 --> 00:41:59,000 Speaker 1: point five miles an hour. Um that that is on purpose. 799 00:41:59,040 --> 00:42:01,319 Speaker 1: They have a speed limit her in them. That's that's 800 00:42:01,320 --> 00:42:03,960 Speaker 1: the issue that caused the recall back in two thousand six. 801 00:42:04,080 --> 00:42:08,040 Speaker 1: The speed limitter was was malfunctioning. Um yeah, so I 802 00:42:08,040 --> 00:42:11,719 Speaker 1: mean it's you know, there were definitely ideas to uh 803 00:42:11,880 --> 00:42:15,480 Speaker 1: to really uh to really uh to to make it 804 00:42:15,520 --> 00:42:19,200 Speaker 1: as useful as possible and limit the possible malfunctions or 805 00:42:19,239 --> 00:42:22,160 Speaker 1: injuries that can happen when people start using a technology 806 00:42:22,160 --> 00:42:24,200 Speaker 1: that as a brand new mode of transportation. I mean, 807 00:42:24,239 --> 00:42:26,560 Speaker 1: obviously have to take those things into account. I hope 808 00:42:26,560 --> 00:42:29,520 Speaker 1: you guys enjoyed this classic episode of tech Stuff. I 809 00:42:29,520 --> 00:42:32,040 Speaker 1: can always tell that they're a big hit by the 810 00:42:32,080 --> 00:42:34,520 Speaker 1: amount of eye rolling that Tari gives me as she 811 00:42:34,640 --> 00:42:38,200 Speaker 1: listens to my puns. If you guys have any suggestions 812 00:42:38,200 --> 00:42:42,600 Speaker 1: for future topics for tech Stuff, let me know. Let 813 00:42:42,680 --> 00:42:45,319 Speaker 1: me know on Twitter or Facebook. The handle for us 814 00:42:45,360 --> 00:42:49,000 Speaker 1: at both of those locations is text stuff H s 815 00:42:49,320 --> 00:42:57,239 Speaker 1: W and I'll talk to you again really soon. Tex 816 00:42:57,280 --> 00:43:00,000 Speaker 1: Stuff is a production of I Heart Radio's How Stuff Works. 817 00:43:00,120 --> 00:43:02,920 Speaker 1: For more podcasts from I heart Radio, visit the I 818 00:43:03,040 --> 00:43:06,279 Speaker 1: heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to 819 00:43:06,320 --> 00:43:11,800 Speaker 1: your favorite shows. H