I would really suggest that anyone who wants to know more about Dean or about the development of the Segway should read
Code Name Ginger. In addition to being a good book, there is also a lot of detail about the development of the Segway, starting from the iBOT wheelchair concept. It says that originally the Segway was like this one, and it did not have a handle on it. But due to mounting concerns over issues such as safety, they abandoned the handlebar-less idea and incorporated a handle.
Also, if anyone was curious, here is a link to
all of Dean's patents. If you scroll down a bit, you will find that one of Dean's patents (number
6,651,766; entitled "Personal Mobility Vehicles and Methods) includes the following information:
Quote:
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A class of transportation vehicles for carrying an individual over ground having a surface that may be irregular. This embodiment has a motorized drive, mounted to the ground-contacting module that causes operation of the vehicle in an operating position that is unstable with respect to tipping when the motorized drive arrangement is not powered.
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And patent number
6,920,947, entitled "Personal Transporter";
Quote:
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Improvements to a motorized balancing personal transporter are revealed in embodiments of the invention. In one embodiment of the invention, a transporter for carrying a payload includes a platform for supporting a user; a ground-contacting module, to which the platform is mounted, which propels the user; a proximity detector for determining the presence of a user; and a safety switch coupled to the detector for inhibiting operation of the ground-contacting module unless the proximity detector has determined the presence of the user; and a motorized drive arrangement coupled to the ground-contacting module for causing automatically balanced and stationary operation of the device unless the proximity detector determines the presence of the user on the device. Various other mechanisms are provided for receiving rider input in order to direct steering of the transporter.
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The "unstable with respect to tipping when the motorized drive arrangement is not powered" may cover this the handlebar-less "Segway". If they were to put a 'training wheel' kind of thing that came down at low speeds to prevent tipping, they might be have a case that they are not in violation of that patent. And then we get to the "Personal Transporter" patent. The makers of the handlebar-less "Segway" would have to reverse engineer the entire Segway and find other ways to accomplish the same end result. There are a whole host of other patents involving the Segway, that all would prove immensely difficult (but not impossible) to try to get past them if they wished to move into production.
BTW, did anyone else notice that Dean just recieved a patent for a
multi-person personal transporter? Does this mean we will see Segway
sidecars sometime soon?
