[RAY-NER]

It's hard to find a thread that discusses suggested changes that SEGWAY INC. should be considering, so I chose this one.

Below is a copy of an email I sent to SEGWAY customer service last week. Don't know if there will ever be an answer, but it was worth a try.

Any comments from members of this group are welome.

RAY-NER

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Dear Judy,

During our phone conversation of Wednesday, I
mentioned a few possible feature upgrades to the Model
i2 that will improve user safety AND convenience of
loading the Segway into a vehicle.

A) User Safety

When moving forward at moderate speed and the wheels
are elevated if they encounter an unexpected speed
bump OR any rise that causes the wheels to loose
traction, the rider can be thrown from the Segway.
There should be an immediate shutdown that stops the
wheels from rotating when there is no pressure applied
to the Segway platform when the rider falls to the
ground and his body is no longer applying pressure to
the Segway platform.

This feature is required in order to stop the wheels
from turning if one of the rider’s feet is trapped
between the mudguard and the console.

However, when the Segway is not in motion and the
rider is stepping off the platform, the shutdown
occurs in the normal fashion by pressing the shutdown
button on the infokey. The foregoing shutdown is
recommended only when the Segway is in forward motion.

B) Loading the Segway into a vehicle with a hatchback lid.

In order to use the power of the i2 Segway to load it
into a vehicle using ramps, currently it is nearly impossible to go up the ramp using the power of the wheels in motion.

The reason is that in order to go forward (up the ramp)
the wheels have to move forward. To cause that to
happen, the bar must be positioned at an angle that
basically causes the Segway’s wheels to move backward. To do this, the bar must be tilted in the same direction as lifting the SEGWAY over a curbstone in the riderless mode. It is then impossible to enter the
vehicle because the bar strikes the hatchback lid.
In addition, controlling the Segway in this fashion is extremely difficult.

In order to properly load the Segway using a ramp, the
wheel motion has to be reversed temporarily in order
for the user to be able to stand behind the Segway and
guide it up the ramp using the bar in a position to
have very slow speed as it goes up to the edge of the
hatchback opening. In this way, the user has total
control as it goes up the ramp and enters the vehicle
without the bar striking the underside of the
hatchback lid.

Upon shutdown using the infokey, the reverse format is
cancelled and the normal startup method prevails
thereafter.

To reverse the order of motion in order to navigate
the loading ramp, the program would be initiated by
the user simply by pressing two buttons on the infokey
simultaneously for three seconds. One of the buttons
is the startup key and the other is any one of the
remaining three keys as your software designer
chooses.