02-12-2007, 03:35 PM | #1 |
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: TAMPA, FLORIDA
Posts: 120
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SUGGESTED CHANGES TO i2 SEGWAY
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 +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 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. Last edited by RAY-NER; 02-12-2007 at 03:42 PM.. |
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