Working on the Waterfront

The NZ International Arts Festival starts in Wellington this Friday, and the Segway Personal Transporter (PT) is playing a key productivity role in transforming the waterfront on time.

FESTIVAL WORK: Nick Kyle uses a segway to commute between festival venues along the waterfront.

The biggest challenge for this year’s festival is having three outdoor sites – and making sure everything is ready in time, festival technical manager Nick Kyle says. He uses a Segway PT to commute between sites.

The Segway PT has become an essential productivity tool at events throughout New Zealand. Last year, PTs were used at many venues during the Rugby World Cup, including at The Cloud on Auckland’s waterfront and by Auckland Transport. Our Segway New Zealand News archives are packed with stories like these about organisations and businesses benefiting from Segway PTs – search through our articles today and find out more (try looking up terms like Lantern Festival, Balloons Over Waikato, Airshow, trade show, traffic management, event management….)

 

First “Segway law” passed 10 years ago today in USA

The Segway Personal Transporter (PT) was unveiled more than a decade ago. Just two months later the world’s first new law defining and regulating the worlds first self-balancing ‘human transporter’ was passed. Within just a few years, more than 50 more jurisdictions would follow.

New Hampshire, USA was first to create a vehicle category called an Electric Personal Assistive Mobility Device (EPAMD). The US Federal government had already decided that this type of small, electric personal transporter would not be considered to be nor regulated as a motor vehicle (which is the category used for cars, motorbikes, scooters, trucks, etc). This enabled each US state to regulate this type of vehicle as a consumer electronics device that would be required to meet their EPAMD laws when used on public roads, footpaths, beaches, parks and trails. EPAMD laws generally do not apply to use on private property or on federal property.

Dozens more US states passed EPAMD over the next two to three years, and today almost every US state has done so (here is a list with links to each state’s legislation). Numerous other jurisdictions worldwide have codified EPAMD-type devices into their transport laws – particularly across the European Union. The UK is the ‘odd man out’ in that part of the world, where the ~200 year old 1835 Highways Act currently prevents their use by UK citizens on roads and footpaths there. Ironically, a visitor from the EU who brings their EU-legal Segway PT to the UK is permitted to use it.

More recently, the US Federal government has classified the Segway PT as a mobility device under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), so disabled users in every state can use a Segway PT for mobility (even if that state does not have an EPAMD law). Provinces in Canada and various EU nations have also identified the benefits of the Segway PT for use by disabled persons, and have made special provisions.

Auckland in Fifty Years

(or, Predicting the Future: Part 1)

Here is a way to predict what the future is going to look like: take things as are today then dream up some sleeker and more advanced versions of what we already have.

This is the city of Auckland, New Zealand, fifty years into the future….as imagined in 1956 by Bernard Roundhill (image from Idealogue magazine October 2006/Te Papa Museum of New Zealand):

Fifty years on, lets see how Bernard’s predictions panned out.

(1) Tall buildings and jet planes: CHECK (although passenger planes don’t have canard wings – not even the enormous double-decker Airbus A380)

(2) Milk trucks: CHECK (but the Dairy Board is a distant memory)

(3) Pedestrians, flanked by cars, buses, and trucks speeding along motorways: CHECK

(4) a subway (perhaps a rail loop under Queen Street?) and the quaintly named aerial tramways (or monorails, as we call them today): NEITHER

But observe what is missing from this vision of the future: there are no bicycles, no motorcycles and no self-balancing two non-tandem wheeled transporters that carry one person (or Segway PTs, as we call them today). No one.

As Idealogue observes, apart from Winsone (who commissioned the work), the Auckland of the future “looks regulated….the Milk Board, the Passenger Transport Service, the Aerial Tramways. Branding is absent and there’s not a billboard in sight. Good luck finding a decent coffee.”

Visions of the future are all the more extraordinary for what they fail to predict than for what they get right. In Part 2 and Part 3 of this series we’ll consider more recent predictions about the future of people-moving, particularly as how they may relate to New Zealand.

NZ Herald article misrepresents Segway safety

Yesterday’s NZ Herald featured an article about how staff at Auckland Real Estate business James Law Reality are using a pair of Segway Personal Transporters (PTs) to get between appointments on time. Sadly, the Herald misrepresented a number of issues regarding the safety of Segway PTs and inaccurately reported a number of facts. We take this opportunity to address each of these issues below.

But first, here are some positive excerpts from the article. These demonstrate how an Auckland business is benefiting from the massive increases in staff productivity that only Segway PTs can provide.

“The CBD traffic is a nightmare and finding a parking in the inner city is an even bigger nightmare,” said Mr Law. Not only can agents get to clients faster, it removes their worries about parking infringements if meetings laster longer than expected.

“With the Auckland Council plans of having more footpaths and making driving more difficult, it makes business sense that we find an alternative means to get around,” Mr Law said. ”We decided on Segways because they are environmentally friendly, and can be used on all terrains, from roads to sidewalks.”

The Auckland draft masterplan revealed city planners wanting to reduce the 34,385 vehicles that come into the inner city each weekday…plans to do that include malling parts of Queen St and having more walking paths and “shared spaces” similar to Elliot St.

This photo is from the NZ Herald (taken by Greg Bowker)

We now address the parts of the NZ Herald article where they got it a bit wrong. In fact, certain key elements of the story were so inaccurate and/or misleading that we find it extraordinary that they ever got past fact-checking and the watching eye of a newspaper Editor such that they made it into print in New Zealand’s largest daily newspaper.

Here’s what they got wrong, and the facts behind each bullet point in the Herald’s sensational “Segway Danger” sidebar.

1. Regarding George W. Bush’s “famous fall” from a Segway PT – what actually happened is that Bush tumbled over the front of a stationary, deactivated Segway PT when he stepped up onto it. The Segway PT’s ability to self-balance on two wheels is something quite extraordinary to experience, but the device does need to be turned on to work its magic!

It would have been easy for the Herald to check its facts before erroneously claiming Bush “…fell off a Segway at a high-powered meeting.” As reported correctly by the BBC: “The machine went down when he stepped onto it at his family estate in Kennebunkport, Maine, but he managed to leap to safety, landing on his feet.” An incident that didn’t result in any kind of injury (except perhaps to pride) while on holiday at the family property doesn’t read as quite as an exciting DANGER as “a fall while at a high powered meeting” but at least it is the truth.

2. The death of Segway company owner and philanthropist Jimi Heselden was a tragic accident, yet the Herald chose to report it sensationally as: “[He] died while riding a Segway that plunged off a cliff.”

The findings of the UK coroner last year were that Jimi died when he accidentally backed up too far to the edge the cliff, after stopping and moving politely to make way for a person running their dog on a leash towards him. We covered the story with accuracy in our report ‘Politeness found as cause of Jimi Heselden’s tragic accident‘ that references an original article published by the Mirror newspaper in the UK. Unlike the Herald, we weren’t so insensitive as to speak of plunging death under these circumstances.

3. Yes, it is both amusing and true that someone fell off a Segway PT that had been modified to carry a television camera at the Melbourne Cricket Ground last year. But it was not cricket commentator Ian Healy as claimed by the Herald, and no one got hurt at all. Here’s what really happened (as we reported here - includes link to the video clip of the fall):

Yesterday, Australian cameraman Joe Previtera was filming at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. He was gliding through the oval filming to live TV when he failed to see a cricket helmet that had been left on the ground. The turf tyre fitted to his customised Segway x2 hit and rode up over the helmet, spilling him on the ground (link includes video) – much to the amusement of the audience both at the MCG and worldwide watching on TV. The Segway PT was undamaged, the rider unhurt, but a part on the SteadyCam mount needed minor repairs. It is fair to say that, in the course of doing his job, he made the reasonable assumption that the oval would be free of obstacles and had all of his attention concentrated down the viewfinder. An experienced Segway PT rider can ride up and over a “bump” of this size as long as they see it coming. They anticipate how the PT will react and bend their knees and shift their weight accordingly. Segway PTs are used in the television and movie industry as quick, convenient “camera dollies’” capable of capturing a wide variety of shots and angles no other single method can achieve.

We say this real story does not belong under the Herald’s heading “Segway Danger” and we say the paper should take the effort to be a bit more honest to its readers in terms of editorial style in future. Even a cameraman walking with his eye glued to the viewfinder would likely have tripped and fallen had he stepped on a cricket helmet when he reasonably expected the path of his tracking shot to be clear of obstacles. In terms of funny workplace accidents it made for great TV and a popular YouTube clip, but tacking it onto a story about Real Estate agents commuting around town is drawing a long bow.

4. It was correct to report that an American was recently awarded $10 million by jury for an accident involving a Segway PT where the rider fell and hit his head, resulting in a brain injury, but it is well-known the US system of finding fault and awarding damages for medical injuries often results in unexpected and extraordinary outcomes. It strikes us as unfair not to include a little bit of context and some key facts about the circumstances of this accident: the rider John Ezzo intentionally covered his face by putting his hooded sweatshirt on backwards and pulling it up to ride the Segway PT blindfolded, and he was not wearing a helmet.  In this case, it seems the jury appeared to overlook the importance of personal responsibility when operating a transportation device.

Here at Segway New Zealand we encourage riders to always use good judgement, and to be familiar with and follow the safety recommendations set out in the User Materials and Safety Video. You can review all of these online at www.segwaysafety.com

5. The main Herald story stated “A United States study in 2010 found Segway scooters responsible for increasing the number of accidents.” It appears this was simply a lazy lifting of the headline from UK newspaper The Telegraph and presenting it in a way that blatant misrepresents the findings of the study (hint: it does not claim Segway PTs are responsible for increasing the number of accidents that occur at all – but then you’ve probably guessed that already).

The sub-heading of this Telegraph story does reveal the study discovered a somewhat obvious fact: that “Accidents involving Segway scooters are on the increase” as the total number of Segway PTs in use increases (in the same way as the number of people having accidents in motorcars in 2012 is higher than in 1912).

US media offered better quality reporting of this study conducted by researcher Dr Mary Pat McKay. She assessed accident reports of 41 people admitted to a hospital in Washington, DC. – most were novices and only 3 were wearing helmets (which are not required by law under the rules for Segway PT use in Washington, D.C. but are recommended under most circumstances).

“All of the injuries were sustained by riders simply falling off, mostly from striking an inanimate object such as a bench, tree or pole,” she said, and urged riders to ”….pay close attention to what is in front of and around them when riding.”

That is, watch where you’re going.

Which is exactly the same advice we give to people using every other transportation device – cars and bikes, mobility scooters and powered wheelchairs, skates and skis, boats and planes.

Incredibly, the Herald makes no mention of the many safety studies that demonstrate and conclude the Segway PT to be a safe, stable device suitable for use by persons with normal mobility and also those who are mobility impaired – and entirely appropriate for use in busy pedestrian spaces, and also in bicycle lanes and on urban roads. Six of these studies can be found here.

Superbowl Segway PTs, Auckland Lantern Festival, Tauranga AirShow

While Kiwis enjoyed a Waitangi Day Long Weekend, America was enjoying the annual Superbowl. Again this year the American Automobile Association deployed staff on Segway Personal Transporters (PTs). The AAA’s ‘Green Team’ were on hand to quickly get to and assist motorists with problems at the stadium grounds – flat tyres, lockouts, flat batteries and more. Elsewhere in the City of Indiana, local police were on Segway Patroller models delivering enhanced service and improved public safety. Visitors can take a Segway Tour along the historical canal that runs through the heart of the city.

Only the Segway PT can transport a person quickly and safely through busy crowds and tight spaces (such as the gap between parked cars). This is because the Segway PT was designed to be safe, effective and appropriate for use in busy pedestrian spaces. It is the Segway PTs unique set of features and design elements that set it apart from bicycles, scooters, motorbikes, quad bikes, golf carts and other options that don’t come close to the capabilities of the Segway PT in these types of environments. For example, the rider can stand still on the stable, self-balancing platform while interacting with the public. The ‘footprint’ of the zero-emission Segway PT is about the same size as a person, and it can turn on the spot. Large wheels enable the PT to navigate a wide variety of terrain with ease and comfort (an important criteria during long shifts).

Every year since 2004 in New Zealand dozens of events have been deploying management staff, medical staff and traffic management. For example, from Tuesday last week until the end of the Lantern Festival on Sunday night, Auckland City Council’s event manager used a Segway Patroller to get around Albert Park. This is the third year in a row Council staff have used a Segway PT at this event.

Just the week before, 10 Segway PTs were deployed at the two-day Tauranga AirShow with security, traffic management and event staff. Next month Segway PTs will again be a key tool at Balloons Over Waikato. All of these shows learned the value of Segway PTs years ago, and have used them every year since (find our previous stories in our Achieves, including the Airshow here, and Balloons here and here). Or search “emergency” to see our stories on Auckland’s St John and businesses like Ambulance EMT who deploy staff on Segway PTs at events such as Big Day Out, Auckland Home Show, the Waikato Home & Garden Show and many more.

Segway gyroscope: Silicon Sensing keeps PT in balance

This little box is a key ingredient in the special sauce that keeps that Segway Personal Transporter (PT) poised upright and self-balancing, as if by magic.

Silicon Sensing makes the gyroscopes used in the Segway PT.

These are not large, physical gyroscopes like you might find on a ship or aeroplane, or as an educational toy. They are micro-electrical-mechanical systems (MEMS), or gyroscopes-on-a-microchip. While relatively rare and expensive when the first Segway PT was revealed in 2001, these days such chips are encountered on a daily basis in iPhones and other smartphones, Nintendo Wii and Sony Playstation controllers, etc. As Silicon Sensing notes on their website page dedicated to the work they did with Segway, Inc:

Technically speaking, the Segway design is classic implementation of the ‘inverted pendulum control theory’ – balancing a broomstick on your fingertip is another example of the same thing. But to enable an automatically-balancing system based on this theory demands the availability of sensing, processing and actuation, all of which are fast and accurate enough. And for a commercially-viable product to emerge, this further demands the availability of these technologies at affordable prices, with sufficient robustness and reliability, and being of a suitable size.  The overall system concept demanded that the Segway PT could always continue to balance if a component fails, whilst providing alarms and reversionary action to ensure that the rider is able to dismount safely.

Dean Kamen and his team desired the Segway PT to have triple redundancy in the pitch axis (tilting forward/back), and double-redundancy in the roll and yaw axes (sideways tipping and twisting/rotation). While it is obvious that the Segway PT needs to know about pitching, roll and yaw are important when balancing on a slop.

Silicon Sensing were able to propose and develop an innovative design, to be called the Balance Sensor Assembly, in which the size, reliability and affordability criteria were met through use of our VSG3-based silicon MEMS gyro technology. A key requirement was at least dual redundancy in balance sensing – and the desire for triple redundancy in at least the pitch axis.

The resulting solution is ingenious. Rather than providing dual and triple redundancy on each axis separately, the gyros are set at angles such that, by applying trigonometry to any pair of gyros, it is possible to deduce pure pitch, roll or yaw in more than one way….The solution provides three ways of measuring pitch and two each of measuring yaw and roll. To complete the module, two dual-axis liquid tilt sensors are included which sense the true ‘down’ direction and thus the pitch and roll angles.

First Generation Segway PTs could be made to “get giddy” by deliberately rotating at high speed on the spot until the centripetal motion affected the liquid filled tilt sensors (ie: confusing what way is being sensed to be straight up and down). When the rider stops spinning, the PT “feels a little drunk” for a few moments, before pulling itself together as the liquid filled sensors and solid state gyros work out what you’ve been up to!

Free Jaffas – Auckland NOW promotion on Anniversary Weekend

It is a beautiful three days of summer holiday for those parts of New Zealand celebrating Auckland Anniversary Weekend – a public holiday that harks back to the days when the country was divided into provinces.

Out and about as part of the Auckland Buskers Festival is Phenomenon Promotions using two Segway PTs to promote the new Auckland NOW website, which is part of www.stuff.co.nz

The promotion calls for Phenomena promo staff to ride the streets of downtown Auckland handing out boxes of free Jaffas (these small spheres of solid dairy milk chocolate covered in orange flavoured icing are a Kiwi favourite). Aucklanders will be enjoying the free chocolate. At the same time, maybe those living in the other provinces around the nation might be chuckling to themselves….as in the local vernacular “Jaffa” also has a meaning that refers somewhat amusingly to people who live in Auckland.

Segway New Zealand offers brand promotion using Segway PTs with promo staff as one of our core services. We launched one of the world’s first Segway Promo teams in 2003, and since then have been part of some striking product launches.

Road Runner vs Coyote on a “Segway” (a prologue?)

One of the most-read articles at Segway NZ News is Road Runner vs Wile E. Coyote on a Segway PT. It mentions the three new 3D episodes released to cinema last year, one of which has Coyote pursuing his feathered foe on something that looks a lot like a Segway i2.

Predating this big screen release by several years, then-student Dane Jones made his own 90 second Road Runner vs Wile E. Coyote video for art class in 2006. Check it out…and be sure to watch to the end!

Segway, Inc. celebrates 10 years of ‘Simply Moving’

Segway, Inc. has re-launched its blog, and you can subscribe to their regular postings to keep up to date with the latest information. The current feature signals future expansion and growth, starting with a little history:

In December, 2001 the Segway^® Personal Transporter (PT), the world’s first and only electric, two-wheeled, self-balancing transportation device was unveiled on Good Morning America.  In 2002, the PT became available to customers and a remarkable, new transportation alternative was born.

Since that time, Segway has earned a global presence, is well-known as the world’s leading provider of personal, green transportation alternatives and robotics mobility platforms and will be celebrating its 10 year milestone anniversary throughout 2012!  The Company’s flagship product, the PT, continues to be the heart of the business and development of a new model is well underway.

According to The Union Leader, sales are now “close to 100,000 Personal Transporters” and this article summarises a decade of growth in the American, European and Asia/Pacific regions, as well as noting three important markets for Segway products: the Robotic Mobility Platform, Tourism and public safety lead by the Patroller range.

We published our own article 10 Years Ago Today the Segway PT was revealed in December 2011 where technology enthusiasts and historians will find links to fascinating information. Remember, you can also subscribe to Segway NZ News right here on this page so you wont miss out on any of our publishings.

Segway Racing ramps up interest in electric transportation

Segway Racing enjoyed world-beating success during 2011, attracting a whole new level of attention to electric transportation.

Once upon a time electric vehicles meant short range, low speed, heavy weight and poor overall performance compared to petrol engines. And one would never compare an electric vehicle with a highly tuned sports cars or performance motorbike.

Not any more.

Take for example the Tesla Roadster – the world’s first mass market, high performance sports car – 0 to 100 km in a neck-snapping 3.7 seconds – that has a range of about 400km.

Or the Segway Personal Transporter i2 – a machine that delivers almost 40km range per charge from a light, highly manoeuvrable platform that turns on the spot and has a footprint no larger than a person.

And from Segway Racing’s sponsorship of MotoCzysz racing astounding new records were set all around the world during 2011.

Segway’s 2011 Sponsorship of MotoCzysz Racing – A Tremendous Success!

In 2011, Segway Inc. officially became the title sponsor of MotoCzysz Racing. The relationship was new, exciting and focused on winning – while also proactively promoting electric motorsports and personal transportation.

“What a year it has been! We’re thrilled with the performance of the MotoCzysz Racing Team,” said Wayne Mitchell, CEO of Segway Inc.  Michael Czysz, CEO & Founder of MotoCzysz added, “We appreciated Segway’s sponsorship and we look forward to exploring additional opportunities to work together.” 

During this racing season MotoCzysz’s latest model, the E1pc, performed incredibly well on the circuit.  Its design harnesses increased onboard energy, nearly doubling horsepower while simultaneously reducing the bike’s overall weight.  This provided a distinct competitive advantage on the track and translated to podium finishes at some of the world’s most prestigious electric motorcycle races.  The wins, all earned on the same E1pc bike, included:

• Michael Rutter and Mark Miller securing first and second place respectively 
  in the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) Zero Race.
• Michael Czysz himself taking second place at the FIM e-Power/TTXGP International Championship Race, which is held in conjunction with the U.S. Red Bull Grand Prix, one of America’s largest motorcycling events.
• Shane Turpin, riding to a first place finish at the final electric race of the season, the USBA/TTXGP Event at Miller Motorsports Park

“The level of technological innovation that was achieved with MotoCzysz’s E1pc in the past year was a marvel,” commented Mitchell. “Winning these races did wonders to solidify its reputation as the world’s most technologically advanced electric bike.  In addition, it built the market’s interest in electric transportation and that was one of our primary goals in committing to this sponsorship.”  

Check out the video clips at Segway Racing. The seven fastest laps ever recorded by an electric motorcycle have all been achieved by Motozcyz, and you can watch the two fastest online. Also on show are videos of the Segway i2, x2 and Patroller hard at play and work.

Of additional interest is this article about the Isle of Man focusing on the island’s initiatives to become one of the green capitals of the world. This is a place that has had continuous economic growth for the last 20 years and an unemployment rate of just 2%. It is also the oldest continuous democracy in the world, and home to the world’s longest established motorcycle race – the Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) that since 2010 includes the TT Zero for zero-emission motorbikes.