Tuesday, 10/14/03

Over the last year or so, I think I may have devoted at least four minutes to wondering how it is that the Segway can allegedly travel up and down stairs without subjecting its parent company to a jolly barrage of litigation.

Phillip Torrone, a fellow Seattleite, has been documenting his Segway experience at bookofseg.com, and if you scroll way down that page, you can find a four-minute Windows Media video snippet demonstrating his use of the "Power Assist" mode, which is what makes this marvel possible.

Like most uses of Windows Media, it is powerfully anticlimatic. Rather than gracefully escorting the rider up or down the impediment, I learned that Power Assist is apparently designed to make it easy to tug the unit along behind you. It mitigates the thing's 70-pound weight, but still looks considerably slower and more difficult that, say, putting an aluminum-frame bike on your shoulder and walking. 10:52AM «

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