Re: segway race: fun and games with a segway

From: spike66 (spike66@attbi.com)
Date: Mon Nov 18 2002 - 22:18:23 MST


brent.allsop@attbi.com wrote:

> But the Segue’s parallel wheelbase eliminates the side to side instability.
> Leaving the “face plant” instability up to the computer control...
> I’m just thinking theoretically here, I’ve never tried one. It’d sure be fun
> to try...

Roger that. Perhaps they will offer trial rides at
a trade show. I will see if I can do the butt dragging
manuever.

The sales staff may take a dim view.

> But I bet a segue could have much better stopping ability than a
> motorcycle. Brent Allsop

Oh, I firmly believe otherwise sir. I will cheerfully
demonstrate my ability on a motorcycle to out-brake
any segway under any conditions. {8-]

Since my original post, I have thought of more games
we can play with segways. Place two squares, a meter
on a side, a distance of 20 meters apart. The game
is to see who can go in the least time from a stop in
one box to a stop in the other.

Would a segway with no one aboard stand still?

What if it is on a slope with no one aboard?

What if we put a small dog in a pet carrier and
carefully set it on the segway platform? Would the
segway go back and forth as the dog panicked?

What if we placed a bucket of water on the seqway
and started it sloshing?

What if we placed a seqway on the back of a moving van and
drove around with it? Would it try to compensate and
stay in the center of the truck?

What if a segway is placed on the deck of a rocking ship?

What if you hoist the segway off the ground and tilt it
hither and thither?

What if two segways are placed in the parking lot with
their handles attached by a long bungee cord?

Or two seqway riders competing Amurican Tractor Pull style,
where the rider's back belt loop is connected to her
opponent's back belt loop via a 10 meter bungee cord.
A big pit of mud or coleslaw is placed halfway between
the competitors. Or muddy coleslaw? Ahhh, that would be
a total hoot to watch.

No wait! Have the competitors wear bikinis, and
tie those together in back. It would be like the
Coppertone girls on segways.

{Man, I gotta patent that idea. The ticket sales
alone would exceed the GNP of Burundi.}

What if one places a flagpole in a weighted base
and places that on the seqway? What if you use a
tallllllll flagpole? On a windy day?

What if we play soccer (football) on segways?

Or rather, play soccer using a segway as the
ball: the players may not touch the scooter
but rather try to maneuver it into the goal net
by kicking soccer balls at the handle.

What if a reaaaallly drunk person rides a seqway?
Does it weave and wobble? Or two waaay drunken
riders with their bikinis tied together?

What if we try hocky on seqways?

For that matter, how about racing segways on
an eliptical track on some reeeeeallly slippery
surface, such as ice, or a waxed gym floor with
a millimeter of water?

What if we had freestyle gonzo extreme segways,
running on those skateboard park things? Wouldn't
that be wicked cool?

This line of questioning leads me to recognize the
enormous potential of the seqway as a toy. However
I am loathe to flush $5k for such silliness, so I
propose building a 5:1 downscale toy segway, not
large enough to actually ride but big enough to
answer some of the questions posed above. Segway
Barbie? Better yet, two drunken segway Barbies,
struggling to pull each other into the
muddy cole slaw pit. {8^D

spike



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