SCIENCE REPORT - Human Transporter

Written by Nancy Steinbach

This is the VOA SpecialEnglish Science Report.

Graphic Image

An American inventor, Dean Kamen,says he has invented the world's first self-balancing individualtransport vehicle. It is called the Segway Human Transporter.

The Segway looks like a long stick with two wheels. The stick hashandles for a person to hold. The wheels are connected by aplatform. The person stands on the platform and holds the handles.The vehicle moves forward or backward when the person moves his bodyin that direction. The driver turns the handles to go left or right.

The Segway has computers and gyroscope devices to make it moveand balance. It is powered by batteries that can be re-charged in afew hours by using an electric outlet. It can travel at a speed ofnineteen kilometers per hour. It costs less than ten cents a day tooperate. It does not produce pollution.

Mister Kamen says the Segway could replace cars in crowded citycenters. He says it was designed to reduce pollution and solve otherenvironmental problems in cities. However, it was not designed totravel on roads.

DeanKamen

Mister Kamen is a successfulinventor and president of the DEKA (pronounced decca) Research andDevelopment Company near Manchester, New Hampshire. He has inventedabout one-hundred other devices. Some are important medical devices.These include an insulin pump for people with diabetes, a device toopen blocked blood vessels in the heart and a wheelchair that canmove up steps.

The Segway will be for sale to the public next year. It will costabout three-thousand dollars. Several businesses are testing thevehicle now. These include the United States Postal Service and thebookseller Amazon dot com. Some letter carriers will try riding thevehicles to deliver the mail. Amazon workers will use them to findbooks in their huge storage buildings. Police in two cities alsowill test the vehicles to see it they can be used for lawenforcement.

Some technology experts have criticized the Segway vehicle. Theysay it could be dangerous to ride. It does not protect the riderfrom bad weather. They say it holds only one person while othersmall vehicles can hold three people. They also say people may usethe vehicle to avoid walking and getting exercise. However, otherexperts say the vehicle is interesting and could be used in manyways in the future.

This VOA Special English Science Report was written by NancySteinbach.