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While never having ridden any of these things. It seems to me they have an obvious design fault while riding on a decline, where gravity pulls you forward which

While never having ridden any of these things. It seems to me they have an obvious design fault while riding on a decline, where gravity pulls you forward which leads to the snowball effect of increasing your speed indefinitely.

deleted 16y ago
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brk 16y ago
Well, I have ridden various Segway models, and it works nothing like that at all. You can easily come to a complete stop on any incline (provided the tires can maintain traction eg: an 89 degree hill might pose some challenges to the general physics of the situation).
darklajid 16y ago
The models I've driven have a speed limit (either in "beginner" or "expert" mode, 9kph/~20kph respectively, iirc). If you hit that, the segway is actively working against the inclination of the handle. Basically you can try to push with force and lean with your whole weight against the handle, it just won't move away. On the contrary: Fighting it to hard leads more to you standing upright again or getting a small inclination to the back, _although you try to do the opposite_. I have a disclaimer of my own though: I've ridden them on ~flat terrain and only fought these safety mechanism there, trying to go faster. I'd expect them to work just the same going downhill though.
dandrews 16y ago
There is no coasting or "snowball effect" - the Segway is not a freewheeling device. The wheels only do what the computers tell the motors to do.
- sharmajai 16y ago
  May be I wasn't clear earlier, what I meant was not freewheeling but gravity pulling the PERSON forward which makes him/her lean forward and hence the segway style acceleration.
  - mikemol 16y ago
    Gravity doesn't pull you forward, it pulls you down. Unless a particular human never learned to walk or sit upright, their natural tendency in balance is to hold themselves in-line with gravity*, not necessarily at a perpendicular angle to the surface they're standing on. (There is some input from the eyes, which trick house attractions and the like exploit, but we're usually pretty good about it.) This is what learning balance is all about, and most of us pick it up by the time we're two years old. Segways detect the human riders' effort at balancing (which most do without effort or awareness), and exploit it.

deleted 16y ago

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brk 16y ago

Well, I have ridden various Segway models, and it works nothing like that at all. You can easily come to a complete stop on any incline (provided the tires can maintain traction eg: an 89 degree hill might pose some challenges to the general physics of the situation).

darklajid 16y ago

The models I've driven have a speed limit (either in "beginner" or "expert" mode, 9kph/~20kph respectively, iirc). If you hit that, the segway is actively working against the inclination of the handle. Basically you can try to push with force and lean with your whole weight against the handle, it just won't move away. On the contrary: Fighting it to hard leads more to you standing upright again or getting a small inclination to the back, _although you try to do the opposite_. I have a disclaimer of my own though: I've ridden them on ~flat terrain and only fought these safety mechanism there, trying to go faster. I'd expect them to work just the same going downhill though.

dandrews 16y ago

There is no coasting or "snowball effect" - the Segway is not a freewheeling device. The wheels only do what the computers tell the motors to do.

sharmajai 16y ago
May be I wasn't clear earlier, what I meant was not freewheeling but gravity pulling the PERSON forward which makes him/her lean forward and hence the segway style acceleration.
- mikemol 16y ago
  Gravity doesn't pull you forward, it pulls you down. Unless a particular human never learned to walk or sit upright, their natural tendency in balance is to hold themselves in-line with gravity*, not necessarily at a perpendicular angle to the surface they're standing on. (There is some input from the eyes, which trick house attractions and the like exploit, but we're usually pretty good about it.) This is what learning balance is all about, and most of us pick it up by the time we're two years old. Segways detect the human riders' effort at balancing (which most do without effort or awareness), and exploit it.