IT Questions Answered

By
ABC News
January 6, 2006, 6:47 AM ET
3 min read

N E W   Y O R K, Dec. 5, 2001 -- Since Good Morning America's unveiling of Dean Kamen's mysterious invention Monday, we've been getting a lot of questions on ABCNEWS.com about how "IT" works.

Kamen joined Charlie Gibson in Good Morning America's Times Square studio to answer a few viewer questions about his two-wheeled personal transportation device, the Segway Human Transporter.

Gibson: Here's one of the questions people keep asking on our Web site — What are the practical applications? Is it just fun, or will it change the way we get around? I know you are very enthusiastic about this — what do you envision for it?

Kamen: Every new form of transportation has changed the way we live and work. We build ships, we crossed ocean. We build railroads and we connect the continent.We build cars and we connect the cities together. Before we used to walk, but now cities are big and time is critical to people. If you can move them faster, they can go further in a city and still have all the advantages of being a pedestrian, they can stand up, beat high density and they don't pollute. It is a very big deal.

Studio audience question: What is the age range for this? Also, can you carry a child while on it?

Kamen: We have various pieces of accessories that will be available. We have ways to carry lots of things on the side and in the front. In terms of who should use it up front — we are not only going to have it available as a consumer product, but for very specific industrial users. For instance, the United States Postal Service or Parks Service or large companies will use it to demonstrate that it is a product activity tool. At what age level people decide to use it … we will learn a lot about that this year.

Studio audience question: I live in West Virginia where it is very high, there are a lot of up and down hills. Can you go up and down?

Kamen: We have obstacle courses we built yesterday with 20 degree slopes. This machine can handle it very well. When it looks like it should be sliding down, it will hold on a hill. People at Michelin tire, who have four generations of designing and building world-class tires, have designed tires for this. They have made some that are particularly designed for ice and snow.