Toyota Announces Segway Killer: The Winglet Personal Transporter

Monday, August 4th, 2008

Toyota has announced its new Segway killer, the Winglet “personal transporter” — which seems to assume that the Segway needs a competitor to kill it:

Only a year after taking control of Sony’s robotics business, Toyota has come up with a vertical, mechanized scooter (or personal transporter, in future-speak) intended to help people move about in public areas.

Called the Winglet because of its fleet nature, it is the first gadget to duplicate the celebrated, and often mocked, navigation system of Dean Kamen’s Segway Transporter: self-balancing through gyroscopic sensors detecting the gentle directional tilts of a rider.

However, this personal scooter is probably not up to par to the Segway in speed or ruggedness. The newest Segway model can go up to 12.5 miles per hour (versus the Winglet’s 3.7 MPH), and the slightness of the Winglet’s frame probably wouldn’t survive a Police chase.

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