The Segway Scooter is a brilliant idea to move people around, it makes perfect sense, and it’s a lot of fun to ride with it. Recently a friend and I were spinning around and I noticed that the Segway handled well when tackling uneven sidewalks where the roots had pushed it up. Sometimes it was fun to kick them out like a little jump. Of course, later I thought it might be scary, even dangerous, if one did this at night, when there were no streetlights and no full moon.
I propose that we put lights on Segway Smart technology for night riding, but we don’t want the battery to drain either. Is it possible to build a light that can illuminate the sidewalk or path without consuming the Segway’s battery? There are energy efficient lights, but is there a way to completely bypass battery use and still have a bright light to see for safety? How about a device that would enhance the already unmatched maneuverability, freedom of movement and advanced power system, which would allow the full power of the integrated control system and integrated sensors? That’s what I’m talking about.
There are so many new advancements in the Segway, but can we take it to the next step and beyond? I propose a revolutionary new night safety lighting system for my new Segway that uses electromagnetic induction technology to charge a capacitor instead of running the lights from a battery or power source.
Some nifty micro flashlights that you can buy using a similar technique are currently in use and are available thanks to the Everlite Flashlight Technology Research Lab. These smaller flashlights work by shaking them for about thirty seconds and they glow for about 6 minutes and are quite bright as they use a very bright LED light. Here is a link to this home use flashlight:
http://demo.physics.uiuc.edu/LectDemo/scripts/demo_descript.idc?DemoID=1138
Right now of course we’re using one of these and we’ve just taped it to the Segway and we’re going to test it tonight, the question is can we get Segway’s new licensee WowWee to embed such a device into the molded plastic design or we can get two of them, one down and one forward. With sensors, which turn them on when the sun goes down so they are bright and ready just before dark like the streetlights in the city. Folks, it’s time to upgrade our Segway Scooters for the future. Think about it.