From Ginger--What Is 'IT'? An Uber-Scooter, Apparently
Friday, January 12, 2001 By Michael Y. Park
NEW YORK — "IT" may have been unmasked.
The invention so fantastic that it will supposedly change the way cities are built, yet so secret that only a handful of people have actually seen "IT," is apparently a kind of super-duper, Star Wars-esque scooter.
Patent applications filed with the U.S. Patent Office and World Intellectual Property Organization by Deka Products reveal a stand-up motorized vehicle that can be folded up and is impossible to knock over.
The device, designed by noted inventor Dean Kamen, would have a built-in global positioning system that would allow users to simply punch in a destination, sit — well, stand — back, and enjoy a smooth, pollution-free ride. Using gyroscopes, computers and internal sensors, "IT" — also known as "Ginger" — can negotiate rocks and small obstacles. The power source is unknown, but speculation has centered on tiny hydrogen cells. The international patent was granted Dec. 14, the American one on Oct. 26, 1999.
"The present invention pertains to vehicles and methods for transporting individuals, and more particularly to balancing vehicles and methods for transporting individuals over ground having a surface that may be irregular," the patent papers say drily.
Ten pages of the application posted on www.thesmokinggun.com include several pages of diagrams in which men and women stand aboard odd-looking devices that resemble skateboards crossed with pogo sticks. One looks like a large skateboard with a single wheel in the middle; another features a man precariously balanced on a winged tray with the same single wheel. Others resemble scooters or futuristic vacuum cleaners and lawnmowers.
Calls to Kamen in Manchester, N.H., went unanswered.
Everyone Wants to Know: What Is 'IT'?
There's been feverish speculation about the newest invention from Kamen, the National Medal of Technology-winning inventor who created a portable dialysis machine, a drug-infusion gadget, a stair-climbing wheelchair and about 100 other thingamajigs.
The buzz over "IT" got so loud it even prompted the distinguished publishing house of Harvard Business School Press to agree to hand over $250,000 advance for a book on a device whose function they didn't know and that isn't going to be officially unveiled until 2002.
The device "will sweep over the world and change lives, cities and ways of thinking," the proposed book's author, Steve Kemper, wrote in his book proposal. "'IT' will be an alternative to products that are dirty, expensive, sometimes dangerous and often frustrating, especially for people in the cities."
The inventor, he went on, would soon be "meeting with city planners, regulators, legislators, large commercial companies and university presidents about how cities, companies and campuses can be retro-fitted for Ginger."
The new contraption, expected to cost about $2,000, has been cooed over by such technological luminaries as Amazon.com's Jeff Bezos and Apple's Steve Jobs.
"A product so revolutionary, you'll have no problem selling it," Bezos said. "The question is, are people to be allowed to use it?"
While some say they're prepared to meet the future head on, others smell a hoax in the making. Either way, there may be no definitive answer until Kamen officially unveils "IT" — in 2002.
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