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Biotech / Medical : Dean Kamen and Ginger ??? -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: CatLady who wrote (326)	1/9/2002 2:23:20 PM
From: Jerry in Omaha	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 377

Greetings CatLady, Yikes! 98% efficient electric motor. A bit pricey, but it sets a benchmark standard for sure. While the Dutchmen roll on the sun in Australia Segway can't get rolling in the snow in Concord. At least not till the new snow tires come in anyway. <g> Check out the size of one of Concord's postal carrier testers. Segway will get a "load bearing" test for sure. <g> Jerry in Omaha N.E. winter sidelines Concord Segway test By MICHAEL COUSINEAU Union Leader Staff theunionleader.com BEDFORD — The Segway needs snow tires before it can assist postal workers in Concord with their rounds. Five Concord postal workers planned to hit their routes next week to test out the Segway Human Transporters for six weeks, but that schedule hit a slippery patch. “The device has to have a type of studded tires to operate here in the Northeast and right now they are feverishly working to produce that and get that technology squared away so we can test them here,” said James Evans, district manager for the U.S. Postal Service in New Hampshire. “They’re going to be trying to get that before March,” Evans said. Five Concord workers and five from Tampa, Fla., came to the Segway manufacturing plant on Technology Drive yesterday expecting to show off the machines in front of reporters and camera crews. Instead, they worked with the Segways out of public view. The Segways, designed by Manchester inventor Dean Kamen, are self-propelled transportation devices to shuttle people along on sidewalks. Segway officials weren’t available for comment. Tampa will go ahead with its testing. Concord workers will have to wait. Evans wouldn’t name the five Concord workers, saying some may get dropped from the list with the test delay. “We selected them by height and weight. We selected a female, we selected an older person, a younger person so we get a complete gamut of what we have with our employees working for us. If we had all our youngest folks, it wouldn’t be the best test,” Evans said. “I think we got the biggest carrier in the country. He’s 6-foot-9 and about 250 (pounds). He’s one of the testers.” The Concord workers plan to spread out around the city with “various pieces of delivery, hilly, flat, a combination of all of our various routes,” Evans said. Evans doesn’t want the snow to disappear in March. “I hope not because we need to get that test,” he said. Getting results from the two test cities is important “to test the feasibility of the device in very perfect weather and of course in very slippery, icy weather,” Evans said. “The postal service has half of our deliveries in weather like this, the snow and the ice, so therefore it has to be compatible in both the Midwest, Southwest and all around the area,” Evans said. Segway officials are developing the studded tires through their partnership with Michelin. The postal workers from the two cities came to Bedford to train. “Because we’re only going to have 10 people doing this, they wanted the training to be exactly the same for everyone and they decided the best way to do that was to bring them all here,” Evans said. Meanwhile, Kamen will appear with the Segway at a breakfast forum Jan. 16 at the Wayfarer Inn in Bedford. The forum, sponsored by the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce, will run from 7:45-9 a.m. The cost is $15 for chamber members who pre-register, $18 for members at the door and $20 for non-members.