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

To: Jerry in Omaha who wrote (340)	1/22/2002 12:29:29 PM
From: Jerry in Omaha	Respond to of 377

Deka's lobbyists appear to be hard at work. First New Hampshire and now Alabama and Washington state.(Betcha corporate moniker Deka comes from the first two letters of Dean Kamen's name.) Jerry in Omaha High-tech scooter wows Washington lawmakers By PAUL QUEARY -- Associated Press Writer Tuesday, January 22, 2002 fosters.com OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — The new Segway scooter wowed lawmakers Monday as the high-tech electric device’s builders sought largely to exempt it from state laws governing motor vehicles. The gyroscope-stabilized two-wheel scooter was unveiled amid great fanfare last month by New Hampshire inventor Dean Kamen, who touted it as a way to revolutionize short-distance travel. In Washington state, the device found an enthusiastic advocate in Sen. Jim Kastama, D-Puyallup, who sponsored a bill to let people buy and use Segways without licenses or registration fees. "I want to see this in restaurants, I want to see this in shopping malls, any place that a person goes, I want to see a Segway," Kastama told the Senate Transportation Committee at a hearing on the bill. Last week, the New Hampshire Senate approved and sent to the House a bill to allow the machine on sidewalks and roads. Consumer models of the scooter aren’t on the market yet, but are expected to cost about $3,500. They will travel at a top speed of about 12 miles per hour for about 15 miles on a rechargeable battery, said Matt Dailida, manager of government affairs for New Hampshire-based Segway. The bill would allow people to use the scooters on bike paths, sidewalks and streets with speed limits of 25 mph or less, although users would have to yield to pedestrians. Local governments could regulate or ban Segways on faster-moving thoroughfares. Along with the five gyroscopes, the machine uses on-board computers and sensors to detect subtle weight shifts as signals to move forward, back up or stop. Riders use a single handlebar grip to turn right or left. "Because of its uncanny ability to ... be part of a human, we believe it should be treated much like a human," Dailida said. "It can address some of our most serious problems with congestion." A prototype scooter was the main draw at the hearing. Lawmakers quizzed Dailida about its capabilities and seemed intrigued by possible uses for the elderly, disabled and politicians pounding the pavement for votes. "I live in a very hilly area," said Sen. Tracey Eide, D-Federal Way. Some expressed reservations that the scooters might conflict with pedestrians as skateboards and bicycles sometimes do. Dailida said Kamen hopes to establish an etiquette for how the scooters will be handled before they go on the market. Eager lawmakers and lobbyists then followed Dailida into a back room for test rides. Some senators had difficulty adjusting and jerked around the room uncertainly. "Do you get helmets for this thing?" asked Sen. Bob Oke, R-Port Orchard, who later got the hang of guiding the scooter around the room. "I’m thinking about dancing with this thing and it would be good on the golf course." Sen. Rosemary McAuliffe, D-Bothell, got the knack swiftly, gliding back and forth across the carpet and testing a feature that stops the scooter when it bumps into another person. "Any more takers?" she asked. "This is kind of fun."