Then
d
n
a
NOW
DEAN KAMEN’S SEGWAY INSPIRES
BALANCING ROBOT RESEARCH
by Tom Carroll
I normally jump right in, discussing the history and development of a particular type of
robot and how that robot or the robot’s use has changed over the years. I’m going to
digress away from my usual format and start with a technology and an individual who
has changed robotics and the learning of robot science in a way that I personally feel no
other individual has done before.
It was January 2001, and the news was abuzz with something called ‘Ginger.’ The talented
inventor and entrepreneur, Dean Kamen was
talking about his latest invention that was
patterned after an earlier invention called iBOT.
(iBot was nicknamed ‘Fred Upstairs’ after the
actor/dancer, Fred Astaire.) “Ginger” (named after
Astaire’s dancing partner, Ginger Rogers) would
eventually evolve into what we know today as
the Segway.
Most of us in robotics know Kamen for his
work in forming and supporting FIRST (For Inspiration
and Recognition of
Science and
Technology), and its
very popular series of
robotics competitions.
Dean also founded DEKA
Research and Development
Corporation, and was able
to concentrate on some of
the most difficult technical
challenges out there. To date,
over 50,000 Segways have
been sold in many different
configurations.
FIGURE 1.
Kamen’s iBOT.
Kamen’s
Innovation
To get behind the idea for this
invention, we have to go back a
76 SERVO 12.2009
bit. Dean had seen a person in a wheelchair
having great difficulty trying to get up over a curb.
He knew there had to be a better way for those
who were bound to such crude mobility; to be a
bit more versatile in their travels around their
surroundings. He set about to develop a balancing
wheelchair that not only was able to climb a curb
but could even go up and down stairs — a longtime barrier to true freedom for wheelchair users.
This stair-climbing feat was the
reason for the ‘Fred
There were
all sorts of
robotic devices
at the time that
could climb curbs
as well as stairs,
Upstairs’ moniker given to
his invention; later called
the IBOT.
Another important
feature of this
‘wheelchair’
was that it
allowed a
disabled person to
rise up to eye-level
with another person,
and be able to move
about in a manner
more similar to an
able-bodied
person.
FIGURE 2. Original ‘Ginger’
Segway concept.
