I was a bit caught up yesterday and didn’t realise I left this out until now. Basically the Winglet is Toyota’s version of the Segway, though Toyota stressed that it’s just a prototype at the moment, you can tell in the video where Toyota is heading with it. Of course, they wouldn’t call it a ‘Segway-like machine’, Toyota calls it a personal transport assistance robot.
At the recent news conference in which the Winglet was revealed, Takeshi Uchiyamada said, “It is so compact that everyone can bring it anywhere and it is easy to use” as the Executive Vice President rode a Winglet onto the stage at the conference in Tokyo.
At the moment here is what we know, the Winglet was designed for better convenience, mainly targetting the elderly, it’s been designed to help people ‘shop around’, for example in malls. Toyota however has no current plans to sell it in the market. They are for now planning to test it out at airports and resorts to see the usability of the vehicle.The prototype showcased has a top speed of 3.7 miles per hour which is much lower than the top speed of Segway.
As you will see in the video below, the Winglet looks pretty slick and easy to control but it is much slower than that of the Segway, my only question is if its designed for shopping, how much weight will it be able to bare? And where do I put my stuff after going to shopping?
[via LinkNotes]
this is an interesting post, but I think the elderly dont make a good target. A fall would be really bad for them, protecting their bones is a priority for them. I think younger people would be better users.
An interesting device. I don’t knon how popular it will be with the older crowd as it looks more like a toy. Devices like this don’t contribute a whole lot as they can’t travel very far and they only make those who are lazy now more lazy.