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US postal service buys 40 Segways

Dean Kamen demonstrates his much-hyped invention. PHOTO: BLOOMBERG

The US postal service has a hunch ``Ginger'' will speed up the way its carriers deliver mail.

Postal service carriers in five US cities will use ``Ginger,'' the battery-powered people mover invented by Dean Kamen, to deliver mail on five routes starting Monday. The postal service bought 40 of the scooter-like vehicles from closely held Segway LLC, founded by Kamen, for an undisclosed price.

In a second round of tests, mail carriers will use the transporters in Norman, Oklahoma, Memphis, Tennessee, New York, San Francisco and Chandler, Arizona, Segway said in a statement.

Testing in a sixth city, which has yet to be decided, will begin in August, the company said.

The Segway human transporter has gained in popularity from media attention on television shows such as ABC's Good Morning America. Three transporters, the first to be sold to customers, were auctioned in March for US$364,800 on Amazon.com Inc, the largest Web retailer. They cost about US$3,000 each.

Tests held in Tampa, Florida and Concord, New Hampshire, to determine if the postal service could use transporters to deliver mail "were promising," Postmaster General John Potter said.

Going postal * The US postal service has bought 40 of the scooter-like vehicles. * Mail carriers will use the human transporters in Norman, Oklahoma, Memphis, Tennessee, New York, San Francisco and Chandler, Arizona.

"It was found that the Segway HT reduced the physical stress of carrying up to 35 pounds of mail and it decreased the time used to walk between delivery addresses," the Postal Service said in a statement.

With no brakes, the user leans slightly to move. Five gyroscopes and sensors track the rider's center of gravity and determine direction. Two 4.5kg rechargeable batteries can carry a passenger as many as 24km.

The transporter, which is as wide as the average adult's shoulders and as long as a large shoe, has an average top speed of 20km per hour. An 36kg device with cargo carrier can carry a 112kg rider and a 34kg payload, Manchester, New Hampshire-based Segway said.
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