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.
PHOTO: BLOOMBERG
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.
"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.
BACK IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD: The planned transit by the ‘Baden-Wuerttemberg’ and the ‘Frankfurt am Main’ would be the German Navy’s first passage since 2002 Two German warships are set to pass through the Taiwan Strait in the middle of this month, becoming the first German naval vessels to do so in 22 years, Der Spiegel reported on Saturday. Reuters last month reported that the warships, the frigate Baden-Wuerttemberg and the replenishment ship Frankfurt am Main, were awaiting orders from Berlin to sail the Strait, prompting a rebuke to Germany from Beijing. Der Spiegel cited unspecified sources as saying Beijing would not be formally notified of the German ships’ passage to emphasize that Berlin views the trip as normal. The German Federal Ministry of Defense declined to comment. While
‘REGRETTABLE’: TPP lawmaker Vivian Huang said that ‘we will continue to support Chairman Ko and defend his innocence’ as he was transferred to a detention facility The Taipei District Court yesterday ruled that Taiwan People’s Party (TPP) Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) be detained and held incommunicado over alleged corruption dating to his time as mayor of Taipei. The ruling reversed a decision by the court on Monday morning that Ko be released without bail. After prosecutors on Wednesday appealed the Monday decision, the High Court said that Ko had potentially been “actively involved” in the alleged corruption and ordered the district court to hold a second detention hearing. Ko did not speak to reporters upon his arrival at the district court at about 9:10am yesterday to attend a procedural
The High Court yesterday overturned a Taipei District Court decision to release Taiwan People’s Party Chairman Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) and sent the case back to the lower court. The Taipei District Prosecutors’ Office on Saturday questioned Ko amid a probe into alleged corruption involving the Core Pacific City development project during his time as Taipei mayor. Core Pacific City, also known as Living Mall (京華城購物中心), was a shopping mall in Taipei’s Songshan District (松山) that has since been demolished. On Monday, the Taipei District Court granted a second motion by Ko’s attorney to release him without bail, a decision the prosecutors’ office appealed
The Executive Yuan yesterday warned against traveling to or doing business in China after reports that Beijing is recruiting Taiwanese to help conceal the use of forced Uighur labor. The government is aware that Taiwan-based influencers and businesses are being asked to make pro-Beijing content and offered incentives to invest in the region, Executive Yuan acting spokeswoman Julia Hsieh (謝子涵) told a news conference. Taiwanese are urged to be aware of the potential personal and reputational harm by visiting or operating businesses in China, Hsieh said, adding that agencies are fully apprised of the situation. A national security official said that former Mainland
RSS