January 15, 2002

8:38 AM

Ginger (or Segway) was invented in Japan first."TOKYO--A self-balancing scooter billed as heralding a revolution in the way people travel could run into an obstacle in Japan, where a robotics professor wants recognition for inventing a nearly identical machine 15 years ago. "
posted by sadie01221975 (6 comments total)

this appears to be some sort of competition, and you are way behind.
posted by howa2396 at 8:41 AM on January 15, 2002

Yamafuji admitted that he was eager to meet Kamen and share ideas. "It is a matter of pride for me, not money."

That would be great. It sounds like these two guys would really benefit from each other's ideas and ingenuity. I guess it will never happen, unless Kaman felt the same way, but it would be excellent if it did.
posted by lucien at 8:53 AM on January 15, 2002

What's that about revolutionizing the way people run into obstacles?
posted by scarabic at 9:12 AM on January 15, 2002

One thing is certain: the bar for breakthroughs and revolutions is getting particularly low.
posted by skyline at 11:45 AM on January 15, 2002

The japanese version doesn't use gyroscopics, and was referenced in Kamen's patent, so it doesn't sound like this will be much of an issue for him.

He's got bigger issues to deal with, like how to convince people to spend $3K on a scooter.
posted by mdn at 1:02 PM on January 15, 2002

"I would hand over my patent for one dollar if Mr. Kamen admitted that we were first."

Yes, very magnanimous and all that, but by referencing Dr. Yamafuji in the patent, as mdn points out, hasn't Kamen already admitted that? Or is there some disagreement here about "first to do what"?
posted by Bixby23 at 5:45 PM on January 15, 2002