X-SciTech

Meet 'It'

By Amanda Straniero

December 3, 2001 / 3:44 AM EST / CBS

After months of hype, an inventor is set to unveil an electric scooter being billed as an environmentally friendly alternative to cars.

Inventor Dean Kamen and his backers said the scooter needs less energy and creates less pollution than cars, and could help people move about more efficiently in urban areas.

CBS News Technology Consultant Larry Magid reports the device looks a bit like a cross between a Razor scooter and an old rotary lawn mower. Magid also reports the scooter is touted as being able to go as fast as 17 miles per hour.

The Segway "will be to the car what the car was to the horse and buggy," Kamen told Time magazine for Monday's edition. "Cars are great for going long distances. But it makes no sense at all for people in cities to use a 4,000-pound piece of metal" to get around town.

Kamen holds roughly 100 U.S. patents. His other inventions include the heart stent used by Vice President Dick Cheney and a radical improvement on old wheelchair designs.

Kamen said the battery-powered scooter requires little electricity. His Manchester, N.H.-based firm, DEKA Research and Development, will oversee production of the machine.

Built-in gyroscopes are designed to keep the scooter from falling over as riders stand upright over the invention's single axle, navigating with a bicycle-like handlebar.

Kamen says each hour that the battery is charged provides enough power for two hours' use.

The U.S. Postal Service, General Electric and National Parks Service will be the first buyers, purchasing 80-pound heavy-duty models for $8,000 apiece, according to Time. A 65-pound, $3,000 consumer model won't be available for at least a year.

Word that Kamen had invented some kind of revolutionary transportation device were first revealed on the Web site Inside.com almost a year ago, leading to speculation about what it was and would do. It was code-named "Ginger" or "IT."