Palscience

Toyota Motor Corps introduced a new motorized ride to help people scoot around the malls, airports or maybe the neighborhood. Toyota’s goal is to target elderly people who get tired of walking for a long distance in the mall. I think that probably younger people also would like to have one of these toys just for fun, or even for faster navigation. There is an excising and similar ride is used in the malls and airport called Segway, but the difference is that some of Toyota’s rides don’t have a handlebar as you see in the image. Toyota said that people would learn how to use it easily, and it’s not going to be a hassle for elderly. “Any one can learn to ride it with some practice” they said.

Officials said we are just testing the new ride, and we are planning on evaluating the feedback from the people who already tested it in Toyota showroom last week. In addition, Toyota Motors has no plan on turning the ride which they call it “the Winglet” into a commercial product. They will start testing the two-wheeler this year at an airport and resort complex and next year at shopping mall in Japan.

The Winglet can go about 3 miles before needing to be recharged again, and it goes up to 3.7 mph which is around the speed of normal walking. Winglet is designed to stop easily with little pressure, pivot full-circle and go smoothly over bumps on roads.

“We hope to create friendly robots that can exist side by side with people,” Uchiyamada said. “Winglet will help everyone move around safely and stay active.”

No information yet about the price, but Segway cost 5.000$, so probably Winglet will be around that price too.