Mystery invention "Ginger" rumoured to be wearable car

Source: SMH|Published: Friday January 12, 7:38 PM

http://www.theage.com.au/breaking/0101/12/A13288-2001Jan12.html

A mystery innovation by one of America's most remarkable inventors is
rumoured to be a wearable car, according to a report in today's edition
of The Washington Post.

Secretive inventor Dean Kamen of Manchester, New Hampshire, whose
previous inventions include an insulin pump and a wheelchair that can
climb stairs, has been the subject of intense speculation following
reports that Harvard Business School Press is paying a quarter of a
million dollars ($A447,000) for a book on his latest invention -
codenamed "Ginger".

The Post cited "digerati" sources in Silicon Valley as saying they are
convinced "Ginger" is a personal vehicle resembling a pogo stick with a
single wheel under it that you cannot push over, no matter how hard you
try.

"Sort of 'BC' meets George Jetson in the form of a Razor on steroids,"
as Paul Saffo of the Institute for the Future put it to The Post.

If Ginger is indeed a kind of 100 kph wheeled witch's broom, there would
be a sort of outlandish logic to it, given the inventor's background.

Kamen, who according to Wired magazine holds a Guinness record for the
longest span of time spent dressed in denim, has a history of socially
motivated invention, The Post reported. A physicist and engineer, he
holds more than 100 patents, several for quality-of-life devices,
including the portable dialysis machine.

His most recent invention was the Independence 3000 IBot Transporter - a
sort of intelligent wheelchair. It includes onboard sensors, gyroscopes
and computers that allow the device to place its wheels almost like feet
so as to climb stairs and travel over curbs and rocks.

He demonstrated it in July in the Senate and at Vice President Al Gore's
residence.

The Post said those smart miniaturised gyroscopes would presumably be at
the heart of a "Ginger" machine that could whisk people magically
through cities at high speed while never being a parking problem.

The Post warned that there will be bugs in the system. Literally. In
your teeth and in your hair, if you are scooting along at high speed.