I always thought that the Segway was somewhat of an odd and unconventional innovation. Who would ever want to ride around on a two-wheeled power vehicle, or maybe the better question is, who could ever afford something like that? According to sources, Segways can cost anywhere from $5,000 to $8,000. Personally, I think I'd just like to have a bike instead of something so expensive and, to be frank, somewhat weird. I have to admit, however, that after personally driving one around a friends house they are a lot of fun and really simple to use. You don't even need to have good balance to ride one of these things.
So I thought that the Segway seemed like a pretty ridiculous invention, but the military doesn't! They've invested in Segway on steroids. This "Segway" is a militarized skateboard that can travel up to 30 mph and travel up 40 degree slopes! The military claims that such a device is perfect for rescue/recovery and reconassaince missions. Check it out!
As you can see, this thing looks like a small tank. They call it the "DTV Shredder."This invention was created by Ben Gulak, a sophomore at MIT. The Shredder works on a 4-stroke Honda go-kart engine that packs a punch of about 15 horsepower. In total, the vehicle weighs about 85 pounds and has a turning radius of only 4 feet.
According to sournces, the DTV Shredder is able to tow a car with ease. Imagine what it could do in a rescue/recovery mission if it had to pick up a person?
It seems as though this "Segway Tank" is not completely ready for action however. People from some blogs seem to be bashing the design because they haven't seen credible test numbers. Bloggers also complain that all of the pictures of the Shredder in action are just photo-shopped pictures.
I have always found military advancements to be really interesting. Going back to my previous blog, a while ago I was looking through Popular Mechanics and read about an "IronMan-like" suite that allows soldiers to jump higher, run faster, and be much, much stronger.
Cheers,
Pat
Sources:
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/05/ap_roboticsuit_051508/
http://www.thedesignblog.org/entry/dtv-shredder-tracked-skateboard-runs-on-4-stroke-honda-go-kart-engine/
www.geeky-gadgets.com/dtv-shredder-is-a-segway-tank-12-09-2010/
That thing looks sick. I bet those things are pretty damn expensive. But that's okay, considering most of our federal taxes go to our unbelievably large defense budget anyways.
ReplyDelete