SEGWAY - the history of the self-balancing personal transporter
FEBRUARY 1982
Dean Kamen
founds DEKA
- a technology
corporation
1990
Development
starts on iBOT
a self-balancing
wheelchair invented
by Dean Kamen
One day inventor Dean Kamen
saw a young man in a wheelchair
struggling to get over a sidewalk.
He realized that the problem
wasn’t an ineffective wheelchair,
it was that the world was built for
people who could balance.
Subsequently, he and his team
created the Independence
IBOT™ Mobility System, a
self-balancing mobility device
that enables users to climb
stairs and negotiate uneven
surfaces.
After that, the thought arose
that a balance machine had
far-reaching possibilities for
people with full mobility as well.
The rest, as they say, is history...
“
“
JULY 1999
Segway inc.
is founded
to develop non-medical
applications for the
self-balancing
technology
FEBRUARY 1993
Dean Kamen
files first patent
for a self-balancing
transportation
device
LATE 1994
Production
of iBOT starts
DEKA signed a deal with
Johnson & Johnson
to manufacture
1992 the iBOT
First iBOT
prototype
the first working
prototypes are
available
2005
iBOT 4000
The iBOT 4000
starts shipping to
customers
DECEMBER 1997
First patent
is granted: iBOT
for the self-balancing
wheelchair invented
by Dean Kamen
DECEMBER 2001
Segway PT
is launched!
Segway’s first self-balancing
two-wheeled personal
2003
6,000
units sold!
of the Segway
PT
transporter.
1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005