Toyota unveils its "personal transport assistance robot“ – the Winglet

05 August 2008

Toyota has already built a global market on the strength of its small, fuel-efficient vehicles. Now, it has gone smaller with the development of what it calls a "personal transport assistance robot'' - a motorized stand-up-and-ride device designed for scooting around malls and airports.

This innovative product, called the Winglet, is quite similar to the Segway unveiled in the US early this century. It uses the same "lean the way you want to go" system of gyros and sensors to control forward and backward movement but has a simple parallel-link mechanism for steering.

Toyota has built three prototypes – ranging from "practical" to "hands-free sporty", using the same mechanism but with different control handles.

The "L" is much the same as a Segway, with a long, tubular stem reaching to waist height incorporating a pair of hand-grips at the top, but the "M" and "S" version have shorter, padded stems intended to be held between the rider's knees (on the "M") or calves (on the "S").

The Segway PT is a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle invented by Dean Kamen. Segway Inc. of New Hampshire produces it. The name "Segway" is a homophone of "segue" (a smooth transition, literally Italian for "follows"). PT is an initialism for personal transporter while the old acronym HT was an initialism for human transporter.

The small version of the Winglet, which stands just 18 inches tall, is designed to be ridden hands free. The medium version stands nearly 27 inches tall, while the large version (which most closely resembles a Segway) stands 44.5 inches tall.