For those who still think of Segway solely as the company founded by Dean Kamen in 1999 to produce a mildly popular personal transportation unit, then you might be surprised to hear that the company offers a collection of consumer and industrial grade transportation products and robots. One of their latest offerings is the Loomo, which combines the mechanics of the traditional Segway with artificial intelligence and voice controls. So, you can either jump on and use it to get around, or have it follow you with your stuff, snapping pictures and taking video along the way.
The Loomo’s platform and tire-covered wheels allow for riding up to 22 miles on a full charge, which takes about three hours. But what really sets it apart are the sensors and AI. Equipped with a touchscreen LCD interface, an eye display indicates when Loomo is ready for voice commands that range from taking pictures to transforming between scooter and robot modes.
For example, by telling Loomo, “let’s go,” it will drive up in front of you, turn around and twist its screen 90 degrees so you can get on board. Similarly, by placing it in follow mode, Loomo uses Intel's RealSense depth-sensing camera system to identify owners and follow them around, lugging your backpack, bag, man purse, or European carryall. Additional sensors also help it avoid obstacles.
In addition to buying your own entourage, the Loomo runs on a custom version of Android that Segway has opened up to developers in hopes of additional app development. The software will be updated with automatic over-the-air updates.
In case you’re interested, the Loomo can currently be purchased at https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/loomo-mini-transporter-meets-robot-sidekick-mobile#/ for $1399.