“SEGWAY® PERSONAL TRANSPORTERS LEAN TOWARDS THE FUTURE”

From the day it was introduced I was fascinated by the Segway.For those unaware, the Segway is a two-wheeled, self-balancing electric vehicle invented by Dean Kamen. It is produced by Segway Inc. of New Hampshire, USA. 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 suffix HT was an initialism for human transporter.

That said this Thursday, World Usability Day is being co-sponsored by UsabilityNJ the NJ affiliate of Usability Professionals’ Association featuring the new Segway.

World Usability Day is organized by The Usability Professionals’
Association, to promote awareness of the benefits of usability
engineering and user-centered design. Last year, World Usability
Day was hosted in over 50 countries around the world with over 100
events in 36 hours. In New Jersey, the theme last year was making
healthcare innovations more accessible to all citizens.

“SEGWAY® PERSONAL TRANSPORTERS LEAN TOWARDS THE FUTURE”
Celebrate 4th Annual World Usability Day, November 13th, Rutgers
CoRE Building, Piscataway, NJ

PISCATAWAY - November 10th, 2008 - Where can you try out the world’s first self-balancing personal transporter? Segway® of Basking Ridge is providing two models of the Segway® at Rutgers CoRE Building at World Usability Day in New Jersey on Thursday, November 13th, 2008. Dealer Ed Tsang is bringing a current and prior model to show how the rider’s experience has improved in the current version. Try-outs of both vehicles are available to the general public from 4:00 to 6:00 PM.

Hosted at the CoRE Building, 96 Freylinghuysen Road, Busch Campus, Rutgers The State University of New Jersey, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854 (directions: http://www.caip.rutgers.edu), the free event is being held from 4:00 PM to 9:00 PM. The theme this year is “Usability in Transportation for New Jersey: Which Exit?”

“This Segway® comparison allows us to see and feel the difference in steering and balance. Most of us do not work with gyroscopes, so this also expands our understanding of an interface of the future,” says Dr. Mary Smith, Program Chair for New Jersey Usability Day and New Jersey resident. “Usability is about meeting people’s needs. Segway has created vehicles that serve not only the individual, but also workers i specialized areas, such as transportation logistics, and even police departments,” adds Dr. Smith.

“I can’t wait to ride them,” says Ronnie Battista, President of UsabilityNJ and New Jersey resident.

In addition to the Segway® demonstration, the program includes:

Outdoor presentations by the Eastern Electric Vehicle Club, and Princeton Autonomous Vehicle Engineering (PAVE) Demonstration and exhibits including new designs for bridge safety, navigation for the blind, and eye tracking tools to improve pilot and driver safety Speakers from Keep Middlesex Moving, NJ Transit, The Center for Maritime Systems, and NASA Space Ambassadors Panel discussion on the future of transportation

For more program details, visit wud.usabilitynj.org/2008/ and http://www.usabilitynj.org/index.html. Details of events held worldwide can be found at www.worldusabilityday.org.

The New Jersey chapter of the Usability Professionals’ Association, UsabilityNJ, (www.usabilitynj.org) is presenting this event. New Jersey businesses and academic institutions have a long history of contributing innovations and technologies that have improved lives. Usability engineering is the science and art that makes these innovations practical, easy to use, and valuable to companies and consumers.