Secret of ‘It’ Is Out: It’s a Motor Scooter

The ultra-secret “It” invention that has kept the high-tech world abuzz for nearly a year is a self-balancing, motorized scooter that costs less that 5 cents a day to operate, Time magazine reports in today’s edition.

Inventor Dean Kamen believes the machine, code-named It but officially known as Segway, will eventually replace cars in crowded downtown areas by enabling users to zip around at virtually no cost and no harm to the environment.

The two-wheeled device uses a complex array of gyroscopes and computers to mimic the human body’s sense of balance, Time said. Users lean forward to move forward, lean back to reverse course and turn by twisting a handle.

The U.S. Postal Service plans to test the device for its letter carriers, and Amazon.com Inc. will run trials for use in its warehouses, the article said.

The company expects to introduce a consumer model for $3,000 within a year, and has built a factory near its headquarters in Manchester, N.H., that will be able to make 40,000 Segways per month, Time said.