REVOLT: The Segway-maker’s next move
Never mind the new deal with GM. Dean Kamen reaches back to an 1800s combustion engine to fire up automotive’s electric future.
By Gregory M. Lamb | Staff Writer for The Christian Science Monitor/ April 29, 2009 edition
Manchester, N.H.
General Motors perpetually promises to deliver its Volt electric car. Tesla Motors has the wealthy and trendy anticipating its luxury electric sports car. The Chinese say they will mass produce electric cars to help clean up their choking cities.
But none of them is committed to do what Dean Kamen hopes his prototype REVOLT hybrid-electric car will do: Bring electricity to the 1.6 billion people who still live without it.
Mr. Kamen, an inventor and entrepreneur perhaps best known for the two-wheel Segway Human Transporter, doesn’t want to get into the car business himself. He just wants to see the Stirling engine that helps power the REVOLT be mass produced for vehicles. That would drive down the price, he says, and allow it to be cost-effective in another role: as a miniature electric plant for villages in the developing world.
A Stirling can run on just about anything that creates heat, from gasoline, kerosene, and ethanol, to natural gas, propane, hydrogen, and, yes, the methane given off by animal manure.
In a recent test, two villages in Bangladesh ran Stirling engines to create electricity for 24 weeks – using only cow dung for fuel. “We’re pretty excited about that,” Kamen says.
“The little engine that could,” as Kamen calls the Stirling, was invented in 1816 by Scottish clergyman Robert Stirling. He found that alternately heating and cooling gases in a closed system could create power to do work, such as drive a piston. But steam engines soon became far superior in producing power for large applications, such as railway locomotives. Later, the diesel and gasoline internal combustion engines proved superior for mid-sized jobs, such as cars and trucks. And in the 20th century, the jet engine combined tremendous thrust and relatively light weight to rule the skies.
So the Stirling was mostly forgotten, even though its simple concept is “elegant, it’s brilliant,” Kamen says. But its time to shine might be now. All-electric cars still suffer from wimpy batteries that limit driving range and refuel slowly. “The energy you can carry around in a liter of gasoline is 100 times higher than you can carry in the same size and weight of a battery,” Kamen says. “And that’s going to be true for a long time.”
Today’s hybrid cars add a gasoline engine to both power the vehicle and recharge the battery. But the sooner cars can be weaned from fossil fuels, the better for US security and the environment.
Why not use a Stirling to charge the hybrid car’s batteries, Kamen asks. The Stirling’s waste heat could warm the car’s interior on cold days, saving even more battery power.
Outside the offices of DEKA Research & Development Corp., Kamen’s company located in a former mill along the banks of the Merrimack River in Manchester, N.H., Kamen shows off his prototype. The exterior and chassis are from a Think electric car, developed and abandoned by Ford years ago. It was shipped in a crate from a Norwegian company trying to revive the brand. Its pebbled plastic body is a little larger than the Smart ultracompact now on US roads.
Lithium-ion batteries, the current state of the art, sit under the REVOLT’s hood. Below a cover in the back is the cylindrical Stirling engine, a bit smaller than a golf bag. It’s not hooked up at the moment, Kamen says, because it’s about to be swapped out for an improved version. But the car does work. “I’ve had it up to 70” m.p.h., he says with a smile.
Does he have any automakers interested in buying his Stirling engine?
“A number of very large companies, very well recognized,” have engaged in “very serious conversations” about using his Stirling in their vehicles, he says.
In an interview in his office, the serial inventor explains why he’s involved in projects like the REVOLT and a science education project called FIRST, in which he reportedly has sunk millions of dollars of his own money. (He also has developed a robotic arm for amputees, a water purifier for the developing world, and a stair-climbing wheelchair called the iBOT.)
The office features a full-sized cutout of Darth Vader, photos of his helicopters and airplanes, a hard-backed chair painted with a likeness of Albert Einstein, and a wall plaque that reads: “Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds. – Einstein.”
Two Segways and an iBOT sit in a corner. Outside in the brick-lined hallway hang a row of original 1950s comic book illustrations drawn by his father, Jack. Around the corner is a photo of Kamen meeting President George W. Bush in 2007. In the picture, Kamen, who holds 440 US and foreign patents, is wearing the same blue denim shirt and jeans that he wears every other day.
Kamen has become a multimillionaire doing his “day job” designing products for large companies. He can’t talk about that, he says, “because it’s confidential stuff.”
What he loves to talk about is FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology), a student robotics competition he started nearly two decades ago. The initial competition was held in a high school gym in Manchester. This year’s finals, held April 16-18 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, attracted more than 10,000 student competitors from more than 25 countries. (A much larger number compete beforehand in regional qualifying tournaments.)
The theme this year is “Lunacy,” celebrating the 40th anniversary of the first humans to visit the moon. Student-built robots must collect balls (“moon rocks”) and deposit them in trailers hitched to opposing robots. The floor of the playing field is designed to be slippery, offering the robots only one-sixth the traction of a carpeted surface. That echoes the difference in the gravitational pull on the moon, which is one-sixth that on Earth.
The students work with mentors from companies like Boeing, Xerox, Johnson & Johnson, Motorola, and United Technologies.
“We’ve got to get all kids in this country prepared for the 21st century,” Kamen says. “There are a couple of million of technical jobs desperately waiting for people to fill them. There are a couple of dozen jobs [playing basketball] in the NBA. And yet, look how kids spend their time. Look at what they aspire to do.”
The American economy, he says, can roar back if the business community recommits to innovation.
Although there may be a fixed amount of natural resources on the planet, he says, “there’s not a fixed amount of ideas.”
“Innovation really happens in times of adversity,” he says. “Maybe there’s a silver lining to what’s going on in the world right now.” It has been easier to do financial engineering than real engineering. It has been easier to figure out how to move money around than to create it. “Maybe now we’ll get back to the basics,” he says.
Kamen himself is an example that an innovator never gives up. Great ideas can just be ahead of their time. His Segway, introduced in 2001, is more likely to be used for comic effect in a movie such as “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” than on American streets. Is that a disappointment? The jury is still out, he says.
His view was buttressed by an announcement in April that GM would team with Segway to make a two-wheeled electric vehicle based on the scooter.
“I don’t know if you’ll see lots of Segways or Segway-like things in 10 or 20 years,” he says. “But one thing I do know: There’s virtually no chance that 20 years from today the normal method of getting around a highly dense urban environment will be as stupid as it has been for the last 20 years. It’s unsustainable environmentally.
“Is a Segway an interesting option?” he asks. “If you’ve got a better one, let me know about it.”
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Comments
2. Penn Taylor | 04.29.09
Contrary to the article’s subtitle, the Stirling cycle engine is not a combustion engine. It is instead a heat engine, and can operate from any heat source of sufficiently high temperature. The Stirling cycle does not require that this heat be produced by combustion. Contrast this with the Diesel or Otto cycle engines familiar from automobiles, which are called “internal combustion” engines for a very good reason.
Also, regarding the statement, “The Stirling’s waste heat could warm the car’s interior on cold days, saving even more battery power”: I fail to see how this is any different from the heater in my current vehicle. The waste heat from the Otto cycle is used to heat the passenger cabin. That’s why the heater in the car doesn’t work until the engine warms up.
“A Stirling can run on just about anything that creates heat, from gasoline, kerosene, and ethanol, to natural gas, propane, hydrogen, and, yes, the methane given off by animal manure.” So can a steam engine or a thermoelectric generator (TEG). The important point is that the stirling cycle has an advantage over a steam engine in that it does not require separate boilers and turbines. There are fewer working fluids and moving parts involved, so the things can be made somewhat more idiot-proof. The advanatge over a TEG is efficiency and robustness.
3. N. Wylie Jones | 04.29.09
On the website,Connecting the Dots, they had a cover with Dean Kamen on a box
Of Wheaties. The article was pointing out that Ray Kurzeil and Dean Kamen would make better heores than sports figures or movie stars. I agree. I have been a teacher and writer for 29 years. Ray Bradbury has been my inpiration for most of my life. I sent him a copy of my new book, The World’s Most Creative (And Dangerous) Quote Book, last week. Dean Kamen uses his creativity to help make the world better. He’s not about the money. Ray Bradbury, age 89, lives to create. He’s working on over 100 projects;Dean is probably working on more than that. Words and ideas are always very green; there is no shortage of either;there is no recession of the mind. I even created an original quote to describe Dean Kamen:
“Dean Kamen is a segway to the future.” N. Wylie Jones
4. Archmac | 04.30.09
Patrick must live in a flat part of the country! I’d hate to try to use a bicycle as a primary means of transport here in the hills of NH! Bicycles are primarily useable only by those who are very fit: Segway is useable by almost everyone.
Kudos to Mr. Kamen for yet another brilliant-but-simple solution to a major problem. I hope to see Revolts zipping by my office window soon (it’s wonderful to work near Mr. Kamen’s company…we never know what we might see).
5. Mary Dyer | 04.30.09
I have been following the Segway with considerable interest since encountering a couple of owners at the local hospital rehab center. Bicycles are wonderful if you come equipoped with two legs, a sound heart, a good sense of balance that goes with youth and vigor.
in addition to the $5,000 plus price tag for something that has never been mass produced enough to get the price down, the owners had a major legal problem decideing if something motorized was legal in the bicycle lanes, something too slow for the traffic lanes, even in town when rush hour traffic never topped the 12 mile a limit top speed.
or heaven forbid you ride a vehicle on the sidewalk like a non motorizaed, but illegal skate board.
they arent difficult to learn to ride, one of the owners graciously introduced me to the versitile little machine. But its so radically different the problems were as much legal traffic rules, stay off the sidewalks stay out of the bicicle lanes and stay out of the auto trafic lanes too.
Like the owner said bicycles are great for people with two legs, and a great sense of balance as well. but something innovative with no legal niche to fit into neatly.
6. Aaron Goldblatt | 04.30.09
I sometimes wonder what kind of fantasy world Mr. Kamen lives in. He has somme innovative ideas, but this is once again another economically unviable proposal much like the Segway. Even if the REVOLT can run on anything that makes heat, different materials generate heat at different rates and with different byproducts. Such materials have to be commoditized as well - there cannot be any uncertainty on a day to day basis around “what kind of fuel I will use today to power my REVOLT.” I remember shortly before the Segway was introduced the hoopla surrounding it and the claims that it would revolutionize the way people get around. It turned out to be just hype. Besides mall cops and guided tours, I see few, if any segways, and they remain too expensive and impratical for most Americans. I think Mr. Kamen needs to invest some of his time and energy into market research.
As for the claim that today’s methods for getting around highly dense urban areas is inefficient, I would disagree. Walking and/or biking works fine for those of us that live in urban centers, as does public transportation. Improving the latter will revolutionize how we get around far more than needless inventions like the Segway and REVOLT. I see the Stirling engine as a more practical way of bringing electricity to remote villages in the third world than as an alternative to the internal combustion engine.
And to the person that claimed that bicycles are only great for “people with two legs and a great sense of balance,” I have to inform you that 99.9% of us have two legs, and anyone who can walk straight can ride a bike. And perhaps those with heart issues will find that getting a little exercise via biking instead of driving will in fact improve their health.
7. James | 04.30.09
@Patick (&Archmac): Yes, the bicycle is a great alternative, and we need to do more to expand it’s use. Perhaps electric assist bicycles could help where terrain is challenging or for non-athletic commuters. Dealing with weather is another significant issue. Check out bikecommuters.com and bicycledesign.blogspot.com to read about a lot of great ideas for making cycling a viable option.
@Penn: Both Stirling and Otto cycle engines are heat engines; the former is external combustion (as you noted) and the latter is internal combustion.
@ N. Wylie Jones: I completely agree that somehow we need to have more people like Dean Kamen regarded as heroes. Not many folks seem interested in technical fields these days. How do we popularize science and engineering so that we can have more individuals working on solving society’s difficult technical challenges (transportation, energy, etc.)?
8. mrperfect | 04.30.09
I commend all innovation, but I don’t understand the mainstream need for Segway. Why do we in America need a $5000 machine to take us around when the rest of the world gets on a bike? I’ll never forget being in Europe, during January and seeing a woman at least 70 years old riding across the street on a bicycle. The street was covered in ice. No one turned to look. This was ordinary. Why are we so helpless here in USA?
9. Lilly | 05.01.09
I spent more than a year working on appeals to my insurance company trying to convince them that the wonderful iBOT is a necessity and not a toy. I think of the Doctor who refused my last appeal every day when I try to do something or go somewhere not possible on my scooter. My efforts became pointless when production of the iBOT ceased. What’s the point of these inventions without some sort of follow-through to get them into production?
10. George Curtis | 05.01.09
Who said third world villages NEED electrical power?
Maybe they do OK with a kerosine lamp.
11. NH-Sonny | 05.08.09
Can’t you all see that the “point” behind folks like Kamen, is not about creating a new product that we all must have, but showing us what CAN be done, to spark the imagination, to turn on the light, to get people to notice and discuss and expand the scope of the ideas beoyond the inventors original inspiration.
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5. Blahoogle Automobile - The Quickest Way to Explore the World Automobile Everyday » More on Kamen’s ambitious plans for the Stirling engine | 04.30.09
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1. Patrick | 04.29.09
In response to:
“Is a Segway an interesting option?” he asks. “If you’ve got a better one, let me know about it.”
My response:
The bicycle.