Quote:
Originally Posted by thingstodo
Funny .. and IRONIC perhaps? 
A 30% increase in speed is nothing to sneeze at. Depending on how hard the task was. It sounds like an interesting hack! |
The Segway was software limited to 10 MPH so that it could be classified as a mobility aide in some country. It does this by leaning back against your efforts to lean forward for more speed, and beeps at you. If you continually cause it to do this, it penalizes you by lowering the max speed to 6 MPH. If you try to force through the leanback, it will simply stop, sending you off.
The hardware mod has a person cracking into the watertight seal, desoldering the microcontroller, and soldering the (something like 64 pin) chip back onto the board. It has a much less aggressive leanback setting, allows 13 MPH, and does not penalize a person for approaching the limits repeatedly.
Interestingly, the max speed in reverse is 13 MPH. Some have disassembled the steering mechanism and reversed the left/right inputs so that it operates correctly in reverse. Rumor has it there's no leanback as you approach max speed, which is a bit scary since it would just dump you if it was exceeded. I think I'll try it.