Dean Kamen, the man who gave us the Segway, has teamed up with Toyota to bring back another one of his most fascinating transportation devices: the iBot.
SEE ALSO:Segway just dealt a huge blow to the hoverboard industryThe iBot debuted back in the late '90s as an innovative multi-wheel chair that gave wheelchair-bound users the ability to travel up steep stairways, elevate themselves to the height of a standing person and even traverse rough, outside terrain. However, with a cost of about $25,000 per unit, the device simply didn't find enough users to stick around, as the device was officially discontinued in 2009.
Now, in an announcement posted on its website on Saturday, Toyota has pledged to work with Kamen's Deka Research to launch a next generation version of the iBot.
Kamen even appears in a new video (see below) riding the iBot, detailing the vision and reasoning behind bringing the device back into the market.
"Our company is very focused on mobility solutions for all people," Osamu 'Simon' Nagata, chief administrative officer at Toyota Motor North America, said in a statement on Toyota's website. "We realize that it is important to help older adults and people with special needs live well and continue to contribute their talents and experience to the world."
Toyota will also license Deka's balancing technology for the development of other medical rehabilitative therapeutic solutions.
No price or release date for the next iteration of the iBot has been announced, but given the history of the first, potential users can at least hope for a lower price in the future.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.
(责任编辑：休閑)
The U.S. will no longer have the final say on internet domain names
TCL's new concept phone unfolds and rolls out to get bigger and bigger
Amy Klobuchar loves this journalism bill. Facebook and Google, not so much.
Twitter may introduce special labels for humor and satire accountsSound the alarms: Simone Biles finally met Zac EfronSingapore gets world's first driverless taxis
SINGAPORE -- The world's first self-driving taxis started picking up passengers in Singapore on Thur
...[详细]Trump's campaign exploited default opt
Trump is gone from the White House, but his supporters are still feeling the hurt of his campaign's
...[详细]Bill and Melinda Gates are ending their 27
Bill and Melinda Gates announced on Twitter in identical statements Monday that they are ending thei
...[详细]Oprah and Prince Harry's show 'The Me You Can't See' premieres May 21
Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey's Apple TV+ docuseries on mental health now has a title and a premier
...[详细]This 'sh*tpost' bot makes terrible memes so you don't have to
The internet is awash in trashy memes just waiting for your late-night retweet spree. Why waste prec
...[详细]Oprah and Prince Harry's show 'The Me You Can't See' premieres May 21
Prince Harry and Oprah Winfrey's Apple TV+ docuseries on mental health now has a title and a premier
...[详细]NASA's Mars helicopter, the Ingenuity, gets hit with a flight delay
If you were planning to tune in on Sunday for NASA's maiden voyage through the skies of Mars, don't
...[详细]Gmail and other apps are crashing on Android, but there's a fix
If apps such as Gmail and Google Pay have recently been crashing on your Android phone, you're not a
...[详细]Visualizing July's astounding global temperature records
July set a rare temperature record during a year that is featuring off the charts warmth. The month
...[详细]The free cookbook designed for people with taste and smell loss from long COVID
"What can we do to help?" That's the question Ryan Riley asked himself when people began experiencin
...[详细]New Zealand designer's photo series celebrates the elegance of aging
Here's your first look at the purple iPhone 12
