Self-balancing scooter
battery-powered electric vehicle
A self-balancing scooter (also hoverboard, self-balancing board, electric scooter board, or swegway) is a self-balancing personal transporter consisting of two motorized wheels connected to a pair of articulated pads on which the rider places their feet. The rider controls the speed by leaning forward or backward, and direction of travel by twisting the pads.
Invented in its current form in early 2013, the device is the subject of complex patent disputes. Volume manufacture started in China in 2014 and early units were prone to catching fire due to an overheating battery which resulted in product recalls in 2016, including over 500,000 units sold in the United States by eight manufacturers. There have been 23 official recalls since 2016, affecting around 1,115,200 units in total.
History
Shane Chen, a Chinese businessman and founder of Inventist filed a patent for a device of this type in February 2013 and launched a Kickstarter fund-raising campaign in May 2013.
The devices' increasing popularity in USA has been attributed, initially, to endorsement by a wide array of celebrities (including Justin Bieber, Jamie Foxx, Kendall Jenner, Chris Brown, Soulja Boy and Wiz Khalifa). The founders of the American company PhunkeeTree encountered the board at the Hong Kong Electronics Show in 2014 and became involved in its distribution shortly thereafter.
By June 2015, the board was being made by several manufacturers, mainly in the Shenzhen region of China. In January 2015 through Inventist, he announced his intention to pursue litigation In April 2015, Ninebot, a significant manufacturer of devices acquired Segway Inc.
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