…so I am a teacher, and I teach senior students:

I have, on occasions, joked about how cool it would be to own a Segway – my classes are physically far apart and getting between campuses takes time, hence the idea that a PTD (personal transport device) would be cool. I _never_ in my wildest dreams imagined my students would do anything about this pipe dream – let’s face it, we all say things in jest.

It was an ambush, total surprise – I think I was the only one who knew nothing. It still gives me goosebumps thinking about it. I was teaching my year 11 class when the whole year 12 class arrived headed by Tom on a Segway. They had crowd-funded a second hand one as a end of year gift – wow, just wow!.

I am not often lost for words, on this occasion all I could do is shake with the excitement of a little kid on christmas morning. I rode it around class and down the hall – how could I not? The school went a little wild that day, not so unexpected and I was oblivious.

Struggling for something to fold now the academic year is over and the holidays have begun, the subject was natural.

Abandoning a square, I folded from an A3 sheet, after a number of attempts I managed a fold that stand up on its own, has all the important features of a Segway and was suitable for a rider.

I tried to find someone elses design, but then figured that I should be able to nut it out on my own. A couple of failed attempts taught me a lot about the engineering of the model so that I had enough paper for round wheels and the ability to narrow down for handlebars and split at the top – folds only we have a Segway 🙂