Segway, Inc. announced their second generation of Personal Transporters (PT), featuring the breakthrough LeanSteer system, which the allows the rider to change direction simply by leaning left or right, making directional changes a natural extension of the motion of the rider.
The key to LeanSteer is Novotechnik's rotary position sensor, located at the pivot point of the LeanSteer frame at the feet of the rider. This sensor reads the angle of the LeanSteer frame and communicates it to Segway's advanced dynamic stabilization and control system. This system drives the wheels at the precisely correct turn radius so that the driver's lean is balanced by the centripetal acceleration of the turn.Novotechnik's sensor was developed to meet Segway's demanding requirements for the steer-by-wire system. The package contains two electrically independent potentiometers, based on the same Novotechnik technology found in tens of millions of throttle-by-wire systems already on the road in passenger cars and trucks worldwide. The sensor is designed and tested to provide high precision and exceptional long-term durability. In addition, Novotechnik's potentiometer technology is fundamentally resistant to being affected by electromagnetic interference.
Segway, LeanSteer, Personal Transporter, and PT are registered trademarks of Segway, Inc.
Novotechnik has received the Robert Bosch Corporation "Supplier Award" for the second time in a row!
With this award, presented on July 6, 2005, "Bosch acknowledges the outstanding performance of Novotechnik in the years 2003 and 2004 with respect to quality, costs and reliability of delivery. Further criteria for the award are the preparedness of a company to further develop its products and services on a continuous basis, as well as the company's technological potential. The award is conferred on the company's best suppliers (this year a total of 51) every two years." Novotechnik has received consecutive awards for 2001/2002 and 2003/2004.
In making the 2003/2004 award, Mr. Jorg Vial of Bosch Corporate Purchasing said of Novotechnik, "You have distinguished yourselves by your outstanding performance, your flexibility and the technical quality of your products during last two years. Your performance contributes to our competitive ability and makes it possible for us to supply the highest quality products. We officially thank you for the years of good cooperation."
Novotechnik produces precision potentiometric position sensors for the Bosch DV-E5 throttle body, used in throttle-by-wire applications. Since 1997, Novotechnik has produced over 20 million sensors for Bosch, who continues to report an aggregate of zero PPM field failures, year-after-year, and over billions of miles of vehicle operation.
As a result of Novotechnik's continuing excellent performance, Bosch has also selected Novotechnik as supplier of potentiometric sensors for their next-generation DV-E8 throttle bodies.