(FORTUNE Magazine) – In my boyhood dreams, I'd glide like a feather on a breeze, down hallways and through rooms, my toes floating a foot or so above the floor. When I took a ride on inventor Dean Kamen's already famous "it" invention--formerly code-named Ginger and now launched as a product called the Segway Human Transporter--I experienced a delightful flashback to those dreams. I was also reminded of those super-pedestrian emotions that can arise on airport moving walkways. Somebody else likened it to skiing, except without skis and snow.

The most magical aspect of this unconventional battery-powered sidewalk cruiser is what engineering nerds call the "man-machine interface." Using a Segway is so intuitive that it feels as though the thing has somehow been plugged into your central nervous system. To move forward, just think sincerely about moving forward; you'll instinctively lean forward a bit. A suite of miniature gyroscopes, tilt sensors, and other silicon smarts in the 80-pound Segway's control system picks up on this and sends power to a pair of electric motors at the wheels. Arch your back a tad, and Segway slows to a halt. Lean back a bit more, and you'll begin gliding along in reverse.

The gyro stabilizing system, based on one that Kamen developed for his IBOT stair-climbing wheelchair, is another truly amazing feature. The Segway remains upright without a kickstand while the rider hops off for a moment, and the motors automatically make the necessary fore-and-aft corrections. Gyro stabilization let me glide confidently up and down 20-degree ramps in forward and reverse, and even traverse a bed of three-inch-diameter stones.

The only traditional control on this supremely unconventional vehicle is a twist grip for steering that the engineers located on the left handgrip so that riders familiar with motorcycles wouldn't confuse it with a right-hand throttle. Like an Army tank or a bulldozer, the Segway can turn within its own footprint, so that you can amuse yourself and others by spinning left and right without going anywhere at all.

This tight-turning ability isn't just a novelty; Amazon.com, GE Plastics, and Delphi Automotive Systems have purchased the first wave of commercial-model Segways, hoping they'll boost productivity for workers picking and packing orders and delivering parts to assembly lines. The U.S. Postal Service will also be finding out if Segways can help letter carriers make more stops on their daily rounds. A wave of consumer Segways costing about $3,000 is planned for a late-2002 market launch into the hands of early adopters who want to become "empowered pedestrians."

"You may wake up at three in the morning sweating and needing to ride Segway some more," warned Kamen. And he was right. I thought only new-and-improved motorcycles could do that to me.