With its relatively flat landscape and low speed limit, Bermuda might seem the ideal candidate for the new self-balancing, motorised scooter that costs less than five cents a day to operate.

However Island residents have given a mixed response to the invention, announced to the world with great fanfare on Monday.

At $3,000, the electric Segway Human Transporter has a range of roughly 17 miles and a top speed of 12 miles per hour and could replace cars in crowded city centres and prove useful on factory floors.

Looking like an old-fashioned push-type lawn mower, the two-wheeled device uses a complex array of gyroscopes and computers to mimic the human body's sense of balance.

Users lean forward to move forward, lean back to reverse course and turn by twisting the handle.

Falling over is impossible and the Segway can handle ice, snow and stairs with ease, Segway marketing director Tobe Cohen said.

But the new invention has received a muted response in Bermuda as the answer to the Island's traffic woes.

Logic COO Jeff Hamill, 39, said: "I would be sceptical.

"It's not for the side walk but there are already too many vehicles on the road.

"It's hard enough carting your groceries around on a bike let alone with this. "I don't think the Country is engineered properly for this.

"It could work if it had its own roadway but I can't see it intermingling with mopeds and cars."

Asked if it would work if ordinary cars and bikes were banned Mr. Hamill exclaimed: "I don't want to go there!"

Environmentalist Stuart Hayward said the invention was a great idea.

He said: "It's novel and five cents a day is attractive and it would be interesting to see it being used in St. George's, Hamilton and Dockyard by traffic wardens.

"But it's very difficult to compete with comfort, privacy, security and speeds of private cars.

"I foresee acceptance problems for general travel on the roads.

"There would be a safety worry in mixing with cars and trucks, particularly given the 12 miles-per-hour speed, but it could work for transport within car-free city limits."

Asked if tourist rental might be a niche for the new machines Wheels Retail manager Bridan Matcham said: "Almost categorically no.

"There are too many legal implications.

"What would the licence and helmet requirements be from TCD and what if someone got struck on one?"

Chevron International Administrative Assistant Valerie Moffat, 52, said: "When I first saw it I said I wouldn't mind one but my husband said you would kill yourself on one of those.

"It looks cute.

"But for Bermuda?

"It's not like a bike where you are sitting. How great a distance would you want to go?

Segways are offering two models, due out next year, an industrial model that has greater range and speed and the ability to carry cargo, and a trimmer one with smaller wheels for the densest pedestrian environments.

The scooter is the latest gadget from award-winning inventor Dean Kamen, who has also developed the first insulin pump, a briefcase-sized dialysis machine, and a wheelchair that can climb stairs.

The scooter builds on "dynamic balancing" technologies Kamen used to create his wheelchair.

The scooter is powered by electric batteries.

However, Kamen's research firm is working on an emission-free engine that recycles much of its own heat.

The company sees the machine as a handy way to get around congested urban areas where driving a car is inconvenient or impossible, or as a practical "people-mover" in developing nations like China.

The US Postal Service plans to test the device for its letter carriers and Amazon.com will run trials for use of the vehicle in its warehouses.