This morning I received a call from a friend. He told me that Segway Inc. is voluntarily recalling its personal transporters for software upgrades. I guess they discovered it can unexpectedly reverse direction, causing the rider to fall off.

As an inventor, and someone who admires technology, I encourage my staff of Inventionmen to use our Segway in InventionLand. So, we happen to use Dean Kamen’s creation to not only navigate our work environment, but also to inspire us to create.

For myself, an inventor and entrepreneur who has faced the struggles of the invention world, I’ve seen Kamen as an inspiration. He is someone who shows it can be done. We’ve seen him take on the auto industry with a zero emission product. It was an ambitious project that drew much criticism, but it was successful. However, today more than 23,500 personal transporters were recalled.

Can you imagine taking your vision to market only to pull it following several years of success? Not to mention, Segway Inc is rolling out their latest models.

Now, I hate to be the one who uses the Segway as a segue (I honestly tried to resist, but the draw was far too great), but this is just one of many examples of the setbacks inventors face.

Inventors push through thousands of holdups, blowouts, meltdowns, explosions, trips, mishaps and the ever unfortunate glue incidents. From initial idea, to tooling a concept into a manufacturable product and finding a company to license and sell it is a road lined with land mines. Even when you have it on the shelves you have to hope you were right about the human psyche and a consumer’s wants and needs in the marketplace.

The path of inventing is full of near-debilitating incidents. I’ve faced them, as many have before me, and I face new ones every day. This software recall may not be significant, but it’s an example of the ongoing struggle innovation pioneers meet.