Tag Archives: mobility

This self-driving wheelchair has detachable walker to empower the user to walk with ease

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Age is only a number until your body begins to show signs of aging. When knees begin to wear down, the simplest of tasks – you took for granted – steadily develop into an everyday challenge and then age suddenly becomes a significant number.

Life at this point leans toward dependence which none of us have wanted to experience. To facilitate individuals in considering mobility lesser of a challenge, we have seen tech-enabled walkers, canes, and electric wheelchairs in our time; however, combining the ability of all in a cohesive device, Cobi makes a sublime appearance.

Designer: Hyeon Park, Haeun Jung, Hyuntae Kim, Sookyoung Ahn

Cobi, a means of personal mobility for seniors, is designed one, to positively impact an aged person’s attitude toward life, two, to change the society’s outlook toward aged population which is considered a liability especially when free mobility becomes a task for them.

With something like the matte finished Cobi, the aged generation will lead a better, less dependent, mobile life; it’s a given! To earn such credibility, the accessory is meticulously created in two individual parts: a walker and a mobility device, that combine to form one state-of-the-art wheelchair. Even more exciting; Cobi runs without human intervention.

With its autonomous mobility and onboard button for instant breaking, Cobi is one convenient way for mobility challenged to get from point A to B without external assistance. To ensure a glitch-free ride, Cobi uses laser projection to navigate around obstacles. Provided with a cushioned seat and low backrest, the mobility device has a hide-away footrest that sticks out allowing the rider to rest their feet through transit. For additional convenience, the mobility detaches from the walker at the destination, facilitating the user to head to the areas where the ride cannot go, simply by using the walker as the assistant.

The height adjustable walker has a rubber handle that’s convenient to grip and it has a built-in flashlight to guide the user through dark environments. While the senior person is using the walker, the self-driving Cobi returns to its charging station so the person can avail the ride once it’s back in power and ready to go.

The post This self-driving wheelchair has detachable walker to empower the user to walk with ease first appeared on Yanko Design.

This autonomous travel pod boasts minimalistic design + organic social interactions

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Lately, we’ve seen a number of mobility concepts that promote lounging and interiors advocating social interaction. The Agora-e mobility concept is yet another future-forward city commuter that lays emphasis on personal social interaction. Envisioned to bring a zero-emission autonomous means of transportation to Hong Kong and the thickly populated suburbs of Southern China, the pod will set the example for sustainable transportation in the other major metropolis as well.

Dubbed Agora E, the electric ride is inspired by the public gathering spaces in Greek cities. The naming convention comes from the word “agora” which means to “gather together.” More like a pod, the autonomous four-wheeled public transport vehicle has an interior that triggers instant conversations and meaningful interactions. There’s a continuous circular seating in green color, wherein the passengers sit facing each other, and the inward space is left open for luggage, wheelchair, or standing passengers.

Designer: Andrea Ponti

For the standing passengers, there’s a circular rail on top of the roof to hold onto for those bumpy rides. Agora E, unlike other similar travel pods – envisioned for future cities – this concept keeps things to the bare minimum. There are no interactive screens or over-the-top inclusions that in practical usage will not make much sense. There’s only one display that shows the current routes in the waypoints to keep passengers updated about their destination, and the real-time weather. There are clear glass doors and a tinted roof to keep the interiors of this travel pod well lit. This makes sense during peak hours of traveling so that passengers don’t feel bogged down or congested.

Cities in the future will undoubtedly be more crowded than ever, so Andrea has kept the design compact – more on the elongated side and with less width. The wheels on the electric commuter are on the smaller side for agility and a shorter turning radius. Agora E will help in breaking the ice for travelers after a long day’s work – that is, if they’re not glued to their smartphones, ignorant about what’s happening in their periphery!

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We encourage designers/students/studios to send in their projects to be featured on Yanko Design!

The post This autonomous travel pod boasts minimalistic design + organic social interactions first appeared on Yanko Design.

Man Builds Remote Controlled Bed So He Never Has to Leave It

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I’ve heard of couch potatoes before, but never bed potatoes. But here to prove there is such a thing, a 39-year-old man from China named Zhu Jianqiang went and built himself a joystick-controlled bed so he never has to get out from under the sheets to go about his day. Talk about a genius!

The bed moves about as fast as a walking human and gets an impressive 30 miles to a full charge (there’s plenty of room for a large battery). It can tackle steep grades thanks to its large tires and braking system and includes a motor for raising the incline of your head and a canopy for staying out of the sun. Now it just needs a mini-fridge and I’ve found my dream bed!

In the video, Zhu even takes the bed down to a pond to do a little fishing. That’s cool. At least until he accidentally steers himself into the water. Then it’s less cool and more cold and wet. Unless, of course, it can transform into a submarine bed the way James Bond’s would.

[via TechEBlog]

Alphabet-shaped mobility vehicles imagined and visualized in this fun collection

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What if Letters Were Mobility A

When creativity flows, it flows and what we see here from car designer Siddhesh Bhogale is a collection of fascinating mobility advancements. These creations are born out of wild imagination that perhaps most guys have thought since they were little boys.

Siddhesh Bhogale is a car designer, so we know his passion for technology and things that move is real. He imagines all 26 letters of the alphabet as a form of advanced mobility. It’s not just any kind of mobility, but with advancements, you and I can only dream about, at least for now.

Designer: Siddhesh Bhogale

What if Letters Were Mobility

What if Letters Were Mobility YANKO

This set reminds us a lot of the Alphabet Project by Marius Longo, but this isn’t an NFT collection. It could be, but that’s another topic to consider. This series also reminds us of the alphabet-shaped desks. You can see the creativity and innovation in every design.

What if Letters Were Mobility B C

The mobility solutions are shown off in stunning visuals and illustrations. All 26 letters were rendered into units that move or allow mobility. Who knows, someday, these mobility letters could find their way into reality.

The designer imagined the letters as a unique form of mobility. He utilized appropriate but differing visual scenarios to justify such expressions. This particular collection is an expression of creativity that touches on the area of mobility.

What if Letters Were Mobility D E

What if Letters Were Mobility F

What if Letters Were Mobility G

Enjoy this fascinating lineup of letters fashioned into something unique and extraordinary. Of course, we can’t figure out everything, but we’ll try to think and use our imagination. Actually, we don’t have to identify each and every concept design, but we’ll try as it can be fun.

Let’s start with ABC, as they are supposed to be the easiest to do. The A looks like a futuristic rocketship, but at first glance, we thought is some sort of a high-tech angle grinder. B appears like a twin spacecraft that will someday launch and head to Mars. C looks like a robot or some mechanical animal that could roam around the earth once the aliens have left.

F seems to be an autonomous vehicle that can pick up and deliver food. We see the Uber Eats logo so we’re assuming this has something to do with food deliveries and more. G is a floating pod where you and I can rest and “recharge.” The light above a person could be for light therapies.

What if Letters Were Mobility H I

Both the H and I look like spaceships we’d probably see next in ‘Lost in Space’. J and K combined (JK Rolling) seems to be a pun, but it looks like yet another floating vehicle (or an alternative to Hedwig). L appears like a building under construction.

What if Letters Were Mobility J K L .

What if Letters Were Mobility M N

M looks like another spacecraft descending on a snowy mountain. The letter N is a pair of roller skates that is now trendy these days. We imagine O as a portal that appears out of nowhere, offering itself as an escape. The P looks more like a giant robot that can protect you from an alien attack.

What if Letters Were Mobility O P

The next two designs are for letters Q and R. The Q could be another space pod. The R could be a flying vehicle that could easily transport humans over short distances in the future.

What if Letters Were Mobility Q R

What if Letters Were Mobility S T

The S looks like a heavy-duty machine while the T could be a spaceplane.  We’re not sure, but U looks like something used underwater. The VW Dockwing is one fancy, futuristic spacecraft.  What if Letters Were Mobility U V

What if Letters Were Mobility W X

X reminds us of a portal that lets you travel through space and time–something like you’d see in The Flash Universe. Y isn’t a Batmobile but it’s definitely Batman’s. Last but not least, the Z here appears like another spacecraft ready to leave Earth again.

What if Letters Were Mobility Y Z

The post Alphabet-shaped mobility vehicles imagined and visualized in this fun collection first appeared on Yanko Design.

This bike-friendly soft-top umbrella is designed to keep cyclists clean and dry on rainy days!

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RainRider’s soft-top cover was designed to attach to e-bike and road bike handlebars to protect cyclists and their bikes from rainy weather conditions and reduce CO2 gas emissions by keeping cyclists on the road even in the rain.

While many of us choose to ride bikes and e-bikes to help mitigate the effects of carbon emissions released when driving in cars, weather conditions like rain and snow get in the way of a smooth ride, keeping more casual cyclists off the road. To keep cyclists on the road, RainRider, a Germany-based startup devoted to sustainable mobility, recently launched its soft-top cover for cyclists to attach to their road bikes and e-bikes during rainstorms.

Whenever the rain comes, cyclists can simply strap the soft-top cover onto their handlebars and fork tubes and ride as usual. RainRider’s cover follows the steering of the bike and its streamlined design makes it less sensitive to crosswinds that might blow through rainstorms. Like an umbrella for your bike, the RainRider’s soft-top cover is designed with an aerodynamic shape to keep rides speedy and safe even on rainy days. Lightweight by design, the soft-top cover from RainRider only weighs 1.5kg and can fold down into a backpack when not in use for easy storage and portability.

Constructed from UV-resistant window film and coated polyester fabric, the plastic cover not only keeps the rain at bay but the sun rays as well. The soft-top cover’s frame is made from aluminum/carbon rods and plastic connecting joints, adding to its lightweight, flexible design. Additionally, RainRider equipped each soft-top cover’s window film with an adjustable ventilation system to prevent the window from fogging and keep riders cool with some fresh air. Whenever riders want to park their bike with the soft-top cover still attached, it can fold down into a parking position, which covers the entire length of the bike.

Describing the inspiration behind their new soft-top cover, RainRider explains,
“With the RainRider Soft-top, you can save a lot of money by using your bike all year round and therefore do without your car or use it less often. In addition, you contribute to relieving municipalities and cities from car traffic and reducing CO2 emissions.”

Designer: RainRider

RainRider’s Soft-top cover protects cyclists and their bikes from rainy weather to help reduce CO2 emissions given off from cars. 

To keep cyclists from driving their cars on rainy days, the Soft-top cover from RainRider protects cyclists from almost every angle. 

This autonomous shuttle bus reimagines last-mile commute with informative graphics and a minimal, transparent design

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Modern architecture constantly reimagines what cities might look like in the future, but public transportation still lives in an era of antiquated buses and faulty subway trains. Weaving between smart office buildings and shiny skyscrapers in a packed bus from the ‘90s proves that public transportation could use some reimagining of its own. Designing Campus Shuttle as a mobility concept to connect busy drop-off/pick-up areas, student designers Kilian Wiesmann and Nils Achenbach aimed to rethink public transportation through a transparent and autonomous public bus.

The designers prioritized versatility and accessibility with Campus Shuttle to ensure a smooth ride for everyone. From the outside, wheelchair access is made available via a retractable ramp that bridges the edge of the curb with the shuttle entrance. Curated animations and LED signal lights communicate with other vehicles on the road through autonomous programming. Built from curved glass panels and an aluminum framework, Campus Shuttle is a fully transparent, four-wheeled vehicle.

Getting inside the Campus Shuttle is also as easy as unlocking your smartphone. Using proximity sensors located in the shuttle’s sliding doors, commuters are granted access to the shuttle by scanning their ticket’s barcode or by paying for a ticket through Google or Apple Pay. Retractable seats line the perimeter of Campus Shuttle’s interior space, offering flexibility and creating more space when necessary. Situated in the center of the vehicle, an interactive information hub helps commuters become familiar with the shuttle route and surrounding city.

Campus Shuttle is designed to carry commuters between high-traffic pick-up/drop-off areas throughout major cities, such as airports, campus and office buildings, and public markets. The designers explain,” Our trend research phase has shown a remarkable inefficiency of transport in big cities. Individual traffic takes up a lot of space. In addition, the number of passenger cars in Germany has grown relatively steadily by half a million vehicles annually over the past two decades, from 450 cars per 1,000 inhabitants in 1998 to 560 cars per 1,000 inhabitants in 2018.” Designed to bring public transportation out of the ’50s, Campus Shuttle boasts a futuristic, sleek profile.

In cooperation with Brose Mechatronics, Wiesmann and Achenbach conceptualized Campus Shuttle to be a city staple for the public transportation industry. Designed with five curved glass panels that surround aluminum beams, Campus Shuttle maintains a minimal look. When in motion, Campus Shuttle almost appears to hover above the ground, linking a vision of futuristic public transportation with contemporary architectural landscapes. Personally, I see it as a nightrider in the dark, hovering above the street in sleek lighting. Campus Shuttle’s low-rise build makes it appear to hover above the ground when in motion.

Campus Shuttle was built to be versatile and accessible, so the designers implemented the most cutting-edge smart technology into the shuttle’s autonomous design. Pre-programmed signal lights and wheelchair access ramps add Campus Shuttle’s overall safety factor. These design elements specifically focus on the local users, “The university consists of several remote buildings that can be challenging to reach by foot, especially for students and staff with disabilities. This is exactly the challenge we took on with our concept vehicle: Linking extensive areas like universities, company facilities, airports, and trade fairs.”

With a traditional interior bus design, Campus Shuttle is familiar enough for commuters to intuitively understand and the modernization of the design makes it more accessible, giving a win-win situation that is sure to be appreciated by all users!

Designers: Kilian Wiesmann & Nils Achenbach

Disassembled Gadget Art: Where Old Smartphones Go to Die

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Inspired by Todd McLellan’s Things Come Apart object breakdown photography series, Kevin of Etsy shop FEIPPO carefully disassembles smartphones of yesteryear and frames all the pieces for display as wall art. I say smartphones, but he also has some classic Nokia brick phones available as well, which I’m surprised he was able to tear down at all based on how well they were assembled in the first place.

Prices range from $140 to $240 depending on the phone, and each includes all the phone’s original components, although there’s no guarantee if you reassemble all the pieces that it will work again. Still, certainly something to keep in mind in the event of an emergency.

I wonder what my grandchildren will think when they see one of these hanging in the hallway when they come to visit. ‘Whoa grandpa, what the heck is that thing?’ I imagine them asking while taking digital photos with their cybernetic eyeballs and posting them to the latest social media platform telepathically.

[via DudeIWantThat]

VW Microbus Igloo Coolers: The Party Bus Has Arrived!

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Inspired by the classic look of vintage Volkswagen Type 2 microbuses, Igloo has released three limited edition coolers, each resembling one of the 1950s and ’60s vehicles. Available on Amazon in red and orange large sizes and a blue mini size (affiliate links), they’re the perfect coolers for bringing a few cold drinks to the beach. I mean, provided your actual VW bus makes it without breaking down on the side of the road.

The larger red and orange coolers hold around twelve cans, and the smaller blue bus around six, although both carry a few less with ice added. Granted they’re not this over-the-top VW microbus cooler, but they’re also not $500. That means there’s a lot of money left over for keeping the coolers stocked with cold drinks. Shoot, if I spent $500 on a cooler I wouldn’t even be able to afford drinks until next year.

I remember my uncle had an old VW microbus he used to haul all us cousins around in on weekend car trips. I also vividly remember the engine catching fire one morning while he was trying to get it started in his yard. It still got us to the river that day though. Didn’t get us back, but it got us there.

[via DudeIWantThat]

Hip Flask Nunchucks: For a Drunken Master

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Weapons and booze: as a general rule, they don’t mix well together. But did that stop Anvirtue from producing these hip flask nunchucks? No, it did not. I can already feel the welt on my leg swelling because I tried showing off my amateur nunchuck skills after emptying both flasks down my gullet.

Available on Amazon (affiliate link), the flaskchucks are constructed from stainless steel and feature leak-proof screw-top seals. Unfortunately for anybody looking for a flask with decent carrying capacity, each individual tube only holds 40mL (~1.35oz), for a total of about two shots of liquor. That is not very much liquor. That is more than enough blood for a magic potion though.

When reached for comment about the nunchucks, famed Ninja Turtle and party animal Michelangelo informed me he doesn’t drink, but he doubts these would be much use against the Foot Clan. He also smacked my hand with a real nunchuck when I reached for a slice of his pizza.

[via DudeIWantThat]

This IKEA + Renault concept envisions a sustainable future where vehicles are shipped as flat-pack designs!

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In today’s world, where advanced mobility and complex automotive designs dominate the present and the future, a radical approach towards getting from one destination to the other is much needed. Meet Höga by design student Ryan Schlotthauer, a vehicle that adapts IKEA’s winning philosophy of production, packaging, and practical use to give the users a comfortable ride that’s highly functional. This is intertwined with Renault’s advanced mobility platform to create an urban commuter with sustainability in mind. The vehicle’s body is recycled into other products after its lifecycle keeps the waste to a minimum. Design inspiration for the practical commuter comes from the classic Bauhaus principle of clean and purposeful design.

While the vehicle looks pint-sized, its efficient design makes optimum use of every inch out there. The car ships right out of reusable crates to cut on transportation costs, and once it reaches the destination, the containers are reused to ship back broken furniture. Just like IKEA, Höga can be assembled by one person in few hours thanks to its simple LEGO-like attachable frame elements in a perfectly symmetrical design. There are 374 total parts and 114 individual parts (sounds like a lot, but this is a car we are talking about!), which can be put together piece by piece to create the Höga. The skateboard platform of the vehicle houses the four individually moving wheels, which can move in any direction for maneuvering in tight spaces. Höga’s A-frame design comes with roll cage bars and body panel gaps to prioritize the safety of a vehicle so small in size.

The interior is highly customizable to fit in extra luggage or even a small bike or stroller for transportation. The passengers can enter from the front as the windscreen opens completely, and the rear also opens up identically to load more oversized luggage. Optimum usage of space is essential, and the designer has created the blueprints very mindfully for that. At the time of purchase, the customers can try and test different interior configurations to suit their needs and taste, making Höga an irresistible option to ignore.

Designer: Ryan Schlotthauer