Tag Archives: autonomous

Heineken B.O.T. cooler that follows you is a summertime essential!

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Summertime and a chilled can of beer are synonyms for that refreshing feeling. Sure, if you are someone who resonates with this notion, you wouldn’t mind a chilled beer cooler always by the side more often than not. But is it possible to lug a beer cooler always with you? Heineken’s cute little autonomous beer cooler gives you reason enough to think on those lines. Yes, the Heineken B.O.T. (Beer Outdoor Transporter) is a notorious Wall-E with fancy branding to always be by your side, delivering your brew chilled to the perfect temperature.

On first look, you can mistake this one for a mini John Deere mower with a missing front half. However, it can haul 12 chilled beers on its big wheels that virtually follow anywhere you go – giving the machine a charming personality. The tiny robot features four wheels, two big wheels, sensors, a brain running AI, and the capacity to hold a dozen cans in addition to ice. Owning this one will surely make you popular among buddies for its pure chill factor, literally. Heineken B.O.T. is an excellent example of how tech makes life convenient and differentiates from the tons of promotional materials available in the market! The video indicates the design can probably handle rolling on the grass at a park, and nothing running on more rugged terrain. It also shows a small screen and a speaker that allows the robot to greet its person!

Before you ask the question, when is this autonomous beer cooler be available to purchase. The bad news is, it’s only going to be the privilege of a few lucky ones. This limited edition beer cooler bot is up for grabs via a competition held on July 1st. Heineken will take submissions from interested people who like the idea of B.O.T. For now, there is not much known about the dynamics of the competition, but ones who love their beer will want to own this cute little buddy at all costs.

Designer: Heineken

This fluid Apple iCar iteration is a modular design that goes against Apple’s current ecosystem

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Apple’s on-again, off-again car rumors point to a self-driving vehicle much on the lines of Tesla to cater to the exponentially growing market. The world knows it will be an electric vehicle that’ll shape up Apple’s vision of future mobility. According to analyst Ming-Chi Kuo, the car will be Apple’s next favorite child, bringing its concrete hardware and software ecosystem’s integration into play. The most anticipated four-wheeler in modern times has been on the designer’s sketching pad often as seen in these past designs – and here is another interesting one to consider.

Designer Ashish Gogte’s take on the Apple Car seamlessly integrates into the existing Apple ecosystem – a feature that current Apple users value the most. Ashish likes to call it the iCar, and the vehicle has an upright stance like the Apple Mouse 2. Modularity is at the core of this concept Apple car – wherein the front and the rear wheel assembly is swappable with a different one. Furthermore, the driving assembly has the battery integrated into the design to keep the modularity aspect at the forefront. We can even swap the drivetrain with a more powerful version or any future updated chassis that Apple designs. This brings a practical scalability aspect to the concept car, which is, in a way, intriguing. The malleability of the design continues to the interiors as well, giving the users control over their surroundings while creating a deeper bond between the user and the vehicle.

Ashish’s take on the iCar is a purely futuristic model, where the car is only expected to transport you, and everything works seamlessly. Given Apple’s lack of modularity in the current design environment, including such interchangeable/upgradeable components will require Apple to revise its design policy and who knows, it could happen by the time we have the iCar X!

Designer: Ashish Gogte

Robotic Tractor Kills Weeds with Lasers

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Sure Old MacDonald had a farm, but did he have an Autonomous Weeder robot from Carbon Robotics? I think not. E-I-E-I-O indeed! The Autonomous Weeder, designed to kill weeds without harming the soil or water, scans the ground with its 12-camera array, identifies weeds via onboard AI, then kills them with high-powered carbon dioxide lasers. Pew pew pew!

The tractor-size Autonomous Weeder can kill approximately 100,000 weeds an hour and between 15 and 20 acres a day, compared to about a single acre by a human laborer, and without the damaging effects of herbicides or the inexact nature of killing them with fire. Plus the robot can work autonomously both day and night, with no need for food or bathroom breaks.

Carbon Robotics CEO Paul Mikesel mentioned the Autonomous Weeder costs “hundreds of thousands of dollars,” but could pay for itself in a few years based on the scale of a farming operation. There are also lease options available. Me? I was torn between buying and leasing before ultimately deciding to not get one at all since I don’t own a farm. Fingers crossed I don’t regret that decision.

[via Freethink]

The world’s first autonomous electric street sweeper reduces 3 million metric tons of C02 emissions!

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I believe we have arrived in the future when I see things like a fully autonomous street sweeper in action! Trombia Free is developed by a Finnish road maintenance equipment manufacturer Trombia Technologies. The unique thing about this electric vehicle is that it uses less than 15% of the power needed by heavy-suction sweeping technologies that are currently available. By simply doing that it reduces carbon emissions by approximately 3 million metric tons per year!

The performance-heavy vehicle gives a major upgrade to the current competitor products that still rely on suction performance that was invented in the 1950s. “We simply cannot enter 2020s green and sustainable era with such outdated solution. With the globally patented Trombia technology we are able to take down the power requirement dramatically, so turning it into a beautiful and powerful, electrified, and autonomous device has been an exciting journey to this day,” said Antti Nikkanen, CEO of Trombia Technologies. Trombia Free will be the world’s first fully autonomous street cleaning device that is built to operate in all weather conditions.

The street sweeper comes equipped with a safety margin zone in front of or surrounding the unit, depending on its direction. That way, if a person, animal or object falls or runs in front of the vehicle, it will register them as obstacles and stop automatically.

As for jobs, the company said that the autonomous sweepers will make room for drivers to become operators, service managers and route or logistics planners. The Trombia Free boasts an annual operation total of 500 hours of continuous high-power sweeping (85% more energy-efficient than manual street sweepers), making it an average of 15 times more cost-effective as well. Unlike conventional sweepers, Trombia Free doesn’t use water, instead combining cyclone filtration, aerodynamics and humidifier methods to control dust. Because it is lighter and quieter, it can operate at night and even indoors.

Trombia Technologies, which patented its first street sweeping technology in 2013, has products being used in at least seven countries throughout North America, Northern Europe and Central Europe. Trombia Free will roll out through a year-long pilot program in 2021, and mass deliveries are set to begin in early 2022.

Designer: Trombia Technologies





Self-sanitized autonomous pods combine public transit with safe socializing

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COVID-19 has changed the perception of life in the last year or so, and it’s still showing no signs of retreating as new variants push their claws towards human life. Scientific researches have proved that such pandemics will be a common affair in the coming time, and to get around them, we’ll have to alter our living methodology. Pretty obviously, the way we commute is also going to take a ‘detour’ – especially in public transport systems. Pivot of Safety by Yongho Jeon is a look into the future where maintaining social distancing in public transit will be of prime importance.

The autonomous share ride system is imagined as a 1, 2, or 4 person unit with an airy home-like space being the focus. Keeping things very minimal on the inside, the idea here is to create a relaxing environment while making sure of safety when we talk of social distancing. The pod-like vehicle segregates the sitting area for each passenger with glass separators and individual infotainment systems to keep in touch with friends & family. Air purifiers and UV sanitization (on exposed surfaces such as tables) ensure the minimal spread of contagious viruses or other pathogens for the safety of the rider. There are plants potted in between the four-person pod unit’s diving section to bring the calming effect indoors.

Once a passenger or group of passengers have completed their journey, the pod self-disinfects using UV light. Over the wheels, there is space for storage of luggage or any big items passengers want to haul. The concept makes even more sense in an uncertain future where being safe is the only option to stay clear of harm’s way and helping curb the spread of deadly pathogens. Yongho’s concept is practical and has a very clean design blueprint that is feasible in real-world settings.

Designer: Yongho Jeon

This animal-shaped autonomous racing bike of the future fears no G-forces!

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If you also believe in the future of autonomous driving, then taking humans out of the equation has many benefits. First of all it much safer (Romain Grosjean’s crash in last season’s F1 Bahrain GP is a shocking example), the aerodynamics of the vehicle are much better (the drag created by the rider in case of bikes is eliminated), and the possibility of reaching break-neck speeds that cannot be humanly possible to achieve due to the limitation of human body’s endurance for g-forces. The sport of professional racing is even more dangerous in the case of bikes. Reason enough to give autonomous bike racing a well-needed boost.

The Armadillo by Christian Grajewski is a motorcycle concept that’s envisioned in the Moto Ai X Championship – sometime in the future – for high octane racing to thrill the online fans or crowds at the autodromes. The idea’s uniqueness culminated from the fact that the designer imagines the bike to be the character with an arm, legs, body, and head. To be fair, it indeed looks like some creature, ready to wake from its slumber – boiling to chase down any prey on its two wheels. Since the ride is fully autonomous, the seating position has been done away with – giving it a definitive creature-like shape. It’s more like a swan ( I guess the designer imagines it as an Armadillo) on two wheels, one wheel is bigger than the other for optimized front wheel grip on the road, especially while taking those chicanes.

Tires of the Armadillo are heavy treaded indicating, the motorbike is made for dirt tracks as well. The swingarm of the bike also indicates high-speed racing character, as it is quite thick and reinforced. Along with these unique elements, the ride looks made for the future-ready era of racing to excite the fans with unbelievable maneuvers – on and off the track!

Designer: Christian Grajewski

Tesla will dramatically expand its Full Self-Driving beta

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Now might be your chance to join Tesla's Full Self-Driving beta. Elon Musk has revealed that Tesla's new 8.2 software is "doubling" the size of the beta test program, and 8.3 will "probably" expand the size of the program...

These autonomous pods are re-imagining safe public-transit by making local trams and buses smaller

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Although this sense of paranoia is fairly recent, the thought of stepping into an overcrowded bus or subway should probably strike fear and panic in most of us. Imagining “Public Transport” without the word “Public” can be difficult. How do you create a mass transit system that’s bespoke, and that doesn’t involve multiple people in close proximity? And moreover, how do you manage this system while ensuring it’s beneficial to the public and safe for cities?

Those are some really tough questions, and NewDealDesign seems intent on looking for the answers. Having worked on a whole slew of smart-mobility projects, including the recently debuted ‘Serve’, an autonomous delivery robot for Postmates, the San Francisco-based company carried their wealth of research and experience into Rolla – the future of city-based mass-transit.

Rolla takes mass-transit and personalizes/isolates it. Think of something on the lines of individual ski-lifts, or cable-cars traveling on the same network… minus the cables. Designed as a cabin that moves, the Rolla is an entire network of human-sized, human-friendly pods that you can step in and step out of (another relevant example that comes to mind is that of an elevator). The Rolla has the ability to work on fixed routes like a public bus, allowing you to hail one and step in, as well as on personal routes, letting you summon a Rolla on an app. Designed for relatively short journeys, the pod allows you to stand within it as it travels to your stop.

What the Rolla gets right is its simplicity and intuitiveness. It’s a culmination and combination of familiar experiences that let you easily trust it without ‘fearing the underlying tech’. The pod feels a lot like a bus or subway, allowing you to stand within it and grab onto a handrail, while the app for bespoke journeys works quite like a cab-hailing application. The pod’s relatively open too, sort of like a tram, enabling you to hop on and hop off in a heartbeat as it autonomously travels through the city’s networks. This small size and open format not only makes the Rolla friendly and unassuming, it also makes it easy to disinfect between journeys as the pod travels through a sanitation-station between multiple trips, cleaning itself for the next passenger.

Its open and welcoming design is reinforced by an immersive and memorable experience. The almost SIM-card shape of the Rolla is instantly iconic, with expressive LED headlights on the front indicating the pod’s intent as it autonomously drives. The inside of the Rolla, however, is designed to be dynamic, with light-piping that gives the vehicle a designated color – yellow for public transport, purple for private transport, and blue for fixed private routes like within a campus. The interiors are outfitted with displays too, that tell you the route and time, welcome individual riders, and show your progress on a map for clarity.

While Rolla currently exists only as a concept, it provides a neat framework for how cities can adapt to the pandemic by providing public transit in a manner that’s safe. The individual pods can easily be deployed on a city’s roads with no additional infrastructure like stations or rails. They run on electric energy, and something as simple as solar panels could ensure that the vehicles run for longer on sustainable energy. They can operate on pre-designated bus routes too, reducing the need to plan out new routes, and given how easy it is to roll out new Rollas, the entire system of autonomous pods can easily be upgraded as cities expand!

Designer: NewDealDesign