Tag Archives: mobility

This gear-adjustable manual wheelchair’s upgrade helps you wheel you uphill with ease

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A wheelchair’s purpose is simple to understand, bringing the user from Point A to Point B on wheels. With this in mind, the brilliance of the wheelchair’s design is typically found in its simplicity, making mobility alternatively accessible. On its own, the wheelchair’s design is uncomplicated. The journey and terrain on which it moves, uphill, and through crowded streets, however, is ever-changing and unforgiving. Therefore improving a device, whose primary inconvenience lies in unpredictable factors, is ambitious. You Seong Kim, a designer with ROUSEED based in Seoul, saw that ambition through an even more adaptive wheelchair, the final design: Ascent.

Ascent maintains the usability and expected nature of the common wheelchair, only enhancing features that could be improved upon. For instance, the wheelchair is gear-adjustable in order to adapt to differences in gradient and terrain. The majority of wheelchairs in use are manually operated, which puts a strain on arm muscles, especially for the older demographic. To fix this, Ascent incorporates a moveable joystick that slides along a curved, triangular gear-track, allowing for easy adjustments according to forward, uphill, downhill, or braking motions. Suspension coil springs frame the chair’s perimeter so that any change in movement or weight is readily absorbed and unnoticeable.

Along with these acute mechanical improvements, the design of Ascent is more refined. In abandoning the uncomfortable aspects of the typical wheelchair, Kim has designed one that bridges usability with improved comfort levels. Ascent’s user-comfortability is emphasized in its slanted back and absorbent seat cushioning. Additionally, the wheelchair’s directional handles retract and unfold, only further proving the chair’s many adjustable functions. Lastly, the difference in sizing between the rear and front wheels makes it so that the smaller front wheels swivel, adjusting direction, while the large back wheels maintain the wheelchair’s equilibrium and balance for undisturbed movement.

Kim set out to design a wheelchair that prioritizes the user’s comfort levels instead of the changing terrain on which it rides or the many pedestrians who move through the streets on foot. Overall, the final creation broadens the scope of how improving the design of assistive devices can be approached. While the wheelchair that we’ve come to recognize and understand is uncomplicated in movement, it carries its own inconveniences – You Seong Kim designed Ascent with ROUSEED in order to mend them.

Designer: You Seong Kim x ROUSEED

FCA and Waymo Expand Autonomous Driving Technology Partnership

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As vehicles increasingly become showcases for technology on wheels, autonomous driving is becoming closer to a reality – especially for commercial purposes. We’ve been seeing ride-hailing services and delivery companies testing out self-driving vehicles for a while now. Such Level 4 (L4) autonomous vehicles are being developed by Waymo, who recently inked a deal with automaker FCA to expand their use of their technologies.

Since 2016, FCA and Waymo have been working together and testing autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans using their Waymo Driver technology. Now, Waymo will work exclusively with FCA to develop and test autonomy in light commercial vehicles like the Ram ProMaster, with the goal of enabling self-driving delivery vehicles.

Over time, FCA hopes to offer Waymo’s L4 autonomy across more vehicles in their product line. L4 autonomy means that a vehicle will be able to handle the majority of driving situations without human intervention, including navigating through crowded urban areas and construction zones. However, these vehicles still require the presence of a human in the event of an emergency, and still have regular driving controls available in case a person needs to take over. We’re still quite a way from Level 5, which is considered the holy grail of autonomy – vehicles that would require no driver at all.

This AirPods Case Looks Like a Mini Cooper

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So you have a pair of fancy and expensive AirPods. You could just carry around them in the standard, nondescript white case that Apple ships them in, or you could dress them up and make them your own. I choose to go with a more personalized look. Being a gearhead, I can think of no better place to store my overpriced earbuds but inside of a tiny car.

elago’s silicone AirPods case is designed to look like a Mini Cooper, and I think they did a damned fine job achieving that goal, capturing the shape of the classic British subcompact. It holds either an AirPods 1 or 2 charging case inside, while still working with wireless or plug-in charging via the cutout in its rear license plate.

Even cooler, the headlights and taillights glow in the dark, with a bluish glow up front, and red in the back. And if some other AirPods case doesn’t see them and rear-ends your AirPods, they’ll be okay since they’ll just bounce off of the rubbery silicone.

The elago Mini Car AirPods case comes in Fire Engine Red, Classic White, or a color I’m particularly keen on, British Racing Green. They’re available now over on Amazon for about 15 bucks each. Beep Beep.

[via The Gadgeteer]

Ford Solar Car “Cocoon” Patent Is Crazy Genius

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The idea of using solar panels to give electric cars a little extra boost is nothing new. In fact, the 2020 Hyundai Sonata Hybrid has a solar roof that helps to run its electronics, and can give it a couple of extra miles of driving range each day.

Solar panels aren’t efficient enough at this point to fully charge up an electric car, but the more surface area a solar panel takes up, the more energy it can capture. If you could have a car completely covered with solar panels, it might produce a few more miles a day worth of power, if not more.

Recently, Ford Global Technologies filed a patent application for a unique kind of solar charging panel that basically blankets a car when parked.

The patent application (US 2020/0153383 A1), first reported on by the MachEClub, envisions a roof-mounted carrier that can release a retractable car cover with an embedded solar array. The tarp, made from a shape-memory polymer, would protect the car from the elements, while harnessing energy from the sun.

Since the flexible solar tarp would dramatically increase the surface area compared to a simple roof panel, it could capture much more solar power. The patent application also describes a variant of the invention which could automatically retract when it receives a signal that the driver is ready to retrieve their car from its parking space. It’s kind of a nifty idea, assuming the solar cover could hold up to being opened and closed all the time.

[via MachEClub]

Hot Wheels Is Making R/C Tesla Cybertrucks

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While hundreds of thousands of people put down a $100 deposit for an opportunity to buy Tesla’s Cybertruck when it eventually goes into production, I’d bet that only a small portion of those people will actually end up buying one when they find out the true retail price. If you’re looking to buy a Cybertruck, but have a more limited budget, then check out these miniature versions from Hot Wheels.

Mattel and Tesla partnered up to create two tiny Cybertrucks, both of which can be remotely controlled. There’s a 1/10th-scale version ($400) that looks nicely detailed, and can hit scale speeds up to 250 mph. It’s got an all-wheel drivetrain, along with a telescoping tailgate that folds out to form a loading ramp just like the real truck. It even comes with a removable cracked window vinyl sticker because someone involved in the project actually has a sense of humor.

Then there’s the smaller 1/64-scale Cybertruck ($20), which isn’t as detailed, but still looks like fun. It’s a two-wheel drive miniature, and can hit scale speeds up to 500 mph. Best of all, it’s right-sized to race on any Hot Wheels track, so you can do loop-de-loops in this truck. Just like the real Cybertruck, both of these vehicles run entirely on batteries.

Both models are expected to ship in December, 2020. It looks like the larger version has already sold out, but Mattel is accepting names on a waiting list in case they decide to make more. The smaller Cybertruck is still available for pre-order as of this writing.

[via The Verge]

Toyota Kinto combines leasing, car sharing and other services in Europe

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Toyota wants to evolve from a car-maker to a mobility company. To do that, it's launching Kinto, a new brand that will provide full-service leasing, car sharing, carpooling and subscription-based leases. Unfortunately, those offerings will only be av...

Toyota Goes EPCOT with Its Own Prototype City of the Future

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Not too long ago, I visited with Toyota in Tokyo to learn about their plans to transform from an automotive company into a mobility company – concerning themselves with all of the different ways that people need to get around, and not just cars and trucks anymore. As part of this massive initiative, Toyota now plans on building out an entire prototype city of the future.

The company has announced it will create its Woven City at the foot of Japan’s iconic Mt. Fuji, on a 175-acre parcel of land. The plan is to build the small city in such a way that it can be used as a testbed for all kinds of new technologies, including autonomy, robotics, personal mobility, smart homes, alternative energy, and artificial intelligence.

The city is being designed by Danish architect, Bjarke Ingels pf Bjarke Ingels Group (BIG), whose team also worked on 2 World Trade Center, the LEGO House, and Google’s headquarters. Sustainability will be a key component of its design, from its construction materials and techniques, to its energy and food supplies.

At this point, Toyota hasn’t shared too many specifics, but the city will act as what the company calls a “living laboratory,” which will also test things like a hydrogen-powered infrastructure, and high-tech construction and manufacturing technologies.

In many ways, this prototype community is what Walt Disney originally envisioned for EPCOT (Experimental Prototype Community of Tomorrow), though we all know that project ended up turning into a World’s Fair style theme park, rather than a living and working city. Toyota’s project looks to be much more of a true research community, initially starting with 2000 residents, and then growing from there.

Of course, with a project this ambitious, Toyota will partner up with other companies who want to test out their technologies as well, and to that end they are accepting inquiries from potential partners on the Woven City website.

Toyota hasn’t given any indication yet as to how long it might take to build Woven City, but the groundbreaking is set for 2021. I’m really excited to see this come together, and what kind of innovation comes out of the city of the future.