Combining “soft robotics technology” with mobility devices like scooters, wheelchairs, and motorcycles, Poimo aims to offer soft, safe, and lightweight rideable creations that can be easily carried around as necessary. Their latest offering, created in collaboration with Kawahara Lab/Niiyama Lab of the University of Tokyo and Mercari R4D, is a scooter that weighs just 5.5 kilograms and can be folded into a reasonably-sized backpack.

The scooter’s inflatable body is made of a durable thermoplastic polyurethane attached to an electronic and mechanical base which includes the electric motor, handlebars, battery, front and rear wheels, and a wireless controller. It takes just five minutes to get it ready to ride. The Poimo’s creators have already tested it in Tokyo, and for now it at least seems like it actually works.

They explain that “this mobility [scooter] aims to support the first mile / last mile and connect public transportation and destinations seamlessly. To reduce the weight of its body along with its inflatable structure, we have developed a wireless / battery-less powering system suitable for this mobility in cooperation with the wireless power transfer group.”

Poimo’s other equally weird and cool creation is a customizable inflatable vehicle that acts as both a manual wheelchair and an electric motorcycle. In this case, even the wheels are inflatable. They’re definitely a few steps beyond folding bikes in terms of portability, but one wonders just how long they’d last in real-world conditions on the road. Info about this particular model has disappeared from the company’s website, but you can still see how it works in the YouTube video above.

The creators add that they “developed the personal mobility Poimo with a balloon structure that can be designed to suit each individual simply by taking a riding pose. We have prototyped an electric motorcycle type and a manual wheelchair type that can be completely folded when the air is removed. By developing a new vehicle whose body and wheels are made of balloon structure, it has become possible for the first time to customize each vehicle one by one. Newly developed design software makes it easy for anyone to design personal mobility.”

“The light and soft Poimo, which can be deflated and folded, opens up a new field of personal mobility. Taking advantage of being custom-made for each individual, we will contribute to the realization of an inclusive society where everyone can acquire the means of transportation that suits them.”

This invention in particular seems to present an intriguing potential step forward in accessibility: allowing a wheelchair user to seamlessly transition from indoor use to outdoor commuting, going just as fast as anyone else on the road. Whether “Poimo” is really the answer is up for debate, but it’s a great example of thinking outside the box that could lead to more practical innovations in the near future. For more details on how it works, check out the press release from Mercari.

The post Poimo: Inflatable Wheelchair Transforms Into an Electric Motorcycle first appeared on Dornob.

At the forefront is A³, a Silicon Valley subsidiary of Airbus, and their urban aircraft, the Vahana. The company chose to establish itself in Silicon Valley to take advantage of the speed of innovation and tolerance for risk-taking that exist in the area — factors that allow A³ to iterate much faster than its parent company.

During an interview at LA CoMotion last month themed “Highway in the Sky: Is Air Transport the Answer to Our Urban Congestion Woes?,” A³ CEO Rodin Lyasoff spoke in a subdued but positive tone about the high-minded activities going on at his company.

“We have a flying taxi,” he explained. “It’s a tilt wing, which means that it takes off and lands vertically, but in forward flight it’s essentially an airplane, which makes it a lot quieter and actually gives it a meaningful range with batteries.”

“Vahana”  is a VTOL aircraft, meaning it can hover, take off, and land vertically. It will take 90 seconds to hover up to the maximum cruising altitude of 1000 feet and transition to horizontal motion, then another 90 seconds to hover down to a particular destination. It is fully autonomous and features no manual controls. Eight electric rotors make Vahana aerodynamically superior to most helicopters.

“The project’s not even two years old, and our first full-sized, fully autonomous vehicles are already doing final testing before flight,” says Lyasoff. “And they will fly within the next couple of months.”

There are several other companies testing similar flying vehicles. For instance, Boeing recently acquired Aurora Flight Sciences Corp. and will provide UberAIR with 50 air taxis to test by 2020. Despite the competition, none offer both the VTOL flexibility and autonomy of Vahana. Plus, Vahana’s form language (and especially its canopy), make commuters want to use it over other services.

Of course, showing the public glossy renderings and videos is not as powerful as showing them a real-world demonstration. In São Paulo, A³ launched Voom, an air taxi mobile app that lets users hire a helicopter from one of six helipad locations throughout the city. According to its website, by using Voom, “you can travel from downtown to the airport for about the price of a private car.” Voom, which does not own or pilot any of the helicopters, simply connects people to certified operators in the area. It even offers a few ground transportation connections.

“We recognized that operations on the ground (and regulation) for some of these vehicles will be a challenge…this (Voom) gives us the footprint on the ground with current vehicles.”

It’s important to note that the biggest challenge to urban air mobility is not the technology, but the regulation. Lyasoff believes that figuring out how these aircrafts could operate while minimizing their energy consumption, cost, and noise footprint are questions that became easier to answer with the advent of the iPhone. He gave a brief description of how we got to flying taxis so quickly:

“Batteries finally got to good enough energy densities that you can actually do something useful with just batteries. You could go across an average metropolitan area. You could go 100 kilometers. Once that was possible, we could do distributed electric propulsion, which meant that you don’t have to push power to the propellers using mechanical gear boxes and shafts, and that all of a sudden makes them a lot lighter. And it allows you to have levels of redundancy that you couldn’t do before, which means that you can actually make them safer. And we could achieve that safety at a lower cost. But then they do require a degree of autonomy that traditional vehicles hadn’t required because they are so many actuators that a single pilot couldn’t directly control. A lot of that was enabled by the iPhone, because a lot of the sensors that we in the aviation industry developed, like accelerometers, GPS…(the iPhone) took them and commoditized them on a scale that was completed unprecedented in the aviation industry. I think that’s what actually miniaturized (batteries), lowered the cost, improved the performance, and enabled drones. And it really got people thinking about what’s possible and it became less of a black magic and more accessible.”

For now, Vahana needs to be tested so that regulators can approve of its use in urban environments. Luckily, it seems like A³ already has an idea of how to cross that looming threshold of bureaucracy.

“The main challenge is that regulators track innovation, but they track it with a latency that is prohibitive to deployment. You have to solve this very complex problem of implementing a policy, and in the case of airspace flight rules, you don’t really know how they are going to work until you deploy them.”

What A³ did was create Altiscope: a tool that allows regulators to simulate the experience of air taxis in real-time, both alongside and hovering below existing air traffic. It’s a way for the regulatory process to be enhanced and sped up while the actual vehicle is being tested.

“It will show you in real-time what your policy will look like when implemented. That’s our attempt to enable regulators to engage better with technology innovators and at the same time dry run their decisions before they deploy them to shorten that time and close that feedback loop.”

With Vahana about to undergo flight testing, and A³ helping regulators approve of urban air mobility, how long will it take for our traffic daydream to become a viable and safe option? Lyasoff is sure it won’t be long.

“I think in five or six years, it is feasible to have some of these vehicles fully certified and operating commercially. We can make them safe today, but we have really high standards for what it takes to make a safe airplane that we trust to sit inside and to fly overhead…I believe that Airbus is well positioned in this space, because there aren’t that many companies that know how to do that and know how to build a manufacturing process around that.”

The post How Autonomous Urban Air Mobility Became a Reality So Quickly first appeared on Dornob.

As the Michael J. Fox Foundation notes, diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease “has a ripple effect, radiating from an individual to his or her family and friends.” Even the most attentive caregivers can’t give people with Parkinson’s disease their mobility back, but advances in medical technology can certainly help improve it. The high-tech Albert cane by Miiō Studio offers one intriguing example of that, offering assistance to patients, their families, and even their doctors.

“Taking care of a loved one with Parkinson’s every minute is an absorbing and incredibly tiring mission,” explain the smart cane’s creators. “That is why we have conceptualized an eco-system called Albert to support people in this situation on a daily basis. For both the patient and his family, Albert becomes the ideal companion.”

“A cane allows the patient to avoid a series of complications due to the loss of independence in his mobility. An application allows the family to keep a close eye on their loved ones and support them more effectively in their daily difficulties and progress.”

Among the primary symptoms of Parkinson’s disease is “the freezing of gait,” also referred to by the acronym FOG. During FOG episodes, the patient’s brain perceives an inability to move, despite the fact that their bodies might actually still be capable of responding to commands. FOG episodes can increase the risk of falls and frequently occur in narrow spaces and stressful situations.

Recent studies have found that rhythmic stimulation — whether haptic, visual, or auditory —can help sufferers avoid such episodes. Neuroimaging shows that rhythm perception activates structures within key motor networks that are compromised to various degrees by Parkinson’s disease. Maintaining rhythm encourages automatic engagement of these areas.

The Albert cane provides haptic feedback via built-in vibrations, establishing the rhythm of the user’s walk and syncing it to a pulsating light for even further stimulation. The cane also incorporates a range of features that correspond with an app for the patient’s family, allowing them to actively monitor their loved one’s heartbeat and location. An emergency button in the center of the cane’s light alerts the family when the user needs assistance.

Thus far, the Albert appears to be in its prototype phase, and it’s unclear whether or not it will be available to the public anytime soon. But it’s still exciting to see designs like this pop up from time to time, giving us a look into the near future of life-changing medical advancements. Just imagine what else might be right around the corner!

The post Albert Smart Cane Improves Mobility for People with Parkinson’s first appeared on Dornob.

From wearable tech to architecture, these seven standout projects of 2018 solved practical problems and brought a little beauty into the world while also addressing some of the biggest issues of our times.

Eco-Friendly Edible Plastic

When plastic was first invented, it was supposed to be an environmental boon, replacing animal products made from endangered species like tortoises and elephants. We all know how that turned out. Today, it seems like the entire planet is awash in dangerous microplastics — but what if it all was perfectly safe to consume? A new bioplastic called Nuatan by crafting plastics! studio (CPS) consists of nothing but sugar, cornstarch, and recycled cooking oil, and it could very well revolutionize the omnipresent material.

Honda Walking Assist Device

One of the most exciting aspects of new technology is its potential to make millions of people’s lives a lot easier and more comfortable, including people with limited mobility. Honda’s streamlined, lightweight Walking Assist Device uses motors to augment and assist the gait of its wearer, sort of like an intelligent robotic exoskeleton. Not only does it help people walk, but it also records invaluable data about the movement of their bodies so their doctors can analyze and target specific problems. It’s currently in beta testing at hospital and rehabilitation facilities throughout Japan.

Spiraling Steam-Bent Wooden Pavilion

Even as modern technology brings us a host of innovative new materials that can help fight climate change, wood remains one of the most sustainable, renewable, and beautiful options around. Designer Tom Raffield proved exactly that with his elaborate steam-bent pavilion, created specifically for the Royal Horticultural Society’s 2018 Chelsea Flower Show. No toxic chemicals were required to make the wood perform these acrobatic curlicues, either — just water, traditional tools, and skill.

Flat-Pack, Low Waste Furniture

Moving sucks, which is why anything that makes the process go a little more smoothly is always welcome, especially when it’s ultra-functional for everyday life, too. Design firm Henning Stummel debuted a flat pack furniture series this year that requires zero tools to assemble, weighs almost nothing, and couldn’t be easier to transport. Made of birch plywood and leather, the “Nomad” collection features pieces that slot together so easily, you don’t even need instructions to figure it out. Its pieces also produce almost zero waste during production. They’re available for purchase through Nomad London.

The Tiger Penis Project

The provocatively named Tiger Penis Project sensitively addresses concerns about the use of animal products, including parts from endangered species, in traditional Chinese medicine. Created by designer Kuang Yi Ku at the Design Academy Eindhoven, the experimental process harnesses 3D bioprinting, culture tissue, and genetic modification to produce alternative organs while honoring and respecting the cultural heritage of traditional practitioners.

Sonoma Academy’s Janet Durgin Guild & Commons

Selected as one of the American Institute of Architects’ 2018 COTE Top Ten projects for sustainable design excellence, the Janet Durgin Guild & Commons at the Sonoma Academy in Santa Rosa, California connects students to nature while achieving zero energy. Designed by WRNS Studio, the project integrates two levels of classrooms, offices, common areas, and gardens into the existing landscape. The compound’s gorgeous living roof might just be its crowning achievement.

Yellow Spot Protest Toilet

A public toilet may not seem like the most obvious inclusion in a “Best of 2018 Design” list, especially when it’s so simple, but hear us out. Design Academy Einhoven graduate Elisa Otañez created the mobile “Yellow Spot” toilet to protest the lack of public facilities for women in The Netherlands, and its vivid color makes it absolutely impossible to ignore. Otañez says she was frustrated by the fact that city governments have begun providing free public toilets for men in response to rampant urination in the streets, but women are still forced to hunt down private restrooms. Sometimes, the message is just as important as the function. The Yellow Spot consists of a lightweight metal frame, canvas walls, and a portable toilet container inspired by the shape of a jerrycan.

The post In Review: 7 Standout Designs from 2018 first appeared on Dornob.

As more and more autonomous vehicles start to roam around our roads, we may have to reconsider the way the built environment is structured. With IKEA Lab’s Space on Wheels concept, some services that currently take up stationary space inside buildings will soon have the option of going mobile. Today, ice cream and food trucks are about the only two mobile services that people are familiar with. These models are heavily influencing Space10’s rolling drug dispensary, which could effectively eliminate trips to the drug store in the future.

It doesn’t stop there. Space10 is taking things further with ideas like a mobile hotel, which would allow individual guestrooms to move around the city. Imagine a businesswoman getting an extra hour of sleep solely because her room can be in transit to the airport while she gets ready. Once she arrives, a weary traveler with reservations at the same hotel could simply board the same room and start relaxing before they have even left the airport grounds. Even large groups of tourists with long lists of places to see would benefit from this system, as they could always start their days just outside the next attraction, cutting out the work of figuring out how to get around.

Space10 also hopes to bring this kind mobility to the office with its Flexible Workspace concept. Even with the latest advancements in video conferencing technology, there are still times when in-person meetings are necessary. With a mobile office, an inconvenient crosstown meeting suddenly becomes much less disruptive to one’s day, as people are able to work right up until they get to the meeting location. A company in possession of several of these mobile offices could position them all throughout a metropolitan area at night in locations close to where their employees lived. Come morning, work and the commute could begin at the same time, with all units meeting at one specific point during the day. In the evening, the commute for some employees could start an hour (or more) earlier than usual, as their shift could continue until they got close enough to walk home.

An increase in mobile services could also change the importance of amenities when it comes to real estate and choosing a place to live. Fresh food markets, grocery stores, and bank branches on wheels would turn currently undesirable neighborhoods into very desirable places by cutting down on travel time.

Who else would benefit from all of these on-the-go services? In short, nearly everybody. Busy professionals with days that involve multiple stops could get more things done on their way home without stopping. Errands could even be done during the day when working out of a mobile office.

Although IKEA is known for their space-transforming furniture pieces, the ideas coming out of the Space10 Lab are poised to make time just as manageable for us.

The post IKEA’s Space10 Lab Wants to Make Everything Portable first appeared on Dornob.

Honda’s already a big name in other forms of mobility, like cars, trucks, motorcycles, and engines, so why not walking devices, too? The Japanese manufacturer has spent much of the last two decades refining technology that could revolutionize the way patients recovering from a loss of mobility get back on their feet. The Honda Walking Assist Device straps around a user’s pelvis and thighs, using motors to augment and assist their gait.

It’s essentially a robotic exoskeleton, but not only does it help physically lift patients’ legs to help them walk, it analyzes how they’re walking, giving invaluable data to their doctors about things like imbalance between the two legs or problems in the hips. Then, the machine automatically adjusts itself to the patients’ particular walking challenges.

Based on technology similar to what the company put into ASIMO, its humanoid robot, Honda’s Walking Assist Device adopts “cooperative control technology,” which was developed after completing studies on human walking. A control computer strapped around the waist activates the motors, which sit on the hips, based on data obtained from hip angle sensors. The motors then help improve the symmetry of the timing of each leg as it lifts off the ground and extends forward. The result is a longer stride so users can walk faster, steadier, and more easily.

The device is streamlined to be lightweight and compact thanks to thin motors and a small but mighty control system. The design can be worn over belts and is fully adjustable to fit a wide variety of body types. It weighs about six pounds, and it’s currently able to operate for about 60 minutes per charge.

The Honda Walking Assist Device has three training modes available. “Following mode” enables it to influence the user’s walking motions based on their own individual walking pattern; “symmetric mode” helps ensure that one leg isn’t doing more work than the other, while “step mode” helps them smoothly shift weight from the heel to the sole and the sole to the toe.

The idea is that the device will be worn by patients undergoing physical therapy, under the supervision of a medical professional. In 2013, Honda completed a clinical trial at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago to assess the Walking Assist Device’s ability to help stroke patients improve mobility. In 2015, the company began leasing it to hospitals and rehabilitation facilities throughout Japan. 450 units went up for sale to 50 Japanese medical facilities, enabling researchers to get a broader data sample on how the device would be used in the real world. Thanks to that information, Honda was able to continue the improvements they’ve been making to the technology since they first started working on Walking Assist in 1999.

It’s an especially exciting development for physical therapists, and anyone who is physically unable to walk. Could a new, more powerful robotic exoskeleton be developed that could help people with spinal cord injuries or defects get on their feet, too? Time will tell, but it seems like all of this research and development in medical robotics could lead to some really important breakthroughs in the coming years.

The post Stepping Forward: Honda Revolutionizes Mobility with Walking Assist Device first appeared on Dornob.

Still, it never hurts to put the ability to traverse the steps, squares, and hills of a city in the hands of the city dweller themselves — which is exactly why innovative devices and machines tend to be at the forefront of empathetic design. One recent prototype is looking to do just that by giving wheelchair users the freedom to tackle all kinds of challenges in the urban landscape. Meet Scewo, a wheelchair that allows its user to ascend staircases in a surprising new way.

Scewo bills itself as a “wheelchair for the 21st century.” The company’s mission is “to combine the new technologies and an aesthetic design to develop a new generation wheelchair. It will give enjoyable and flexible mobility to those in need and lets them engage wherever life takes them.” More specifically, this wheelchair is designed to allow users to navigate urban obstacles in an independent and fluid manner, helping them avoid the shocks and bumps that standard wheelchair usage so often entails.

When faced with a flight of stairs, the chair releases a set of ergonomic rubber tracks that provide a smooth and safe ride to the top. The tracks are released from the underside of the seat and are made from rubber so they can properly grip the ground surface below. The width of the tracks means they can also be used on spiral staircases. The user can automate each ascent with the push of a button, meaning they can be confident in the chair doing all the heavy lifting for them.

When the Scewo isn’t climbing stairs, it’s providing its user with a safe and smooth journey over rough and unstable terrain like slick ground or gravel. The user controls the chair by either using a joystick or shifting their bodyweight in the direction they’d like to go. The chair is self-balanced, allowing the user to orientate themselves easily on the spot without having to engage in complex maneuvers to turn around.

On top of all of that, the Scewo’s tracks can also be angled and elevated to provide leverage to the chair. This puts the user in an elevated position and gives them better views the area they are in. This will also come in handy when trying to reach things at a height, and it could even could help make standard home designs (which are often tailored to people who have the ability to stand) more manageable. The width of the chair is also designed to fit through most standard door frames and corridors. Since the chair is so much more compact than most standard wheelchairs, it’s capable of navigating more efficiently both at home and in public.

Check out the company’s crowdfunding campaign here.

The post Scewo: The Innovative New Wheelchair That Can Take Its User Up Stairs first appeared on Dornob.

The post Are Advances In Urban Mobility Truly Making Cities Better? first appeared on Dornob.

The post Can LA Become A Leader In Urban Mobility? first appeared on Dornob.

How our transit systems are designed either encourages or discourages their use. A subway station does not have to look like a concrete bunker with a conspicuous means of egress, but its design must take into account the experience of the people who use it every day. Jeff Risom, the U.S. Managing Director for Gehl, believes that “idealistic pragmatism” is what’s needed to create a broader focus on not only what makes transit safe, but also on what makes it enjoyable. “It’s not about over-designing every single ramp (and) handrail. There needs to be a sense of planning for the everyday.” During the panel, Risom gave the example of Denmark, where transit is first designed for the well-being of all its users, and then solutions for worst-case scenarios are put in place (for example, emergency exits in case of fire). “The U.S. kind of goes at it the opposite way. They design everything around the extreme, around the worst-case fire code, the most accessible ramp, and then the everyday stuff falls between the cracks.”

Sometimes, simple gestures like the inclusion of artwork in stations and vehicles can help people feel better when using public transportation. In New York, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) commissions visual and performance artists to display their work throughout the subway system. Some of the artwork is permanent, like mosaics on station walls, while some is temporary, like visually stimulating posters. The MTA sees this as giving daily transit users the experience of “a first-rate art museum.” Sean Rhodes, Executive Creative Director of Frog Design, said that including art in transit systems is a great way to make people feel good during their daily commutes. “It’s curated, it’s thoughtful, there is someone in the New York MTA who is bringing that into the world through partnerships.”
Not only can transit be designed to make you feel better (and even happier), but it can also make you healthier. According to Rhodes, poorly designed and connected transit is negatively impacting the lives of millions of Americans. “We’re spending an enormous amount of our GDP on healthcare. The FDA did a study a few years ago that found that 3.6 million people in America miss medical appointments because they don’t have access to transportation.” It’s pretty concerning to see how many people may have experienced a decline in their health — or even death — just because they were not able to get to an appointment to test for things like prostate cancer, breast cancer, or an abscessed tooth.
Transit is part of the texture of any city, and access to good transit improves the well-being of its residents by seamlessly connecting them to the places that they need and want to visit. Transit that is well-designed can not only make you happier, but can also help keep you alive.

The post How Public Transit Makes You Happier and Healthier first appeared on Dornob.

Stepping over the side of a bathtub sounds like the easiest thing in the world to someone who has a full range of mobility, but for those with somewhat less flexibility, it can be tricky or even downright dangerous.

Hence the award-winning Elevated Bathtub by Zhang Jiangpeng & Zou Tao, the body of which slides up and out of the way so you can walk right into the center of the bathing area to enjoy a bath.

Alternatively, users can leave the sides up entirely to take a shower, in which case the elevated enclosure serves as a water shield to keep the spray from spreading around the room.

A simple wall-mounted LED display is easy to access from a sitting or standing position for enhanced usability, and utilizes universal symbols to engage different modes and select between temperatures.

The concept is certainly neat, but the question remains: how long does it take to drain? Waiting for a while after you are done with your bath could be a bit of a downer if you are in any kind of a hurry.

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Quite possibly the quirkiest thing to come out of the big royal wedding was a one-off wonder of portable living, part serious, part joke, but one hundred percent British on both fronts. Its creators at ETA.UK boast it is so small that if you need supplies you can just tow it with you into the supermarket.

This teardrop-shaped, battery-powered little beauty features everything a good English staycation requires: kettle, teacups and drinks cabinet of course, as well as a flat-screen television and radio (for those following the nuptials) and a full-sized bed.

Options include: solar roof panels, air horn and extra-wide wing mirror for mobility scooter, satellite dish, gaming console, central heating, external luggage rack, bespoke paint.

Unlike larger caravans requiring full-sized trucks (or at least cars) to tow them, this one works with a low-speed mobility scooter for the elderly or disabled. Note: this is not actually for sale, but still, what a concept!

“Elderly spectators hoping to bag the best spot on the Royal Wedding procession route, but unwilling to spend a night camping on the pavement, can now buy a caravan designed to be towed by a mobility scooter. The QTvan is small enough to be used on the pavement or even inside shops, but manages to accommodate a full-size bed and television.”

“The £5,500 QTvan is the world’s smallest caravan and is so named because it caters to three peculiarly British obsessions: queuing, tea and caravans. As well as a 19” television on which to watch the ceremony highlights, and a drinks cabinet with which to toast the happy couple, the tiny caravan boasts tea-making facilities – essential for a royal day out. If any extra provisions are needed, the caravan is so compact it can be towed inside a supermarket.

The Environmental Transport Association (ETA) developed the QTvan to highlight the estimated 220,000 people who use a mobility scooter without breakdown cover and face the prospect of a very long wait should they suffer a mechanical fault or their battery runs flat.”

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