With Electric Scooter, MIT Hopes To Rev Up Practical Transport

CAMBRIDGE, Massachusetts - It is a humble home of what could be the future of urban transportation. Locked in an office here at the MIT Media Lab is the latest prototype of the RoboScooter delivered ago just one month from Taiwan. Outside this room, the Media Lab is almost too eccentric for the words: an open space lined with offices, teeming with art and the explosion of plant life. This is exactly the opposite of what little space austere, where the scooter detached from the seat sits on the ground and wires snake of the cavity where the removable battery should be. The rear wheel is clamped in place, and under the fluorescent lights, in these cramped quarters, RoboScooter looks like a hospital patient. His immediate prognosis is still in the air, but here's good news: What does it look like the end, and regardless of the actual impact, the vehicle will be done.

And then there are the inevitable bad news: The first-gen RoboScooter will not be very robotic. The original concept developed by the Media Lab Smart Cities research group called wheeled which were essentially autonomous robots, with dedicated processors that could optimize braking and suspension. In a configuration with four wheels, the robots on wheels would also control steering. The group of automobile design, the City, for example, allows you to rotate each wheel independently. For a scooter, computer, the director is not necessarily more effective than the old handlebars. But for the moment, the point is moot, because the first RoboScooters to hit the streets will have no wheels, no more intelligent than a Vespa.

But here is making it more intelligent: RoboScooter will be entirely electric, with at least a lithium-ion battery pack that can be exchanged for another, fully loaded. And while the exact mechanics have not been finalized, the scooter will have the ability to turn in on itself, with its rear wheel sitting next to the front. Who covers the cost of things that could convince you to buy or rent a possible. But the most important innovation RoboScooter-one with the potential to change the state of urban transport-is on the assembly line. "A vehicle traditional internal combustion could have 1200 to 1500 pieces," said William Mitchell, director of the research group Smart Cities and a professor of architecture and media arts and sciences. "RoboScooter 150."

Hybrid vehicles are even more complex, sometimes requiring upwards of 25 percent more parts than their internal combustion. "Hybrids have a niche in the short term," says Mitchell. "But in principle, they go exactly in the wrong direction. They are doubling the complexity instead of what we should be doing, which is to reduce by half." The RoboScooter trims parties by being all electric, but also with its simple, minimalist design borderline. "We are practicing to push the argument that we should get rid of the plate, which generally encrusts a scooter," Mitchell says.

This dramatic reduction of the parties can mean dramatically production costs cheaper for Taiwan, which manufactures Sanyang Motors (SYM). It could also have an impact on similar projects for electric vehicles, like the City of car. Although this concept has not found a partner willing to market, low cost, the rationalization of the production process could enable small businesses, both in the United States and abroad, to look seriously s 'involvement. For Mitchell, everything is riding on RoboScooter.

Today, however, nobody is really riding the scooter, and it is difficult to say when somebody. The prototype is being developed, and researchers from MIT yet to be finalized its electric propulsion and how to reduce it. The final product will not be able to change style Transformers at the touch of a button. But the driver can not be expected to fight entirely on his own - the scooter would valve components, or the type of hydraulic system that will open the trunks of cars themselves. Also in question is how the vehicle will be charged. The developers originally envisioned charging racks distributed throughout the city, which could double in the rental stations in which users could buy a one-way ticket. If ever SYM decided to take this plunge, adopting a business model that is a cross between Zipcar services in the United States and the successful programme of Parisian bike rentals, it might be the biggest moment of approving a one-way trip short rental vehicle.

If-and let us be clear, this is a very big if-RoboScooter off when its introduced in Asia, the benefits could quickly snowball. The wheels may not be automated now, but the architecture is already in place for future generations of the scooter; expectation is now controlled by computer for components such as electric brakes being developed by Siemens. And if a rental system RoboScooter turns a profit, it could not only prove that short trip, one-way electric vehicles are possible, but perhaps change the current perception that EVs will become useful when they have the range to go cross-country . One potential gain can be a battery model of renting scooters swap li-ion packs, reducing the cost of ownership and solve complex problems related to the guarantee plug-in vehicles.

As excited as Mitchell is about RoboScooter, he has no delusions about where she will be successful. "The scooters are perfect for Asian, European markets. They are not a good model in the States. They are connected to art directors," he says, "but pending security is higher here." For the United States, Mitchell has a vision very different from the short-term impact of a car-like city electric vehicle. It's more ambitious, multi-modal, a one-way rental model. A user might rent a scooter or a bicycle to go to the supermarket, then rent a car to bring her groceries at home. Taken by the hair as it sounds scenario, each of its components is at hand, at the technical level. The challenge is to persuade companies to take the first step. For its part, Smart Cities group expects that the current Mitchell described as a "good prototype" RoboScooter to SYM by April 1. If all goes according to plan, the scooter could hit the market in Asia next year.