Robots help with that extra mile
An innovative personal transportation system designed to fit neatly into the boot has made the short list in a Ford challenge to create last-mile mobility solutions – the final leg of a commute between parking a vehicle and destination arrival – for urban areas.
Carr-E – created by Kilian Vas, a Ford systems engineer based in Cologne, Germany – is among 633 proposals for personal mobility solutions submitted by Ford employees as part of the company’s Last Mile Mobility Challenge.
The competition challenges employees to develop electric personal assistant devices to make transportation better in areas where vehicles are not permitted or practical – helping commuters reach their destination. Carr-E can transport people or objects up to 118kg, has a range of 22km and a top speed of 18km/h.
It’s a finalist – along with TriCiti, a folding electric tricycle that can be easily adapted into a shopping cart, dolly or golf cart; and eChair, an electric wheelchair that can autonomously load itself into a vehicle.
“We really need to reinvent the wheel, to find new approaches to mobility,” said Vas. “When developing Carr-E, I was inspired by Ford’s expansion into both an auto and a mobility company, but I’m also aware of how rapidly cities are growing and how getting around urban areas will become more complicated.
“I really wanted to create a device that makes commuting easier and more fun.” Vas collaborated with colleague Daniel Hari and his manager Dr Uwe Wagner, and worked with designers from Ford of Europe and prototyping specialists from RWTH Aachen University to create Carr-E.
The four-wheeled device is designed to complement the use of a vehicle and support commuters ers along the final part of their journey. Itt can also be used to transport heavyvy objects. Users simply place an objectct on Carr-E and it will follow an electronic onic transmitter they keep in their possession.ssession.
TriCiti, developed by y James Neugebauer, Torsten Gerhardt and Robert Spahl – all working rking in vehicle architecture e for Ford of Europe – is designed to be both a rideable device and all-purpose carrying assistant.
The foldable machine can be adapted to carry shopping items and even golf bags, and can easily be taken onto public transportation or stored in a vehicle. TriCiti has a range of 30km and a top speed of 19km/h.
Gunther Cuypers, Robin Celis and David Longin – engineers at Ford’s Lommel proving grounds in Belgium – developed eChair, a lightweight electric wheelchair with a self-loading solution designed to offer greater independence to people with reduced mobility.
“Innovation and disruption is as much at the heart of how our engineers think now as it was when H Henry Ford first set a about transforming th the way we move,” said Walter Pijls, superv supervisor, innovation manage management for mobility, Ford of E Europe. “Person “Personal assistant devices can help p people cover the final mile of theirthe journey quickly and easily, as well as transport heavy o objects they might not be ablea to carry.” The accele acceleration in innovation at Ford – as measured by inventi invention disclosures – is expecte expected to reach record levels in 2 2016, topping last year’s record of more than 6,000. The number of individualin Ford employees creatin creating inventions also has reached record levels since the start of 2015, with more than 3,500 first-time inventors submitting new innovations.