Friday, October 16, 2015

The Future of Walking in the Hands of WalkCar

The Future with WalkCar
When Lexus proved that it can make a real hoverboard, everyone was ecstatic. However, the excitement was only short-lived after the reality slowly sank in. Nobody have the streets that can actually make magnetic levitation possible.

But even if Lexus's hoverboards could be used everywhere, there’s now a sleeker, smaller device called the WalkCar that can drive anybody to work and then hide in their backpack while they charge it near their desk.

Created by Japanese company Cocoa Motors, the WalkCar is a skateboard-like device that has Segway-like powers. The device can carry an individual of up to 265 pounds (120kg) at up to 6.2mp/h (10km/h), for distances of up to 7.4 miles (12km).

"I thought, 'what if we could just carry our transportation in our bags, wouldn't that mean we'd always have our transportation with us to ride on?' and my friend asked me to make one, since I was doing my masters in engineering specifically on electric car motor control systems," Cocoa Motors’ Kuniako Saito told Reuters.

The gadget needs just three hours to reach a full charge and will cost around US$ 800 on Kickstarter when it launches in the coming months, Reuters reports. The gadget is expected to ship in spring 2016.

The WalkCar is made of aluminum and weighs between 4.4 pounds and 6.6 pounds – that’s between 2kg and 3kg – depending on whether it's an indoor or outdoor version.

To start it, the user simply has to stand on it. Stepping off it stops the vehicle. Just like with the Segway, shifting weight from left to right would change the direction.

No comments:

Post a Comment