Kinematic performance of micro-mobility vehicles during braking: experimental analysis and comparison between e-kick scooters and bikes

According to the Italian legislation, e-kick scooters and bikes are considered a single category of vehicles and can travel on the same infrastructures with the same rules; however, their kinematic behavior is very different. The adoption of a bike as a vehicle for covering short distances i.e., within 5 km is widely known both at the kinematic level and for its use by users. Conversely, e-kick scooters are "unknown" vehicles both for their kinematic characteristics and for their use by users. A handful of studies have shown how the behavior of e-kick scooters and bikes is very different; however, there are not many studies that analyze the different kinematic behavior of e-kick scooters and bikes. This study presents an experimental analysis that evaluates braking behavior by comparing e-kick scooters and traditional bikes according to several vehicle speeds. These analyzes help build a probabilistic mathematical model for estimating the stopping space of e-kick scooters and bikes. The availability of this model is crucial for the design of safe intersections between cycle paths and roads intended for motor vehicle traffic. Moreover, this model may reveal insights that could challenge the recent European regulations that equated e-kick scooters as bikes

Assistive mobility devices focusing on smart walkers : classification and review

In an aging society it is extremely important to develop devices, which can support and aid the elderly in their daily life. This demands means and tools that extend independent living and promote improved health. Thus, the goal of this article is to review the state of the art in the robotic technology for mobility assistive devices for people with mobility disabilities. The important role that robotics can play in mobility assistive devices is presented, as well as the identification and survey of mobility assistive devices subsystems with a particular focus on the walkers technology. The advances in the walkers’ field have been enormous and have shown a great potential on helping people with mobility disabilities. Thus it is presented a review of the available literature of walkers and are discussed major advances that have been made and limitations to be overcome

Autonomous Campus Mobility Platform

This Major Qualifying Project (MQP) is based around the development of a robotic vehicle for use in improving mobility. The main objective was to create an autonomous vehicle capable of navigating a person or cargo back and forth from Higgins Laboratory on the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) main campus to the Robotics Laboratory located at 85 Prescott Street, approximately 0.6 miles away. An autonomous robot was uniquely designed as a personal mobility platform to navigate its environment using onboard navigation and sensing system

Control Interface for Hands-free Navigation of Standing Mobility Vehicles based on Upper-Body Natural Movements

In this paper, we propose and evaluate a novel human-machine interface (HMI) for controlling a standing mobility vehicle or person carrier robot, aiming for a hands-free control through upper-body natural postures derived from gaze tracking while walking. We target users with lower-body impairment with remaining upper-body motion capabilities. The developed HMI bases on a sensing array for capturing body postures; an intent recognition algorithm for continuous mapping of body motions to robot control space; and a personalizing system for multiple body sizes and shapes. We performed two user studies: first, an analysis of the required body muscles involved in navigating with the proposed control; and second, an assessment of the HMI compared with a standard joystick through quantitative and qualitative metrics in a narrow circuit task. We concluded that the main user control contribution comes from Rectus Abdominis and Erector Spinae muscle groups at different levels. Finally, the comparative study showed that a joystick still outperforms the proposed HMI in usability perceptions and controllability metrics, however, the smoothness of user control was similar in jerk and fluency. Moreover, users' perceptions showed that hands-free control made it more anthropomorphic, animated, and even safer.Comment: 2020 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other use

Smartphone-based two-wheeled self-balancing vehicles rider assistant

This paper presents an approach to a driver assistant system for a two-wheeled self-balancing mobility vehicles in particular for a Segway. The approach is aimed for the readily available mobile devices, which become a part of our daily life such as a smartphone or a tablet. If a mobile device is well-positioned on a mobility vehicle, its front and rear cameras can be utilized as sensors to capture the ride related information about the rider's intention(s) and the interaction of the rider with the environment. In addition, attached to the handle bar of the mobility vehicle, this mobile device can be used to alert the driver using the motion and location sensor as well as cameras and gather ride characteristics. In this study, we describe a context-aware system that continuously observes both the rider and the dynamical characteristics of the ride and provides alerts to the rider anticipating the hazards, collision, the route of the other public road users, and the stability of the current ride characteristics

Market Feedback and Team Commitment in Radical Product Innovation Process

Previous research has considered how exploratory market learning processes moderate market and technological uncertainty in radical product development. Scholars argue that new product development (NPD) teams may increase the chances of success of radically new projects by acquiring, assimilating and implementing new information from market feedback. However, research has not tackled how information is assimilated by the NPD team and to what extent the process of information implementation occurs. In this article, we begin to fill the need for such research by investigating the interaction between internal team values (beliefs and possibly ideology) and external market feedback / information in radical projects. Via the lens of a 2-year longitudinal participant-observation study, we suggest that information assimilation is not automatic, but rather influenced in interesting ways by internal team values. The findings imply that shared team values act as a selective assimilation mechanism determining whether a development team will act on user feedback. Furthermore, the type of information (e.g., functional vs. conceptual feedback) processed by the development team acts as a moderating factor on the relationship between the team values and information processing

Human Transporter(E-Porter)

The function of a human transporter is basically used for transferring a single person from one place to another in a short period of time. It is a device that acts as an alternative to traditional transportations options like cars and motorcycles that are commonly used today. With the development of a human transporter, it can overcome the problem of commuting great distances between places faced by the students inside the university. To use the human transporter as an alternative means of transportation inside the university, the vehicle must be created with the advantages of being lightweight, energy efficient, durable, user-friendly, economical and safe. The project scopes that are involved to achieve these objectives includes researches on current technologies inside existing human transporters, conducting survey form to Universiti Teknologi PETRONAS (UTP) students and doing an extensive research on the source of energy that drives the human transporter. The methods that are being used inside the project are planning the project work for the whole time frame allocated, do the literature review and research at the beginning stage, collect data for available source of clean energy and mechanical mechanism that can enhance the performance of the human transporter, produce technical drawing during the design stage and finally, construct the prototype. The research and design stage is completed during the first semester while the fabricating stage for the prototype is done during the second semester. Through the development of this human transporter, the project delivers a good optional solution for UTP students to overcome the commuting problems they face in the university. A part from that, by promoting the use of clean source energy, this device will be much an environmental friendly product as it produces no pollutant emissions compared to other fuel combustion vehicles nowadays

Context-Based Rider Assistant System for Two Wheeled Self-Balancing Vehicles

Personal mobility devises become more and more popular last years. Gyroscooters, two wheeled self-balancing vehicles, wheelchair, bikes, and scooters help people to solve the first and last mile problems in big cities. To help people with navigation and to increase their safety the intelligent rider assistant systems can be utilized that are used the rider personal smartphone to form the context and provide the rider with the recommendations. We understand the context as any information that characterize current situation. So, the context represents the model of current situation. We assume that rider mounts personal smartphone that allows it to track the rider face using the front-facing camera. Modern smartphones allow to track current situation using such sensors as: GPS / GLONASS, accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, microphone, and video cameras. The proposed rider assistant system uses these sensors to capture the context information about the rider and the vehicle and generates context-oriented recommendations. The proposed system is aimed at dangerous situation detection for the rider, we are considering two dangerous situations: drowsiness and distraction. Using the computer vision methods, we determine parameters of the rider face (eyes, nose, mouth, head pith and rotation angles) and based on analysis of this parameters detect the dangerous situations. The paper presents a comprehensive related work analysis in the topic of intelligent driver assistant systems and recommendation generation, an approach to dangerous situation detection and recommendation generation is proposed, and evaluation of the distraction dangerous state determination for personal mobility device riders

Public Health-Led Insights on Electric Micro-mobility Adoption and Use : a Scoping Review

Altres ajuts: acords transformatius de la UABUnidad de excelencia María de Maeztu CEX2019-000940-MThe advent of electric micro-mobility (EMM) has transformed the urban mobility landscape, with projections indicating a 5-10% increase in its modal share in European cities by 2030. In this scoping review, we aimed to comprehensively examine the key determinants of EMM adoption and usage from a public health perspective. Sixty-seven articles were included in the analysis, primarily covering e-bikes and e-scooters. The determinants were categorised into two broad categories: (1) contextual determinants that encompass enabling and hindering factors related to legal frameworks, transportation systems and infrastructure, and technology, and (2) individual-level determinants that pertain to intrinsic motivations and deterrents of individuals. Our findings reveal that EMM vehicles are widely perceived as a cost-effective, flexible, ad hoc, and fast mode of transportation within urban areas, augmenting accessibility and connectivity. Additionally, the lightweight, foldable, and transportable nature of these vehiclesis highly appreciated by users. However, several barriers have also been identified, including inadequate infrastructure and end-of-trip facilities, limited capability to traverse diverse terrains and trip scenarios, acquisition and maintenance costs, limited carrying capacities, technical failures, and accident risks. Our results suggest that the interplay of contextual enablers and barriers and personal motivations and deterrents drive the emergence, adoption, and usage of EMM. Hence, a comprehensive understanding of both contextual and individual-level determinants is crucial for ensuring a sustainable and healthy uptake of EMM

New players in intelligent transportation: Autonomous Segway in a dynamic environment

This paper heralds a mathematical treatment of Segways as autonomous robots for personal transportation and deliveries and courier services in constrained dynamic environments from a bird’s-eye view. New velocity-based stabilizing controllers of an autonomous nonholonomic two-wheeled self-balancing personalized Segway robot are extracted from a total potential developed by employing the Lyapunov-based Control Scheme (LbCS) for navigation in a partially known environment. Velocity controllers’ cost and time effectiveness and efficiency result from the interaction of the three prominent pillars of LbCS: smoothest, shortest, and safest path for motion planning. Furthermore, the autonomous personal transporter has an obstacle avoidance sensor with a limited detection range ideal for fast navigation in dynamic environments with narrow corridors, tracks, and pathways. This also successfully facilitates navigation in a partially known environment where the sensors only receive and avoid static and dynamic obstacles in a limited range. The results are numerically validated, and the efficacy of the new controllers is exemplified via computer simulations, which illustrate the forward, backward, and zero-turn radius maneuvers of the Segway robot. Introducing the particular autonomous personal transporter would contribute to transportation systems of smart cities