BMW Motorrad's futuristic motorcycle concept keeps the rider in control

The BMW Group celebrating its centenary this year unveiled its latest vision of the motoring future in Los Angeles. The BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100 is a concept motorcycle that keeps the rider in control in an autonomous world.

Edgar Heinrich, Head of Design at BMW Motorrad, describes a motorcycle as a "Great Escape" from the mundane world. This Steve McQueen vision is apparently at the heart of the Vision Next 100's design. Added to that are several futuristic ideas about where motoring will be, in general, in 100 years and how those changes will affect motorcycles and those who ride them.

Unsurprisingly, safety concerns are first and foremost in the design. Illustrating this, BMW says no protective clothing, not even a helmet, is required by the rider as assistive systems will keep them safe. Chief among these is a self-balancing mechanism that keeps the bike upright, even when parked, but allows for riding angles suited to the skill level of the rider, tilting into turns and leaning fore and aft when braking or accelerating just as a motorcycle of today would, but without the risk of laying the bike down.

The BMW Group's futurists see a world in which self-driving cars are the norm, but the Motorrad concept keeps the rider in control. To help in this regard, special rider's gear has been designed to form a Digital Companion that supports the rider with situational information when required. This information is relayed via glasses, called the Visor, worn by the rider, called the Visor. Content is triggered by the rider's eyes which, when looking up or down, cause it to display different content. Looking straight ahead clears the display so the rider can concentrate on the experience of riding. The exception being when alerts are required.

The rider would also wear the Vision Next 100's companion suit, which is tuned to provide thermal support by adjusting to provide ventilation or heat. The suit's external design is inspired by the musculature of the human body and bands in the suit can be adjusted by both rider preference and posture to allow for added or loosened support as needed. Riding speeds also adjust the suit, with higher speeds adding support to the upper vertebrae, for example.

The bike itself is designed to evoke nostalgic thoughts of BMW two-wheelers of the past, with a boxer-style engine cover in a naked bike style with outward-facing handle joints as homage to BMW's of days gone by. The black frame triangle is designed to be reminiscent of the very first BMW Motorrad motorcycle, the R32, built in 1923. Although the engine cover appears to be over a boxer-style engine, in reality it's a zero-emissions powertrain. The polished aluminum finish of the engine covers is dynamic, moving outward during use to add aerodynamics around the rider's legs, and sucking in when the bike is at rest for a slim, clean profile.

That engine cover is part of the overall Motorrad Vision Next 100's Flexframe structure. This is a futuristic, flexible construct that allows the entire one-piece frame to give a full-body steer for the motorcycle. Turning the handlebars to steer the bike bends the frame rather than just the front wheel. The amount of force required for the rider to create a turn is adjusted according to the Motorrad Vision's speed - the higher the speed, the more force that is required to make a turn. This is intended to prevent over-steer and corrections.

Integrated into that futuristic frame are the riding lights. A U-shaped element at front is the daytime running light and wind deflector in one piece. The integrated windshield protects the rider at speed and also acts as a heads-up display of information, as needed. Two red, illuminated strips beneath the seat shell are the rear lights and indicators in one piece, made to be reminiscent of Motorrad bikes of today.

A look at the BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100 shows that there are few joints and no visible bolts, screws, springs, or shocks. Damping is controlled by the tires, which feature a futuristic "variable tread" that actively adjusts to maximize grip and minimize impacts.

The BMW Motorrad design team sees a future world in which digital elements are more common than are analog. In that respect, most aspects of human life are about virtual control and allowing robotic machines to do the mundane tasks of everyday living. In that world, a motorcycle that allows the rider to be in control would become a Great Escape.

The BMW Motorrad Vision Next 100 is on display in Los Angeles at the Iconic Impulses: BMW Group Future Experience exhibition until the 16th of October.

Source: New Atlas, BMW

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From Online imagery to Door Step delivery, here's how robots are transforming Retail Logistics !

As economies grow and societies experience increase in demand for faster order fulfillments and accuracy in supply chain processes, there is an increasing pressure on manufacturers and supply chain management providers to come up with a way to meet consumer demands. While the demand for such orders should automatically translate to increase in workforce productivity, the transition has been anything but smooth. With the increasing costs in labour, players across the the retail logistics industry have found it hard to meet the demand.

Luckily, thanks to the advent of robotics and autonomy, some innovations have taken over the drudgery involved in logistics and supplemented the efforts of the human labour force. Also, the future in the logistics industry looks quite promising with a lot more innovations on the way that can fundamentally change the way the industry operates by bringing in efficiency and high technology.

Let’s see a few use cases where robotics have changed or can change the way logistics industry operates.

Use Case #1: Warehouse management using robots

 If you are looking at the above image and are wondering what is, here’s some interesting tidbit for you. The above image is of Amazon’s Kiva robots. Kiva robots, a product of Amazon Robotics, is a revolution in the logistics and warehousing industry. Ever since introduction at Amazon’s logistics and warehousing facilities, Kiva has transformed the way products are hand-picked and shipped from the storage. It is an autonomous heavy duty robot which lifts crates of products and brings it directly to the hands of the packaging personnel who then ship the product to the consumer. This is a revolutionary technology that has changed the world of warehouse management. 

Use Case #2: Automation of Order picking

Order picking operation is a major process in logistic warehouses. Involving the activities of taking and collecting articles in a specified quantity before shipment, it has an important influence on supply chain's productivity. This process, which has been manual until now has seen some robotic entrants who could potentially disrupt the process. Amazon, which kicked off its inaugural Picking Challenge last year, has encouraged teams around the world to create robots able to perform the task of an Amazon stock picker. This year the competition was expanded to include not only picking items from a shelf and placing them in a container, but the reverse as well – and a team from the Netherlands has claimed victories in both.

Use Case #3: Last-Mile Delivery

With the advent of the online retail giants, we as consumers have been exposed to the luxury of “Doorstep Delivery”. While it is a sweet deal for the consumers, for the service provider several pain-points exist- the most important being physical fatigue of the delivery boys. Interestingly, Mercedes Benz has had an interesting take on this problem. It has teamed up with drone company Matternet to create a concept vehicle dubbed the Vision Van which would deploy drones from its rooftop to carry packages over the final leg of their journey.

Read more here

These are just a few ways where robotics have the potential to eliminate the human element. This would usher in the era where consumer satisfaction and lean processes rule the roost and make processes efficient on count of being automated.

Happy Roboting ! !

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Induce some high tech features in your car with these cool projects

Do you feel that your family’s car is a little low tech tech compared to the swanky new one your neighbour purchased? Wanna surprise your dad with some new cool features when he turns on the car?

How about retrofitting a few new features to your car to make it feel like a car that was built for the second half of the 21st Century?

Well, of the top of the mind, the easy way would be to innovate some cool new projects that pull off a smart statement every time someone boards the car.

Do you have your Kidobotikz kits,? Then it can be done easy peasy! 

Following are three fun “Kit-creatives” that you can make using your foundation and beginner level kits. 

1) Intelligent Parking Assistant System - F+B

How often do you feel the need for assistance in parking your car? This project will help you park your car without the need for requesting assistance from your apartment’s watchmen to monitor the blind spot while parking! Create a circuit to assist you in parking your car properly without collision. To try and test this circuit, all you would require is the beginner level Bluetooth controlled robot and a sensor. When the sensor senses some hindrance, it sets the buzzer abuzz. It can also help detect intruders in Parking Lot.

Find out how to do it over here: Intelligent Parking Assistant System

2) Automatic Headlight System - F+B

This is a feature that is not present in even the current generation. But, it would be awfully convenient if the headlight of our car or two wheeler turned on by themselves. And it would also be in the interests of the battery life if the lights turned themselves off in the mornings. This project should help us automate it in such a way that you can forget to flip the ON and OFF button on your vehicle. 

Find out how to do it over here: Automatic Headlight System

 

3) Automatic Indicator System - F+B

Must be tiresome to sway your arms while creating turns .Wouldn’t it be cool if you could automate the process of being able to turn on your vehicle indicators as you made the turn. This project could help you do that. All you would require is a few components of your Beginner and Foundation level kits.

Find out how to do it over here: Automatic Indicator System

Pull off these projects and make your dad proud of you!

Happy Roboting ! !

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Indian ROV monitors the health of coral reefs

Scuba divers who take a plunge into ocean floors to study coral reefs can now take a break. An indigenously developed remotely operated vehicle (ROV) is taking up their role with more efficiency and accuracy and it’s expected to contribute significantly to the conservation and management of corals.

The National Institute of Ocean Technology (NIOT), Chennai, had recently deployed the ROV for studying the coral reefs of the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, which are facing survival threats due to global warming.

While it would take weeks together for a scuba diver to diagnose the health of corals, the ROV could map a larger area in a day.

“The images of corals recorded by the ROV are useful for studying the biodiversity of coral reefs and their evolution. The underwater visuals had shown the coral debris and boulders caused by the 2004 tsunami and the rejuvenation of the colonies of branching corals, stony coral and brain corals at some locations,” explained G.A. Ramadass, Head, Deep Sea Technologies Group, NIOT.

The coral reef biodiversity at Andaman region, which spreads across an area of 11,000 sq km, was seriously affected during the 2004 tsunami. The increasing sea surface temperature added to the stress. Currently, there is no mechanism other than scuba diving to examine the corals and assess the extent of damage or rejuvenation,” explained Dr. Ramadass.

According to the experts, no evidence of coral bleaching was seen in Andaman reef during April 2016 when the ROV carried out a survey. However, the ecosystem needs to be monitored constantly to understand the impacts of raise in temperature, he said.

Development of ROV

NIOT had earlier developed a deep water work class Remotely Operated Vehicle (ROV) ROSUB 6000 which was suitable for exploration in deep waters. It was successfully operated at a maximum depth at 5,289 metres in the Central Indian Ocean Basin. It also contributed to the exploration of deep ocean minerals such as gas hydrates, polymetallic nodules and hydrothermal sulphides, which occur at water depths ranging between 1,000 and 6,000 metres, said a communication from the institute.

A new miniaturised version of ROV, which could be effectively used for exploration and inspection up to 500-metre water depths, caters to the need of the research community and industry. It was also deployed for scientific research in Antarctica as a part of the 34th Indian Scientific Expedition to Antarctica during Jan-Apr 2015. It was deployed in the Lake Priyadarshini near the Indian permanent station Maitri and in the New Indian barrier ice shelf regions.

Source: The Hindu

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Geek Speak: Navaratri Special Edition

It’s the final day of Navratri and we couldn’t be more happier. Called the day of Vijayadasami, it signifies the day when good trounces evil. While there had no battle against evil here at Kidobotikz, there was one stiff competition underway though- the competition to get robots on the Kolu stairs. 

Upon announcement of the Kolu display at Kidobotikz, dozens of students visited the center and were eager to get their robots on display. Students spent the first half of their dusshera holidays developing their Kolu-themed projects. The next half was spent displaying these on the stands at Kidobotikz. Quite a few number of entries were received and owing to space constraints, a few of them had to be not displayed at the stands. We’ve picked a few of the projects that had turned quite a few heads and have featured them here.

1) Thirumalai Thirupathi Oonjal Sevai by A.V Sangeetha

The theme of this project is to emulate the traditional swing on which the deity at Tirupati is customarily placed upon as a part of the Brahmotsavam celebrations. This project, done by Kidobotikzian A.V Sangeetha, makes use of a couple of B.O motors, and an arduino board to induce an oscillatory motion in the motors. Suspended from the B.O Motors is the Oonjal.

2) Blessing Ganesh by A Shiekh and S. Sai Manivanan 

Using nothing but a starter shield and a BO motor, these young roboticists have created a Blessing Ganesh picture frame that has an automated trunk. Whenever, one takes their arm near the image, the trunk of Lord Ganesh will rise up and bless the devotee.

3) Automated Kumkum and Manjal offering by Mrithun Chockalingam 

This project is a rather neat looking one with a lot of functionality built into it. There’s an idol of Lord Ganesh in the middle with a small motor mounted umbrella behind him. In the front, the two small cups of kumkum and turmeric are placed on small plates. These are connected to two BO motors that are concealed below the boxes. The motors are connected to IR sensors. So, when someone brings their palms near to Lord ganesha to touch his feet, the sensors detect the palms and the small motors rotate the containers above.

4) Ranganatha being fanned by Balaji S.Rao 

To add some robotics to mythology, Balaji Rao came up with this concept. It depicts the image of how Lord Ranganatha is fanned while he rests upon a serpent in his holy abode. Balaji made a slow rotating fan with a torque motor that will look like someone is fanning the god. To achieve the same, he has used a custom made fan blade and connected it to a BO motor via a long stick. 

We wish all a very happy Navaratri and hope to see more such interesting projects next year.

Happy Roboting !

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Komatsu's robotic mining truck completely dumps the driver

Komatsu's latest autonomous truck fully embraces the notion of unmanned operation by ditching the cabin and adopting a design that optimizes load distribution and doesn't distinguish between forwards and backwards.

Komatsu began trials of its Autonomous Haulage Systems (AHS) in a partnership with mining company Rio Tinto in 2008, and since then the technology has hauled hundreds of millions of tonnes of material in Chile and Australia's Pilbara region.

The autonomous haul trucks like the 930E model used by Rio Tinto incorporate controls, wireless networking and obstacle detection to enable unmanned operation, but they still look like conventional mining trucks complete with driver cabins.

The new 2,014-kW (2,700-hp), 15-m (49-ft) long and 8.5-meter (27-ft) wide "Innovative Autonomous Haulage Vehicle" takes things up a notch. The cabin is completely gone, allowing for a design that better distributes weight to all four wheels, and it uses four wheel drive and four wheel steering for better grip and maneuverability.

Without the need for a driver squinting in the rear view mirror, the truck is also designed to move as efficiently backwards as it does forwards, meaning no three point turns and therefore increased productivity and less wear and tear on the 59/80R63 tires. It can handle a payload of 230 metric tons and reaches a maximum speed of 64 km/h (40 mph).

The robot monster truck is being unveiled at Minexpo International in Las Vegas this week and Komatsu says it "plans a market introduction in the near future."

The video below is Komatsu's animation of the Innovative Autonomous Haulage Vehicle at work.

Source: New Atlas, Komatsu

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SenseFly gives its eBee agriculture drone bigger wings

A few years back, drone-maker senseFly launched its eBee fixed-wing drone with a firm eye on agricultural applications, though the drone's mapping capabilities drew the attention of those working on search and rescue applications, too. Now the company has announced an upgrade, the eBee Plus, which along with longer flight times, packs a new sensor promised to provide more precise mapping.

 The eBee Plus looks much like the original drone on the outside, but it packs a little more functionality inside that senseFly and parent company Parrot will hope can expand its appeal. This includes a new propriety sensor dubbed S.O.D.A (Sensor Optimized for Drone Applications), an RGB camera with a 1-inch sensor, and global shutter that is capable of snapping images with a spatial resolution of 2.9 cm (1.1 in) while flying at an altitude of 122 m (400 ft).

The wingspan has grown from 96 cm (37.8 in) to 110 cm (43.3 in) and flight time is boosted from 45 minutes to 59 minutes, allowing the drone to map 220 ha (540 ac) on a single flight. The company claims this is more area than any drone in its weight class. Routes are planned through the senseFly's accompanying flight-control software, eMotion 3, which allows for multi-drone missions and also handles the data management.

While the drone comes loaded with the S.O.D.A sensor, this can be swapped out for any of the company's fixed-wing RGB, thermal or multispectral sensors, such as the Sequoia released earlier this year. There is also the addition of RTK/PPK functionality which is available as an optional extra and draws on satellite data for more precise positioning information about objects on the ground.

The company will be showing off the new drone at mapping conference Intergeo in Hamburg next week. Though there is no information on the pricing for the eBee Plus available at this stage, we have enquired with senseFly and will update the story when we hear back.

Source: New Atlas, senseFly

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