U3-X provides free movement in all directions just as in human walking.
Honda has developed a new personal mobility technology called U3-X, a compact experimental device that fits between the rider’s legs. U3-X provides free movement in all directions just as in human walking — forward, backward, side-to-side, and diagonally.
Honda will continue research and development of the device (vehicle?) including experiments in a real-world environment to verify its practicality, but has no immediate plans for production.
Honda has been conducting robotics research since 1986, and into walking assist devices as well, that TheDetroitBureau.com has tested. As with the others, U3-X, is under development at its Fundamental Technology Research Center in Wako, Saitama, Japan.
None of the clever machines shown thus far is a prosthetic, since they do not replace body parts.
Human walking is actually the result of complex interactions developed over millions of years of evolution. Honda’s ongoing research in the area potentially opens up vast new markets that could easily be larger than its successful automobile and motorcycle businesses.
None of the clever machines shown thus far is a prosthetic, since they do not replace body parts, but rather they are supplemental aids to walking that could have wide commercial application in medical, industrial and freight sectors, to name just a few, since they are helpful during physically demanding activities.
It’s, well, “walking proof” of the serendipity that can come from advanced research. The company has applied for more than 130 patents for the devices.
The control technology regulating these devices is a unique Honda innovation, that it says came about from the cumulative study of human walking that started in 1999 with its humanoid robot, ASIMO.
The latest personal mobility device, U3-X, makes it possible to adjust speed and move, turn and stop in all directions when the rider leans the upper body to shift body weight. Honda says this was achieved through application of advanced technologies including Honda’s balance control technology and what is apparently the world’s first omni-directional driving wheel system.
U3-X, makes it possible to adjust speed and move, turn and stop in all directions
This “HOT Drive System” enables movement in all directions — not only forward and backward, but also directly to the right and left as well as diagonally. In addition, this compact size and one-wheel-drive personal mobility device was designed to be “friendly” to the user and people around it by making it easier for the rider to reach the ground from the footrest and placing the rider on roughly the same eye level as other people or pedestrians.
Honda is planning to display the U3-X at the 41st Tokyo Motor Show 2009 (sponsored by JAMA) which will begin on October 24, 2009 at Makuhari Messe in Chiba, Japan.