5 ms·

It may still be useful for warehousing and indoor spaces

shawnz 5y ago
There's already a way superior solution for that use case, already in common use today: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecanum_wheel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecanum_wheel
dpark 5y ago
I had that same immediate thought and then realized that it doesn’t make sense there either. The interchangeable tops seems uninteresting and the spherical “wheels” don’t seem to deliver any real value over wheels, just more complexity.
- carlmr 5y ago
  >The interchangeable tops seems uninteresting The interchangeable tops would be whats loaded in the warehouse. >and the spherical “wheels” don’t seem to deliver any real value over wheels, just more complexity. They take away a lot of navigational complexity in a warehouse setting where you don't have much space. And they could do exactly the maneuvers necessary in that setting, like bringing a package directly into its designated space, unloading it and then driving out underneath.
  - db65edfc7996 5y ago
    >They take away a lot of navigational complexity in a warehouse setting where you don't have much space These already exist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJtpPyVM_y4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJtpPyVM_y4 I swear this was a background element in one of the new Star Trek's. Failing to find a clip. At the time, I thought it was a waste of special effects, only to later discover it was a real product.
    - dpark 5y ago
      That is certainly cool, but the video seems like evidence that it’s not actually very useful. The forklift pointlessly drives sideways to show it can, but a standard forklift could just turn and go straight so what’s the value from all the extra complexity? Those sidewinder wheels seem like a much better solution than the captive spheres in the concept car, though.
  - dpark 5y ago
    > The interchangeable tops would be whats loaded in the warehouse. You mean the tops are essentially pallets? Okay but how do you get them on and off? This seems like a forklift make more sense. > They take away a lot of navigational complexity in a warehouse setting where you don't have much space. I don’t see it. You still need a mechanism to load/unload unless the things you’re moving are capable of doing that themselves somehow. Unless your load/unload mechanism is somehow omnidirectional, you’ll need to turn the vehicle anyway, negating most of the benefit.
    - marcosdumay 5y ago
      How do you get the car tops on and off that demo vehicle? I'm asking this since I closed the article and couldn't imagine any good way, but whatever it is, you use the same mechanism with the pallets. Something certainly goes up and takes the load, like a forklift. And yes, it's often easier to make the load/unload mechanism omnidirectional than to make a space where a directional vehicle can maneuver.
      - dpark 5y ago
        I have no idea if the designers had any plan for how to change out the tops. My guess is they didn’t think it through that far because this whole concept seems poorly thought through. If you were doing to change the tops, though, I would expect some external lift would do that job. Adding lift capabilities to the base or to the tops would add a bunch of weight for no reason. (Those extra tops have to be stored somewhere. Might as well keep the lift mechanism in the storage facility.) The obvious answer is that a forklift is used to put the top onto the base.

There's already a way superior solution for that use case, already in common use today: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecanum_wheel https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mecanum_wheel

dpark 5y ago

I had that same immediate thought and then realized that it doesn’t make sense there either. The interchangeable tops seems uninteresting and the spherical “wheels” don’t seem to deliver any real value over wheels, just more complexity.

carlmr 5y ago
>The interchangeable tops seems uninteresting The interchangeable tops would be whats loaded in the warehouse. >and the spherical “wheels” don’t seem to deliver any real value over wheels, just more complexity. They take away a lot of navigational complexity in a warehouse setting where you don't have much space. And they could do exactly the maneuvers necessary in that setting, like bringing a package directly into its designated space, unloading it and then driving out underneath.
- db65edfc7996 5y ago
  >They take away a lot of navigational complexity in a warehouse setting where you don't have much space These already exist: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJtpPyVM_y4 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJtpPyVM_y4 I swear this was a background element in one of the new Star Trek's. Failing to find a clip. At the time, I thought it was a waste of special effects, only to later discover it was a real product.
  - dpark 5y ago
    That is certainly cool, but the video seems like evidence that it’s not actually very useful. The forklift pointlessly drives sideways to show it can, but a standard forklift could just turn and go straight so what’s the value from all the extra complexity? Those sidewinder wheels seem like a much better solution than the captive spheres in the concept car, though.
- dpark 5y ago
  > The interchangeable tops would be whats loaded in the warehouse. You mean the tops are essentially pallets? Okay but how do you get them on and off? This seems like a forklift make more sense. > They take away a lot of navigational complexity in a warehouse setting where you don't have much space. I don’t see it. You still need a mechanism to load/unload unless the things you’re moving are capable of doing that themselves somehow. Unless your load/unload mechanism is somehow omnidirectional, you’ll need to turn the vehicle anyway, negating most of the benefit.
  - marcosdumay 5y ago
    How do you get the car tops on and off that demo vehicle? I'm asking this since I closed the article and couldn't imagine any good way, but whatever it is, you use the same mechanism with the pallets. Something certainly goes up and takes the load, like a forklift. And yes, it's often easier to make the load/unload mechanism omnidirectional than to make a space where a directional vehicle can maneuver.
    - dpark 5y ago
      I have no idea if the designers had any plan for how to change out the tops. My guess is they didn’t think it through that far because this whole concept seems poorly thought through. If you were doing to change the tops, though, I would expect some external lift would do that job. Adding lift capabilities to the base or to the tops would add a bunch of weight for no reason. (Those extra tops have to be stored somewhere. Might as well keep the lift mechanism in the storage facility.) The obvious answer is that a forklift is used to put the top onto the base.