In this paper, we proposed poimo, a new family of portable and inflatable mobility devices.
My name is Ryuma Niiyama.
Let's take a quick look at this study with a preview video in the first 30 seconds.
The key to this proposal is the ability to generate mobility devices by capturing the
user's riding posture.
Users can also interactively adjust the design parameters.
We implemented and tested two different shapes of poimo: electric motorcycle and wheelchair.
The main objective of this study is to facilitate the fabrication of customized personal mobility
devices for each person.
Unfortunately, existing mobility devices are mass-produced, off-the-shelf products.
The light cycle in the movie Tron is an inspiring vehicle.
In the digital world of this movie, you can generate a bike with gestures.
To incorporate digital flexibility into the hardware, we propose a shape-changing mobility
device with an inflatable structure.
Inflatables are flexible in shape, inexpensive, and can be rolled up to a small size.
Some related works are shown here.
Pneumatic and inflatable interfaces started with classic user interfaces such as mouse
and buttons, and more recently they have spread to furniture
and architecture.
There are examples of inflatable helmet and soft car bodies, however, there is no research
that tries to fabricate a whole vehicle.
Perhaps the first question is whether balloons can be used as vehicle bodies on the ground.
We used a special fabric called drop-stitch double-wall fabric.
Cut out the shape you want from the roll of material and glue the sides.
Then you can create robust inflatables.
Our contribution is that we have achieved essential elements of the vehicle, such as
steering hinge and wheels, with inflatables.
Hiroki Sato talks from here.
We developed design software that allows users to design this mobility without special knowledge.
Firstly, users take a riding posture they imagine.
The software captures that posture using Microsoft Kinect and suggests a base design that fits
the user's posture and body size.
The design can be customized with UI.
There are two types of design templates: bike and chair.
We plan to add the variations.
This software can export the design data.
The data includes information like dimensions and colors and it can be used to order to
the manufacturer.
After users receive the mobility kit, they can easily assemble them with inflator, screws
and surface fasteners.
This mobility is powered by a battery and an in-wheel motor.
The motor drives the tires as shown on the left video.
The speed of the mobility is around 6km/h.
The mobility is strong enough to support the human load.
We also interviewed six users online.
We showed users some videos of the mobility and software to get their impressions and
feedback on how to improve the software.
From the interviews, we got some positive feedback, as well as some requests, for example,
detailed construction manuals and some UI improvements.
In this study, we made inflatable structure mobilities.
We also created software that users can design this mobility without special knowledge.
User interviews gave us the users' expectations for the mobility and feedback for future improvements.