Well, the base might be ripped right from the
Showbots, but Exmovere Holdings doesn't seem to be totally kidding about its
"Chariot" wearable transportation device. There's a new video up that demonstrates its use, with a character akin to the Summer Heights High guy at the helm ("I'm a little early," "He's stuck in traffic, you know. I just took my own way here, so I had no problems..."). If you can get past his slightly annoying implementation of the Chariot, it's not hard to see the benefits of a device like this over a wheelchair -- if it pans out, that is. Our theory is that Exmovere is using this gaudy Showbots platform as a jumping off point, adding in accessibility features, working on additional functionality (like sitting) and hopefully tweaking the looks before it goes to market. Hit up the read link for the video.
[Thanks, Joshua]
posted Apr 16th 2009 10:10AM
O_0 oh good Lawrd... please no...
All he needs now is a rocket launcher for one arm and a metal hook for the other.
This will be used in the next cheap sci-fi channel movie, aliens vs dino-fish-saurus 3.
Which one is the machine?
Can't complain about your bips being too wide now huh?
Photo reminds me of the photo of the Woz taking a leak while on his Segway...ewww!
First thing I thought of was Box from Logan's Run. That creeps me out a bit.
http://www.jeffbots.com/box.html
Looks more like C3P0 than a Segway.
Once again it is left to me to point out that the man looks like a giant electric shaver... 0_O
Looks like we are one step closer in creating captain Christopher Pike's wheelchair.
BEEP!
beep beep
Double-yes! Guilty!
My only question is: How would one who currently uses a wheelchair get up into this thing? At the end of the video it shows him stepping down and out, and handicap wouldn't be able to do that. Unless the provide some sort of carrier to get them into it?
CHARIOT..... TRANSFORM!!!
Unless there's some secret grabber arm on this thing, you better not drop anything once you're in.
They just use the same machine that puts on their Helmet/Breathing Apparatus.
I think it's a great idea. Was in the grocery store the other day and a guy in a wheelchair was trying to get a shopping basket from a stack. He managed before I could help him (he tilted the whole stack) but I immediately wondered why nobody made a wheelchair where the person was at an average height.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBOT
What if I want to slide to the left?!
Guess you're just gonna have to crank dat Soulja Boy and lean to the left.
*cringe*
After seeing the video, I really have to say, bravo to the concept. That's far more agile than a wheelchair, and for handicapped individuals would enable them to have a lot more normal day to day lives. However, the biggest limitation I can see with the design is that it lacks long distance mobility. Unless it transforms or compacts down, getting in and out of vehicles will be nearly impossible.
Needs a push bar too, so that when the power runs out your friend's can get you home without having to bruise your shoulder blades.
Clearly not an awesome method of transport for the able-bodied amongst us, but the benefits for disabled users is tremendous:
1. Being able to be eye to eye with other people when working with them will lift their social stature, no pun intended, as being low down is often cited by wheelchair users as a social disadvantage.
2. Use of both hands whilst traveling.
3. Speed and ease of transport.
Getting in an out will clearly require a little bit of inventiveness, but should be no more difficult to achieve than getting in or out of a regular chair of car.
I think this is great, and a genuine benefit for humanity!
Primitive dalek, no?
Totally Futurama!
I can't imagine how sore this guy's arm must be after holding his briefcase this way all the time. You'd think with all the inventiveness that went into this device someone would have thought to attach some sort of luggage 'clip' or something.
I guess this is were aftermarket accesories come in.
If only it had built in pockets. The guy seemed to have no clue what to do with his hands.
Why does he have a copier in his house?
thats supposed to be an office...
Haha I thought the same thing about the copier in his house! But seriously, who's office has freaking hardwood floors and a kitchen/lounge that looks like that?? The idea of that is even more ridiculous than the "Chariot."
ha, i hope they do not ever change the design. And also offer a golden "boss" version that makes you taller. And a monorail adaptor.
What happens though if two Chariot guys meet in a narrow corridor and block each others way?
And if you drop something to the floor? Or if you're attacked by a midget?
Another problem I can see is stability. Some disabilities that mostly appear physical (like cerebral palsy) actually affect balance too, so even leaning slightly forward and backwards like you have to in this, might be unrecoverable for some people, especially if you're moving on a slope.
I really like this idea though. I was in a wheelchair for most of my teenage years and just being at eye level with someone makes a huge amount of difference to the way people treat you. Getting in and out of this thing also seems like a huge concern, along with transport in vehicles.
Also, come on, surely you could make it look cooler than that, it looks like a stand up vacuum cleaner!
What I wonder about is how you are held upright, if you can't feel your groin area and are supported by it and have no movement won't that degenerate your testicles and thus influence your hormonal balance?
Can't see the video though for some reason, the page just shows a black rectangle, so I don't know how you are suppose to be strapped into it.
This idea reminded me of this.
http://pbfcomics.com/archive_b/PBF156-Disassemble.gif
How on earth does he use the loo and how can he sit in a meeting room, will he just stand in the corner?
Still looks to me that it’s a showbots base. So, they gut one and place a guy standing in the base and act as though he is effortlessly guiding it? Also notice that while waiting for the elevator, it turns to enter and the guy lurches like he wasn't expecting it, while before that he had been holding his back rigid to appear one with the base's movements. I'm thinking scam since the base is identical -not close...identical!
Hold it! If you watch the video on the showbot site you see a man testing the base. Its about 1/2 way through.
http://www.theshowbots.com/Making%20Showbot.html
This is a scam. Such a classy one too - getting the hopes up of those with handicaps. I hope these people burn in hell.
At least I would save money on pants.
THANK YOU!
finally someone said it.
Jalopnik just posted an article about this: turns out it's just a show costume with the top cut off:
http://jalopnik.com/5214585/exmovere-wearable-chariot-is-a-showbot-in-disguise
Its a great idea, but it has its issues. When your in the futuristic chariot, it looks like it makes you 8ft tall, most normal office buildings will have 7ft tall doorways and such.
Other issue is theres no physical way for a paraplegic to get into the machine without help. At least with a wheel chair, they can muscle their way into it. If it had a way for the top section to fold down where somebody could lift themselves into it the same way they would a wheelchair, then it lifts them up into the standing position, I could see that working.
But I hope theres not a way to tip the machine while you are in it. That would definitely hurt as it looks like it is pretty heavy.
This is like when Andy Richter wondered what it would be like if he had wheels for feet:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSB5NM3rWtc#t=7m36s
reminds me of this:
http://images.ola.com/auctions/13719/yhxc-411830-1.jpg
thanks.
Its so thin and unnoticeable
I should have watched the video first - that's pretty cool!
...why, because he's half man, half chariot-robot. That's two things-ism.
Looks like he's duct-taped into it.
And what would it take to get a freakin' cup holder? Or does a CD drive tray pop out somewhere to put your cup on?
Speaking of CD drive, that thing should totally have a bitchin' sound system integrated into it.
if he would be sitting on a chair then he would definitly remind me to Captain Pike from the old Star Trek show... just missing the red light for saying yes or no....
Exterminate! Exterminate! EXTERMINATE!!
Looks very cool.
Now let's see bend down and add paper to the copier...
Exterminate!!! Exterminate!!!
Doh, a little late on that one
Ahh one step closer to our ability to turn into the worthless blob people from Wall-E. Brought to you by Buy n Large.
"Our theory is that Exmovere is using this gaudy Showbots platform as a jumping off point"
You wouldn't have to theorize anything if you did your job as journalists (and a "ha ha" fits perfectly here); instead you act as ignorant dicks, as usual.
From a response to your previous "article", from Robert Doornick, CEO of International Robotics, Inc. (http://www.engadget.com/2009/04/08/exmoveres-wearable-chariot-for-the-mild-mannered-cyborg/comments/18208529/)
"It amazes me that you would pretend to practice responsible journalism and accuse this Wearable Transport Chariot to be a "Fake" on the grounds that it is associated with an entertainment product called Showbot.
[...]
Had you given yourself a few moments to contemplate the virtues of your proud investigating reporting, and the hurtful impact which such comments might bear upon the hard working folks who prepared for this announcement, you might have had the revelation that the Showbot is in fact the result of very hard and dedicated work to produce a wearable self-balancing base, which in this expression is indeed used quite safely to transport an entertainer in a robot costume. Might it then occur to you sir, that such a technology could, with the assistance of additional sensors and engineering, be adapted to a variety of other important markets, including that of transporting - with dignity - a person who is physically impaired, or individuals in need of practical transportation technologies which offer a variety of physical advantages, not the least of which are an upright position, a very small footprint, and the protection of a lower body enclosure..."
That "letter" is a whole lot of puffery and criticism from one who has not demonstrated the truth he claims to exist. Is placing someone in the costume suddenly adapting it for handicapped people? I don't see anything in the video or anywhere else that shows the technology he claims to use.
What I see is him placing a guy wearing a tie in a costume that normally has a guy in a robot suit. That isn't a great leap forward for the handicapped. Also, I see nothing stated by them officially explaining the adaptation of the showbot platform or its re-engineering for handicap use. So, he can huff and puff all he likes - but it still appears to be nothing but a lot of fakery and hyperbole at best.
Duke, I don't know what you mean by "from one who has not demonstrated the truth he claims to exist". A simple search on Google shows [almost] unequivocally that the guy does exist; whether that response is not a prank may not be 100% certain, but I doubt that anyone would take the time to write that [utterly unfunny] letter just for "fun".
However, while your objections may be right, they are of a much deeper level than that at which Engadget stopped. You are questioning the effectiveness of the device; they questioned its whole existence by looking at a picture (and nothing else) and calling the company a "liar". That's what they said:
"the device in the picture is almost certainly a fake -- it's actually the bottom of a Showbots uniform. Lame. What's interesting is that Exmovere put out a full press release, so we're guessing the company was just hoping no one would catch this little lie while they work on a real product -- if one actually exists."
That they acted as ignorant dicks still holds true.
Now c'mon here, you damn well knew I wasn't talking about the person existing. Unless English is your second language I have no idea where you got that from.
The issue is whether they have done anything to make this robot costume base effective for handicapped people to use. He claims that it truly can aid the handicapped through sensors and the like - but has shown zero proof of that. There is nothing shown that leads me to believe it does anything different than it did before - it transports one man with working legs. That isn't a solution for anything. If I roll out a Honda and say "look at this, I solved the energy crisis because this uses no fuel" - that means nothing to you if you then see me needing to fill it with gas again. It only means I was lying to you in the first place. Making the body control electric equipment through sensors is the big feat in this whole idea and that isn’t being addressed by anything other than puffery.
Hyperbole is not fact.
Now, you want to be mad at this site over such a trivial thing then fine - but you should be calling this guy out on his phantom invention.
Just to clarify -
"Duke, I don't know what you mean by "from one who has not demonstrated the truth he claims to exist". A simple search on Google shows [almost] unequivocally that the guy does exist; whether that response is not a prank may not be 100% certain, but I doubt that anyone would take the time to write that [utterly unfunny] letter just for "fun"."
All of that was misplaced as I never was talking about someone doing a prank response. You went off on a rant on me without reading what I said carefully - ironic since you accuse them of the same thing.
Yes, I misinterpreted what you said, as English is, in fact, not my mother tongue; and you misinterpreted my response - I really don't know what makes you think I was ranting; but that hasn't got anything to do with what Engadget was doing: they weren't ranting nor misinterpreting, they were just doing utterly shitty and uninformed "journalism".
http://whogivesafuck.biz
The Robocop styling is nice.
Welcome to Mr. G's room...
How do you get up if you fall over?
What happens if you drop something? Still more useful than the Segway, since this might actually help some people.
He looks like the offspring of an unholy union between Luke Skywalker and R2-D2.
Lazy ass
YOU Cyborg, how came you by this construct? Go cyborg...
If you can go potty into the suit and turn the urine/poo into little cubes of soil then I'm sold.
Robbie the Robot's half-human baby brother. I wonder if there's an extension he uses when he needs to use the urinal. I think he'd be in trouble in the event of a fire because they shut down the elevators and everyone uses the stairs. I doubt if that rig negotiates stairs very well.
That thing is totally impractical. No way I'd want to stand all day in that rig. It might be great to be used as an intimidation factor but that's about it. It's probably useless in snow and ice. A common wheelchair could put this rig to shame.
It seems to me this is a Segway covered in plastic...
I too have the Xerox 7700 CopyMaster Elite in my kitchen. What a coincidence!
needs a cup holder.
GOOD GOD! IT'S EATING HIM!