What do you do if you're striving to go carless but the nearest bus stop, train station, grocery store, or even your place of work is just too far away to walk? Biking is always an awesome eco (not to mention health) friendly mode of transportation, but it may not always be the most practical.
Enter Treadway Mobility.
Treadway Mobility is the brainchild of Peter Treadway and is a lightweight and portable apparatus that is designed to be strapped to the users shoes and operated wirelessly via a hand controller.
Lithium polymer battery-powered electric motors are capable of propelling the user at speeds up to 10mph and the finished design mockups show colorful wheels and a rear LED lighting system for greater night visibility. The basic platform could feasibly be used to house wheels of all types. Imagine rocking rollerblade type wheels for zipping around urban areas and then swapping out to off-road tires for some extreme Treadway adventures.
"Treadway has entered his concept into this year's James Dyson Awards competition, an international award scheme aimed at inspiring student designers and engineers (or recent graduates). The reward for the top placing is GBP10,000 (just over US$15,000) for the designer or team, another GBP10,000 for the university department to which he/she/they belong, a visit to the Dyson research & development facilities in either the UK or Malaysia and a trophy. The overall winner will be announced in October."
As you can see via Gizmag, there are a number of prototypes being considered for the starting platform. The final product would obviously need to be something that could be light enough to be worn with existing footwear to be used when needed, but strong enough to not result in a 10mph crash.
Check out this video for a couple of prototypes in action:
Would a gizmo like this make your carless commute a little easier?
[Source: Green Diary]
Comments
Leave a comment