Learning how to drive is an issue. Getting your license after learning is another. Driving in traffic is an issue. Parking is another. What if there was an easier way to move around? What if it didn’t require a learning process, a license, or even a parking space? Do I have your attention now? Thought so!
I’m talking about the all new Japanese Walk Car – interesting name, no? As the name suggests, all you need to do is stand on a vehicle which moves in the direction you want.
Image: Cocoa Motors
The twenty-six-year-old Japanese engineer, Kuniako Saito, who came up with portable transporter said that his studies in electric car motor control systems gave him the idea for this sort of a ride. In an interview, Saito said, ‘I thought ‘what if we could just carry our transportation in our bags, wouldn’t that mean we’d always have our transportation with us to ride on?’ And my friend asked me to make one, since I was doing my masters in engineering specifically on electric car motor control systems.’ So, credit goes to his friend too for pumping him up!
Oh wait, are you skeptical about the ‘no parking issue’ claim I made earlier? Let me assure you by sharing some of the device’s specifications. It is sleek platform made up of aluminum and weighs approximately 2-3 kilograms. It may not look strong but it has the ability to withstand 120 kilograms! As for the speed, it can move at 10 kilometers per hour for up to 12 kilometers with only three hours of charging!
Saito and his team at Cocoa Motors recently launched their lithium battery-powered ‘WalkCar’ which is the size of a laptop and looks like a skateboard. The inventor wishes to broaden the scope of the vehicle as he says that the ‘WalkCar’ has the potential to push wheelchairs without any difficulty.
All that you need to do is stand on this vehicle in order to move around. And if you wish to change directions, just shift your weight towards the respective side. There is no on/off button – you simply get on and get off. Yep, it’s that simple!
Motivated to be an inventor and not an innovator, Sait said that, ‘Maybe I just see it that way, but it seems to me that the U.S. is always the one which invents new products and Japan is the one which takes those products and improves on them to make a better version of it. But here in this case, the WalkCar is a totally new product I have started from scratch. So, I also I want to show the world that Japan can also be innovative.’
References: Cocoa Motors, Daily Mail