Walking car (more pix and video)

Hyundai has released more details of its unique walking car concept.

Like something out of the TV show Thunderbirds, Hyundai’s Elevate is set to wow showgoers at the 2019 CES in Las Vegas.

Hyundai says the four-legged ‘Elevate’ will redefine our perception of vehicular mobility.

Wheels with robotic legs allow the concept to drive, walk or even climb over the most treacherous terrain.

This design is uniquely capable of both mammalian and reptilian walking gaits, allowing it to move in any direction.

Call it 4 x More.

This vehicle could have easily emerged from the bowels of Thunderbird 2.

It combines the power of robotics with EV technology to take people where no vehicle has been before.

Hyundai says the need for efficient, rapid, resilient transportation for disaster assistance led the company to develop the first-ever vehicle with moveable legs.

Elevate is the first Ultimate Mobility Vehicle (UMV), blending technology found in electric cars and robots, which allows it to traverse terrain beyond the limitations of even the most capable off-road vehicle.

The legs also fold up into a stowed drive-mode, where power to the joints is cut, and the use of an integrated passive suspension system maximises battery efficiency.

This allows Elevate to drive at highway speeds just like any other vehicle.

But no other can climb a 1.5 metre wall, step over a 1.5 metre gap, walk over diverse terrain, and achieve a 4.5 metre wide track width, all while keeping its body and passengers completely level.

A walking vehicle is a vehicle that moves on legs rather than wheels or tracks, but the Elevate uses both.

Walking vehicles have been constructed in the past and are classified according to their number of legs, with common configurations being one leg (pogo stick or hopper), two legs (biped), four legs (quadruped), and six legs (hexapod).

There are a few prototypes of walking vehicles in existence.

Almost all of these are experimental or proof of concept, and as such may never see mass production.

A quadruped walker, the General Electric Walking truck, can be seen at the US Army’s Transportation Museum.

While the mobility of walking vehicles is arguably higher than that of wheeled or tracked vehicles, their inherent complexity has limited their use mainly to experimental vehicles.

Examples of manned walking vehicles include General Electric’s Walking truck, the University of Duisburg-Essen’s ALDURO.

Timberjack, a subsidiary of John Deere, built a practical hexapod Walking Forest Machine (harvester).

One of the most sophisticated real-world walking vehicles is the Martin Montensano-built ‘Walking Beast’, a 7-tonne quadrapod experimental vehicle suspended by four hydraulic binary-configuration limbs with much greater dexterity.

And, yes, Thunderbirds has featured a walking vehicle called the Sidewinder in one episode.

It resembles a giant lobster that is powered by an atomic reactor.

The four-legged Sidewinder has two mechanical arms at the front which are used to uproot trees and move aside other obstructions.

The Imperial Walkers from Star Wars also moved on legs.

 

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