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Yamaha's 'Motobot' can autonomously drive a motorcycle
By Duncan Geere World of tech
Shown off at the Tokyo Motor Show 2015
Engineers at Yamaha are working on a robot that can ride a motorcycle without human assistance.
The 'Yamaha Motobot' will be able to perch on top of an unmodified motorcycle and control the throttle, brake lever and pedal, clutch and transmission, as well as steering left and right. It's fully autonomous, equipped with systems that can control complex motions at high speeds.
That's the goal. Right now, it's less impressive - requiring humans to help it get moving from a standing start to a fairly slow pace. Eventually, however, Yamaha says it'll be able to ride around a track at more than 200 km/h.
High Degree of Accuracy
To do that, it'll need some pretty complex systems. "Controlling complex motions at high speeds requires a variety of control systems that must function with a high degree of accuracy. Meaning, one wrong move and this robot's a goner," wrote Jamie Wisniewski at engineering magazine ECN.
"I am MOTOBOT. I was created to surpass you," the robot said in a slightly creepy video message addressed to star rider Valentino Rossi. "I am improving my skills every day but I am not sure I could even beat the five-year-old you. Perhaps if I learn everything about you, I will be able to catch up..."
I think this is awesome from a sci-fi showboating point of view, but from a functional perspective I can't help but think that by-wire throttle, brakes and shifting, along with small motors to push on the forks or handlebars would work much better for autonomous control. Rather than engineer a human shaped object to operate human-machine interfaces... why not wire right into the software interface itself? The way they already do it for autonomous cars. As for weight shifting, they could possibly use a big weight on rails hanging on to the seat area that slides fore and aft and side to side to simulate moving around. Less cool, but probably way more efficient.
Although they did say the purpose of this little exercise is to gain better insight into rider safety systems... so perhaps that's why they went with a human shaped robot.
I think this is awesome from a sci-fi showboating point of view, but from a functional perspective I can't help but think that by-wire throttle, brakes and shifting, along with small motors to push on the forks or handlebars would work much better for autonomous control. Rather than engineer a human shaped object to operate human-machine interfaces... why not wire right into the software interface itself? The way they already do it for autonomous cars. As for weight shifting, they could possibly use a big weight on rails hanging on to the seat area that slides fore and aft and side to side to simulate moving around. Less cool, but probably way more efficient.
Although they did say the purpose of this little exercise is to gain better insight into rider safety systems... so perhaps that's why they went with a human shaped robot.
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