Video: Hyundai plans “ultimate mobility vehicle”

Hyundai has revealed work it’s doing on a vehicle with robotic legs, especially useful in disaster areas.

The Elevate project, based on a modular electric vehicle platform which can switch bodies, uses four mechanical legs with wheels and is shown at the Consumer Electronics Show 2019 in Las Vegas on January 8-11.

Hyundai calls it the “ultimate mobility vehicle” (UMV) and says a need for efficient, rapid, resilient transportation for disaster assistance is what led it to develop the first-ever vehicle with moveable legs. Elevate blends technology found in electric cars and robots, allowing it to traverse terrain beyond the limitations of even the most capable off-road vehicle, the company says.

“We have been working with Sundberg-Ferar on the Elevate Concept for almost three years now. Elevate is part of our various ‘Last-Mile’ technologies and solutions and it also has ‘Last-100 Feet’ capability too,” says John Suh who leads Hyundai’s Cradle innovation section.

“When a tsunami or earthquake hits, current rescue vehicles can only deliver first responders to the edge of the debris field. They have to go the rest of the way by foot. Elevate can drive to the scene and climb right over flood debris or crumbled concrete,” Suh says.

He says the technology goes well beyond emergency situations.

“People living with disabilities worldwide that don’t have access to an ADA ramp could hail an autonomous Hyundai Elevate that could walk up to their front door, level itself, and allow their wheelchair to roll right in. The possibilities are limitless.”

Elevate’s robotic legs have five degrees of freedom plus in-wheel propulsion, can walk in mammalian and reptilian style gaits for omnidirectional motion, can climb a 1.5 metre vertical wall or step over a 1.5m gap and have non-back drivable motors enabling the legs to lock in any position.

The legs can be retracted so the vehicle can drive on roads at normal speeds.

Hyundai says the first 72 hours after a natural disaster are crucial in saving lives, with rescuers often having to reach affected areas on foot from the edge of a debris field, which is where Elevate would come into its own.

Sundberg-Ferar design manager David Byron says Elevate could also help save people injured in vehicles which have run off the road in deep snow, for instance.