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Hyundai Elevate walks onto the global stage today at CES in Las Vegas. The vehicle concept that Sundberg-Ferar developed for Hyundai’s CRADLE division is giving a new face to mobility and heralding a future of enhanced transportation that will be not for the few, but for all.
Hyundai CRADLE, which stands for Center for Robotic Augmented Design in Living Experiences, believes in the relentless pursuit of delivering better mobility through pioneering robotics that deliver a greater quality of life. They had the boldness to ask the question, “What if cars could walk?” Sundberg-Ferar and the CRADLE team worked together to develop the Elevate concept, which blends technology found in cars and robots to create the first UMV, the Ultimate Mobility Vehicle. The transportation industry has focused on ‘Last Mile’ solutions in recent years, but this project focuses on the ‘Last 100 meters,’ no matter where they are.
The Elevate concept is based on a modular EV platform with the capability to switch out different bodies for specific use cases. The legs are attached to the cradle chassis, which houses the battery. The robotic leg architecture has five degrees of freedom plus in-wheel motors that are enabled by the latest in electric actuator technology. This design is uniquely capable of both mammalian and reptilian walking gaits, allowing it to move in any direction. 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 maximizes battery efficiency. This allows Elevate to drive at highway speeds just like any other vehicle. But no other can climb a five foot wall, step over a five foot gap, walk over diverse terrain, and achieve a 15 foot wide wheelbase, all while keeping its body and passengers completely level.
Watch the unveiling of ‘Elevate’ at Hyundai’s CES press conference on Autoblog.
The Elevate concept transcends previously insurmountable limitations with applications across a vast array of use cases. For example, a car with legs could drive first responders to a location like any traditional vehicle, but then walk or climb over treacherous terrain to directly reach the injured or stranded.
The engineering team validated realistic driving and walking range capabilities by running simulations through the famous Rubicon Trail. There are 17 stages to the trail, which were broken into 5 severity levels, each requiring different levels of leg articulation and scaled power consumption to match the demand of the obstacles. Mixing that with drivable portions of the trail, the engineers packaged a 66 kWh battery that would allow Elevate to traverse the demanding 22-mile trail.
The engineering team validated realistic driving and walking range capabilities by running simulations through the famous Rubicon Trail. There are 17 stages to the trail, which were broken into 5 severity levels, each requiring different levels of leg articulation and scaled power consumption to match the demand of the obstacles. Mixing that with drivable portions of the trail, the engineers packaged a 66 kWh battery that would allow Elevate to traverse the demanding 22-mile trail.
In early design explorations, the team studied possible hydraulic solutions to power the legs. While hydraulics are proven to work at vehicle scale, new developments in electric actuator technology proved to offer a greater range of motion, while delivering the right amount of torque in an efficient package. The scaled robot was developed to study the articulation capabilities of a fully electric actuator architecture and begin control programming of the robotic limbs. All of the joints in this scale model perfectly match the proportions of the final design. This is not only a revolutionary design in quadruped robotics, capable of both reptilian and mammalian walking gates, it also has the added complexity of wheels as the feet that can lock but also roll, allowing dynamic driving capabilities in these various positions.
The Elevate concept transcends previously insurmountable limitations with applications across a vast array of use cases. For example, a car with legs could drive first responders to a location like any traditional vehicle, but then walk or climb over treacherous terrain to directly reach the injured or stranded.
Imagine if all the vehicles that end up stranded in a snow ditch just ten feet off the highway could get up and crawl back to the road.
People living with disabilities worldwide who don’t have access to an ADA ramp could hail an autonomous vehicle that could walk right up to their front door. It could step over their flower garden and level itself to their door, allowing their wheelchair to roll right into the vehicle.
By combining the power of robotics and Hyundai’s latest EV technology, Elevate has the ability to take people where no car has been before, and redefine our perception of vehicular freedom and mobility.
