Gesture-
controlled
trolley
The Smart “Mobile” Car carries up to 60 kg and drives itself to where you point. A wrist-worn armband reads the muscle signal and the gesture, so nobody has to push, pull or steer the load — useful anywhere a trolley is heavier than the person moving it.
Three questions,
three answers
A piezo sensor on the forearm picks up the muscle contraction, and the armband's motion gives direction. Tense and point: the trolley goes.
Geared drive on a braced steel frame, with the load sitting over the driven axle so the wheels keep traction instead of spinning.
The signal has to clear a threshold and hold before a command is accepted, so scratching your head does not send a loaded trolley across the room.
Worn,
not pushed
The control had to be wearable to be worth having. Anything hand-held means a free hand, and a free hand is exactly what someone carrying things does not have. The armband sits under a sleeve and stays out of the way until it is asked for.
Out in the world
The trolley went from an invention competition in Hong Kong to an international engineering fair in Houston, and onto the news with the armband demonstrated live.
