Science Fiction Dictionary
A  B  C  D  E  F  G  H  I  J  K  L  M  N  O  P  Q  R  S  T  U  V  W  X  Y  Z

Home | Dictionary | Timeline | New

Amazing Wheel Shapeshifting In Real Time

This KIMM (Korea Institute of Machinery and Materials) wheel is able to change its shape on the fly to adjust to harsh conditions. Inspired by the surface tension of water droplets, it goes from solid to fluid when it encounters impediments.

"The goal is to make this viable for speed up to 100 kph, or the speed of an average car," said Song Sung-hyuk, principal researcher at South Korea's KIMM.

Wheels developed for a similar purpose such as non-pneumatic or airless tires have flexibility but are limited in their ability to overcome obstacles, said Song, who is a member of KIMM's AI robotics research team.

The morphing wheel consists of an outer hoop of a chain and a series of spoke wires running through the hub. The stiffness of the spokes - and hence the wheel - is automatically regulated by a sensor as it reacts to the terrain.

(Via Reuters)

Long time Technovelgy readers recall the Tweel, a 2005 combination of wheel and tire that could offer a number of benefits to owners of wheeled vehicles.

(The Michelin Tweel)

I remember in particular the smartwheels from Neal Stephenson's 1992 novel Snowcrash:

Smartwheels use sonar, laser range finding and millimeter wave radar to identify mufflers and other debris. Each one consists of a hub with many tiny spokes. Each spoke telescopes into five sections. On the end is a squat foot, rubber tread on the bottom, swiveling on a ball joint. As the wheel rolls, the feet plant themselves one at a time, almost glomming into one continuous tire. If you surf over a bump, the spokes contract to roll over it. If you surf over a pothole, the rubber prongs probe its asphalt depths...

Unique wheels are a special interest of mine; see these gems culled from the past two decades:

  - Soft Robot Powered By Shape Memory Alloy Spokes
  - IMPASS Robot Has Snow Crash 'Smart Wheels'
  - Smart Wheels Are Artificially Intelligent
  - Segway's New RMP - Robotic Mobility Platform
  - Virtual Body-Swapping Tech
  - Dynamic Augmented Wheel System Eight-Part Wheel
  - IMPASS Robot 'Smart Wheel' Video
  - Is The OutRunner Robot Like Smartwheels?
  - Flexup Tire Design Good For Tumblebugs
  - Flying Car Concept By Kash Sirinanda
  - Vendetta 2023 All-Terrain Skateboard Could Use Neal Stephenson's Smartwheels

Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 12/29/2024)

| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |

Would you like to contribute a story tip? It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add it here.

Comment/Join discussion ( 0 )

Related News Stories - (" Engineering ")

US Army IBEX Exoskeleton Walks Troops Out Of Danger
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.' - Iain Banks, 1987.

Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...' - Jack Williamson, 1942.

Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.' - Roger Zelazny, 1967.

Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.' William Gibson, 1984.

	Web TechNovelgy.com

Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.

Science Fiction Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's   1950's
1960's   1970's
1980's   1990's
2000's   2010's

Current News

AI Operates An Excavator
'So far as I could see, the thing was without a directing Martian at all.'

US Army IBEX Exoskeleton Walks Troops Out Of Danger
'The suit stands up and starts walking, gripping me round the calves and waist, taking the bulk of my weight off my throbbing feet.'

Boy Makes Biomimetic Turtle Robot
't came out into plain view. Darkington glimpsed a slim body and six short legs of articulated dull metal.'

Elon Musk Wants Data Centers In Space
'Internally it’s made up of millions of components, but the most important ones are the thinking and memory parts of the Mind proper.'

Origin F1 Humanoid Robot's Facial Skin
'I could look down at that face of carefully molded synthetic rubber, tinted the exact shade of the doctor's living flesh.'

Grok And The City Fathers From 'Cities In Flight' By James Blish
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'

Why Not Move A Warehouse District?
'Did you never see a moving house before?'

Will An AI Found A New Religion?
'You must decide how you will worship Me.'

Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'

I Need An Outdoor Spherical Display
'Usually a spherical display hovered in the centre...'

Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'

Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.

'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'

Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'

ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'

Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'

More SF in the News Stories

More Beyond Technovelgy science news stories