http://www.capenews.net/bourne/news/your-robot-chauffeur-awaits/article_821368d2-d974-11e4-b5d8-4b2db8f026da.html ‘Your Robot Chauffeur Awaits’ April 2, 2015 | MICHAEL J. RAUSCH0
[image http://bloximages.chicago2.vip.townnews.com/capenews.net/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/a/74/a74277ce-d974-11e4-b8cb-7f9da9104d53/551da2e993ceb.image.jpg Robot Car ] For anyone who finds the walk from an airport parking lot to the ticket counter inside the terminal to be tedious or laborious, help may be on the way. Two Upper Cape inventors, Willam A. Donkin III, 68, of Pocasset and William L. Alden, 88, of East Falmouth, are presently working on a electric-powered, robot car that they believe would revolutionize how people navigate through airports. The men have devised what they call the Airport Personal Transport (APT). The two-seater vehicle would be capable of carrying two people plus their baggage. Ideally the APT would drive right up to where a traveler has parked their car, honing in using a cellular telephone sensor. “It knows that you just entered the airport area and how long it will be before you get to where you’re going to park your car. It’s going to have a vehicle waiting for you,” Mr. Donkin said. If the party is a family of four, two APTs would be sent to the car, he said. The front end of the APT drops down into a ramp allowing for baggage to be rolled on, no lifting of heavy bags. A credit card would be swiped at a terminal as an identifier, the specific airline or terminal keyed in, and off the car goes. The passenger does not even have to steer, as APT is completely driverless, and will be able to travel inside and outside of the airport buildings. Mr. Alden said that he and Mr. Donkin met roughly five years ago. The two attend the same church, the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Falmouth on Sandwich Road in East Falmouth, and became acquainted through a men’s club associated with the church. Mr. Alden is the founder of Alden Computer Transport Systems (ACT) and Mr. Donkin is the company’s executive vice president. One of Mr. Alden’s more significant achievements was design and construction of the Personal Rapid Transit (PRT) transportation system that was installed at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, in 1974. The PRT uses cars on a monorail to get the university’s nearly 40,000 students, faculty and staff around campus. Unlike that system, however, APTs would not move on a track. The men are working with a team of engineers from such institutions as Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge and Olin College of Engineering in Needham on their idea. “Their expertise is in robotics and basically these are robots that carry people,” Mr. Donkin said. Factory Five Racing in Wareham, a manufacturer of kit cars, has agreed to build the first 30 to 100 APTs. Mr. Donkin explained that, contrary to what people immediately think, the APT would not operate on Global Positioning System (GPS) technology. Instead, it would rely on a complex system of computer software that would essentially teach the vehicle where it exists within a given space. While the system may be complex, the technology has been around for years, he said. “This is not state of the art technology, this is all off the shelf. It’s just how to put it all together,” he said. Mr. Donkin mentioned that there are wheels in existence that allow a car to run sideways, so the APT could turn within its own length and even spin. The cars would move around other vehicles, and move out of the way of other people, he said. APT, he said, would also be quite different from the golf carts currently used in airports that “beep, back up, make all kinds of noise, and take up more space than needed.” “It can talk nicely to you instead of beeping at you: ‘Sir, will you please move over?’ ” he said. Mr. Alden said they estimate about 30 of the two-passenger vehicles being available at any one airport. He added that use of APT will be limited at first. The vehicles would have to stop at the airport’s TSA security gates. “Takes them to the ticket counter area or to the terminal. That’s as close as they can get,” he said. Mr. Alden admitted that an APT is not ideal in a crowded situation. He said that it could mean a lot of stopping and going and asking people to move out of the way. He offered that walkways in airports do not have a lot of people walking through them, so they are not as big a problem. Mr. Donkin said that he envisions a time in the future when there are two sets of APTs, one before and one after the security gates, which would allow people to ride to their gate. At present, Mr. Alden and Mr. Donkin have started a fundraising campaign at www.kickstarter.com to raise $100,000 to build a prototype of their vehicle to show potential investors. As of yesterday afternoon, they had raised $2,450. Their deadline to raise the $100,000 is May 22. Mr. Alden said their biggest critics at this point are those investors who want to see the vehicle so they can “kick the tires.” He said their desire to see the product is their biggest stumbling block. “We need the money so you can kick the tires!” Mr. Donkin added that safety concerns have been raised, too, with people wanting assurances that no one will get hit by an APT. He said that the technology involved uses three ways of identifying obstacles—laser, sound and sight. “You can defeat any one of them, but you can’t defeat two of them,” he said. [© 2015 CapeNews.net] ... http://act-systems.net/ Alden Computer Transport Systems ... https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1542345954/apt-the-future-of-travel APT: The Future of Travel by William Alden — Kickstarter For EVLN posts use: http://evdl.org/evln/ http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/template/NamlServlet.jtp?macro=search_page&node=413529&query=subject%3Aevln+NOT+subject%3Are&days=0&sort=date http://www.caradvice.com.au/345036/porsche-says-no-to-fully-electric-cars-at-least-for-the-time-being/ Porsche says no to EVs&goes pih> thinks batteries not advanced enough http://www.forbes.com/sites/brookecrothers/2015/03/30/the-chevy-volt-as-a-pickup-via-motors-president-talks-plug-in-hybrid-truck-production-customers/ Via turns GM trucks & vans into Volt-like pih http://www.autoevolution.com/news/skoda-reveals-visionsea-hybrid-cigar-boat-inspired-by-simply-clever-design-93993.html Skoda VisionSea Hybrid Cigar Boat e-r:50nmi i-r:980mi=Italy to Spain http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/article/9865/phev-competition-plug-hybrid-electric-vehicles-be-priced-40-100-million-won 40-100 Million-Won pih pour into the domestic market http://www.businesskorea.co.kr/sites/default/files/styles/large/public/field/image/Ride_and_Drive_EVs_Plug%27n_Drive_Ontario.jpg?itok=LT57JiUg http://www.mercurynews.com/ci_27830253/berkeley-voice-letters-drought-skepticism PG&E, not its customers, should pay the expenses to get EVSE profits http://www.bangkokpost.com/business/news/509735/energy-ministry-touts-thailand-as-electric-vehicle-hub Minister Akrasanee touts Thailand's L2 EVSE @loxley.co.th office http://www.bangkokpost.com/media/content/20150327/c1_509735_150327064421.jpg + EVLN: Linear electric-motor system moves the motor out of the EV {brucedp.150m.com} -- View this message in context: http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Your-Aton-eAirport-Chauffeur-Awaits-tp4674759.html Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at Nabble.com. _______________________________________________ UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org For EV drag racing discussion, please use NEDRA (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA)
