Click on the image to see more renderings of the Deus Ex Machina concept
If somebody asked us what an environmentally-friendly motorcycle of the future would look like, our best answer would be nowhere near as awesome as what Jake Loniak, a student at Art Center Pasadena, came up with. Perhaps that's why we are just bloggers who write about cool stuff instead of the actual designers. Called Deus Ex Machina, which means God Out of a Machine, the vehicle is a blend between a motorcycle and an exoskeleton.
Featuring seven artificial vertebrae, thirty-six pneumatic muscles and a head of its own, the Yamaha-branded concept looks like something out a child's worst nightmare. As speed increases, though, the two front wheels move outward, forcing the rider into a proper forward lean which resembles a current motorcycle stance more closely. In-wheel electric motors get their juice from a hybrid power pack made from Doped NanoPhosphate batteries and ultracapacitors. The designer believes that the machine could accelerate to sixty in three seconds and reach a top speed of seventy-five miles per hour. Sure, we're not likely to see anything like this in production in the near future, but it sure is cool to look at.
[Source: GreenCarDesign via Hell For Leather]
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Randy @ May 25th 2008 6:39PM
That's a very innovative product! It offers no protection and would require a private lane enclosed by Jersey barrier to be safe to use though! Hat's off to the designer! By wiping out I'd be more fearful of the skeleton killing me than sliding a hundred yards!... Maybe a fighter jet seat with a parachute? :)
Chicago Joe @ May 25th 2008 6:44PM
Reminds me of the Wheelies (or whatever they were called) in The Return To Oz.
MemphisNET @ May 25th 2008 6:52PM
In a day and age in which safety is paramount, this seems counter-productive...
Diem @ May 25th 2008 7:38PM
In a day and age in which safety is paramount, this would terminate the people who are too stupid to drive safely, and I'm all for that!
Chris @ May 25th 2008 7:07PM
Someone call Tom Cruise, the damn tripods are here!
I would not want to be a "stress" member of my bike.
Blake @ May 25th 2008 7:25PM
With all the talk of safety, is this really that much less safe than a motorcycle?
Stuka @ May 25th 2008 7:29PM
One HUGE flaw. All the persons weight is BEHIND the rear wheel center line. And since there is no weight up front to speak of, if you didnt flip backwards just sitting there, applying any sort of throttle would guarantee it. Very neat idea, but the designer needs to look into physics a bit.
Diem @ May 25th 2008 7:48PM
I'd wager that the front arms could be made of heavier metals to compensate for the strange weight placement. I'd also think the exo would only allow full acceleration in the lowered state, IMO.
mk @ May 26th 2008 12:38AM
that arrangement is the slow-speed up-right arrangment.
it sounds as though, as speed increases, and steering inputs get smaller, the machine sweeps the outriggers forward, and the center wheel rearward, into a "superman" configuration, more head-first, feet trailing, like a sport bike.
looks very cool. Only thing better, would be if it were a VTOL aircraft. :D
Michael @ May 25th 2008 9:48PM
So awesome, so impractical.
MajorGeek @ May 25th 2008 11:01PM
Exactly. I own a Segway and enjoy it a ton but in suburbia I ride it just for fun. I believe alternative transportation like these are coming to people who live in populated areas where work and stores are within a few miles and these sort of things, while inpractical now, are the beginnings of alternative transportation. Sort of like a concept car in its early stages. Time will tell.
cujo @ May 25th 2008 11:20PM
OMG!!!! If this is the future, where do i sign up?
pedro @ May 26th 2008 9:55AM
TOTALLY in agreement. SIGN ME UP.
Mobius1Fox2 @ May 26th 2008 2:16AM
David Jaffe invented this a few years back and made a video game about it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c5F2X4-eNDA
Kinetica is a personal favorite of mine.
Jo. A. Borras @ May 26th 2008 2:50AM
This is TOTALLY ripped off from Centurions (80's cartoon). The yellow dude had one of these ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=szjcCB8m3G8
Phil M @ May 27th 2008 2:02AM
Dude, don't confuse ripoff and inspiration. In the cartoons you guys cited, it wasn't designed or engineered. It didn't even look the same. This guy spent months creating that thing, respect.
PaulPaul @ May 26th 2008 1:30PM
Segway, Anime edition.
imoore @ May 26th 2008 6:29PM
Dumb. Period.
beejers @ May 27th 2008 4:39PM
Deux Ex Machina translated means divine intervention. It was originally used by Greek playwrights as a way out of a sticky situation for a play that got mired in its own confusions. The writer would have God come down and fix everything...which is what this machine might be able to do to help us all out of the oil situation!