Human Machine

By Adam Sinicki

One of the biggest problems that science and technology currently face is transport. Our transport is good, but really it's not good enough. We have cars but they create fuel emissions that damage the environment, noise that damages our neighbourhoods and traffic that makes it dangerous and difficult to get anywhere. Plus they cost a bomb to maintain. Similarly we have planes which do away with the traffic problem and are much quicker. But again they're expensive and tax the environment and worse not everyone has one so we have to queue for hours and book in advance then share with others.
Thus everyone is clamouring to introduce the first electric car or the first solar powered car, and there are already a few options on the market from companies such as Tesla though these are unfortunately costly and impractical as it stands.
That's where I think we should take a step back and take a look at a fuel source that we hadn't until now considered - ourselves.

Before I explain further, the latest Anansi X-Prize provides some clues as to where I'm going with this. This prize was devised as a cash reward incentive to encourage people to develop useable technology and to force innovation forwards. The last prize went to Virgin Galactic and gave birth to commercial space travel, now the current prize is looking at simpler transport for use on Earth that has minimal fuel emissions but can cross more types of terrain and more quickly to beat the current engines found in cars. This prize hasn't been awarded yet and brilliantly it will be decided in a Wacky Races style race where all kinds of different vehicles and test pilots will go head to head through cities and across deserts to win the price. Thus everyone from Tesla and other massive corporations to much smaller individuals and teams are trying to come up with the winning vehicle. And from this was born Team Tri-Hybrid Stealth. A team with the coolest name in the world and a novel solution to the problem.
Here the usual engine is augmented by four human peddlers that peddle at top speed in order to add some power to each wheel with no additional fuel emissions which is thought will improve speed and fuel efficiency by around ten percent. That might not sound like much, but in a race where fractions of a second or milligrams of fuel mean all the difference it is a massive deal.
The vehicle itself, the Tri-Hybrid Stealth or the Exertrike, may or may not win the competition, but it offers an interesting solution to the energy crisis that has other benefits too - such as being completely free, always available and with no emissions. Here the exertrike has combined the human effort with a machine to give the best of both worlds and this is the route more things should be going down. Jay Perdue, the creator of the Tri-Hybrid has already built many similar innovative creations for his own use including three way electric, bicycle and fuel powered vehicles that require on millilitres of fuel to drive for ages, and even a bicycle that can ride on water (the peddle paddle). Genius.



So basically I'm suggesting a bike right? Well yeah, a bike but better. There are more examples too, for example the man-powered flying machines of which there have been several successful examples and which have allowed many people to fly by peddle power alone. Granted they don't get far and the wing span of these things is fantastic, but the contraptions are built by individuals and only a few of them at that - there must be a better design that enough geniuses put together could come up with? Then imagine what that could do for us - anyone could fly anywhere for free! It would be brilliant.
There are other examples less far fetched and more original too. Take Buggy Rolly or the Roller Suit invented by French madman Jean-Yves Blondeau (AKA Rollerman) for example, which consists of thirty wheels attached around his body to allow him to 'swim' across the ground at speeds up to 60mph. Jean actually envisions a world where everyone rolls around in buggy rollies; unfortunately that's not going to happen but something a little less insane easily could.



Take my own example - the Bullet Suit. Currently my Bullet Suit consists of a failed attempt to glue springs to my shoes and a special 'climbing stick' for lassoing high objects I want to climb. It plain doesn't work at the moment but springs in the shoes was once demonstrated to be highly effective by the prankster Spring Heeled Jack in Victorian England. This guy attached heels to his feet and used them to scare women and evade the police (this was never my intention let it be known). The military later tried to copy this example and broke all their soldiers' ankles. Point is though that it is possible and also highly useful. My 'full blown' idea was to build and attach springs that were 40psi or thereabouts and then use one of several methods to slow my descent (Jackie Chan once jumped off a building holding umbrellas...).



A similar area explored by the military was 'project grasshoper' where they used jetpacks - or canisters filled with compressed nitrogen gass in order to give soldiers the ability to jump metres into the air. When aimed 30 degrees at the ground these could also be used to run at incredibly high speeds. For whatever reason however the military abandoned this project to try and create jetpacks - which they found were unable to provide sustained flight for more than a few minutes maximum. Why would they forget their jump belts? Those things could get a lot more use by only using intermittent bursts of fuel! Furthermore with a nitrogen generator the fuels are freely available!

There are examples of augmented human power that already exist. Roller skates or the skateboard are two simple and old fashioned ones, as are the excellent and recently more popular power-risers which let people run at 30miles an hour and do front flips over cars. But these remain in the realms of extreme sports and lack as much research as they clearly need to come up with more powerful systems.
Then take this new iCar idea that's basically an electric powered wheelchair to replace cars in built up urban areas and to give people more speed and freedom, or the Segway. Both of these are essentially more manoeuvrable and luxurious bikes, so why the need to make them incredibly lazy and prevent people from ever walking at the same time? Why wait until electric power is fully realised? We could use these things right now - a fairly upright pedal powered 'pod' that would allow us to carry things with us and move steadily with tight turning circles which we could ride around cities and even in shops. This could unclog city traffic while keeping us dry and protected from the rain, allowing us to carry our things and eat lunch in privacy - maybe even have passengers. At the same time it wouldn't mean we became complete vegetables who never walk. I wanted it to be able to work while I
Another concept I've been concocting for the mobile command centre is that if it was made of a solid enough steel it could be used for a kind of 'moving tent'/tiny caravan which would be excellent for explorers allowing them to use the thing to transport themselves, and to store supplies and then to give them somewhere dry, warm and protected to sleep. This would just mean more freedom in general.

This kind of human power + machine power could have uses of a more cognitive nature too. An 'exocortex' has been an idea that's been branded around for quite some time now as a machine that can perform some of your brain functions for you to automate them. The output is better than a machine's because it has the human creative input, and it's better than a human's because it's much faster and doesn't tire as easily. I'm programming my own exocortex currently and I use it to write articles at a breakneck speed. I'm also currently looking into the many other ways I could use this system - for collecting my writing, backing up everything I do etc etc. I want a system that will record everything I do and say 24 hours a day to allow me to 'search' for things people have told me to do that I forgot, to use evidence when necessary, to remember 100% of everything I learn and to even identify old songs. Another similar idea I'm looking into is doing my work using a HMD (Head-mounted-display) and potentially voice recognition software.

If I had the money and the knowhow then I would have entered the X-Prize by now and be the only bipedal entrant. I would have springs on my feet and lots of wheels and would be augmented by canisters of nitrogen and a lasso stick. I would win. I would also be some kind of super machine augmented brain who wrote a million words a minute.

Obviously however, all this is just an interim project until I get my Iron Man armour... The ultimate mesh of man and machine!







Well they're nearly there...