Design Challenge - ALT 2011

Amos Boaz

There’s something in the way they look and move that makes many vehicles remind me of animals. For this challenge, I took inspiration from the gecko, which never fails to surprise me when climbing up the walls and even windows of my home.

I realised that if I could give this forklift feet like the gecko has, it would not be able to tip over! So I looked at how geckos manage this and tried to adapt their system into my forklift’s wheels. Each of the gecko’s feet contains half a million bristles, with each of those divided into 1,000 sections to create a Van der Waals force connection with the surface. Just one leg fixed to the surface could hold 30kg! The gecko has two joints in its big toe that it uses to release its leg. It bends its toe so that the angle between the bristles and surface changes and the Van der Waals force is reduced.

Adapting a similar system into the wheel requires nanotechnology to create controllable bristles. The control system delivers a specific electric flow to each bristle, governing when its hold is released. This saves energy during travel, as the fl ow is predominantly sent to the part of the wheel that is in contact with the ground – other bristles receive less and less fl ow the further away they are from the tangent point. The gecko wheel could be an attractive proposition for all kind of transportation, enlarging the hold on the road to avoid rolling over. It could also produce a lighter forklift due to a reduction in counterweight, so less energy is needed for operation, as well as shipping them around the world. These machines are safe and friendly for operators as well as the environment.

Because the idea for this concept stemmed from the gecko, I decided to give this forklift a sculpted body to reference the reptile’s dynamism. The body is built of evolving surfaces that create a feeling of movement, and are ‘tensed’ to deliver a more masculine look. The top and bottom sections are divided by a grey cover starting at the front and moving backwards while evolving its form beside the rear lights. These details and surfaces deliver innovative and desirable style and dynamism.     

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BIOGRAPHY

Amos Boaz is a specialist in industrial design and styling of high-performance vehicles. He also lectures in the Bezalel Academy of Art and Design, Jerusalem

CONTACT DETAILS

Email: amosboaz@netvision.net.il

Website: www.amosboaz.com