Design Challenge - June 2009

visionengineering

“The concept of these two vehicles is based on ecology and recycling. We had the idea to develop two machines able to cleanse almost inaccessible, primordial zones such as beaches and swamps. The crablike vehicle is there to collect and sort waste, before the ‘centipede’ truck forwards all this waste to the recycling centres. It is able to deposit its trailers everywhere, and to recover them to optimise the effectiveness of each collector bin and minimise the impact of transport. Each chain of the truck is electrically powered by its own hydrogen fuel cell, therefore the greater the number of trailers, the more power there is to move the unit. Each trailer can move individually or follow the control unit, in order to join the transport convoy.

The walking mechanism was designed to function in primordial zones with no man-made structures, and is based on real insect legs. The legs are built up from three segments and a foot – in between each, joints can rotate in every direction, so the whole leg can assume almost any possible position. The foot can be relatively thin, to walk over rocks, or be really wide by spreading the toes, to walk over unstable ground such as shores or swamps.

Stabilisers and computers make sure the machines don’t tip over in operation, and regulate the movement sequence of the legs, to deliver a coherent movement; a revolving leg system.

joeri@vision-eng.be / www.vision-eng.be

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BIOGRAPHY

Joeri de Vriesere has worked as a designer for European OEMs since 1999. He founded his independent design and engineering office, specialising in industrial vehicles, in 2005.