IIT graduates develop India’s first self balancing scooter

Team Udayavani, May 4, 2022, 10:16 AM IST

Image Credit: cartoq

Even as you read this, someone, somewhere in our enormous country, gets hurt or killed in a traffic accident. Yes, it is common knowledge that India has one of the worst road accident records in the world.

Authorities have enforced a number of rules and regulations to make things simpler for two-wheeler riders over the years, yet accidents still happen.

While the government and industry are both aware of the gravity of the situation and are working to address it through the dissemination of road safety information, the amendment of the Motor Vehicles Act, and the introduction of new mandatory safety technology in two-wheelers, some companies and individuals are doing their part to make two-wheelers safer than they are now.

Vikas Poddar and Ashutosh Upadhyay, co-founders of Liger Mobility, a Mumbai-based start-up that aims to develop technologies that make two-wheelers safer and deliver a better user experience, intended to accomplish just that.

Poddar, an IIT Madras graduate with an MBA from ISB, and Upadhyay, an IIT Kharagpur graduate with experience in technology product development with various global engineering businesses in India and Europe, are on a quest to make two-wheelers safer — and thereby save lives.

In the world of two-wheelers, their focus is on enabling unmatched human-machine interaction by leveraging core sciences and IoT.

They conducted research and created various prototypes before settling on the version shown in the video. The scooter in the video is also a working prototype. While riding the scooter, the rider may effortlessly keep both feet on the ground.

The video does not go into great detail about the technology employed in this scooter. Even without a rider, the scooter can maintain its equilibrium. The onboard technology ‘Feet Always’ assists riders in keeping their foot on the floorboard at all times, reducing the chance of slipping down.

The crew has been working on this scooter for several years, and the configuration appears to be nearly ready for production. The self-balancing scooter makes moving easier and provides impact protection. In the event of a collision, the scooter will automatically counterbalance, preventing a fall that would occur on a two-wheeler.

Any petrol or electric scooter can be fitted with this self-balancing system. An electric scooter is the one shown in the video. Apart from the self-balancing feature, the scooter also has an innovative feature that allows it to automatically exit a parking lot by only voicing a command.

Another consideration for the crew, while they worked on this project, was the expense. They didn’t want to create a self-balancing scooter that is out of reach for the average person. According to the video, this self-balancing scooter will cost only 10% more than a standard scooter.