A novel transport concept

An Australian designer has developed a unique concept vehicle. The Sydney Morning Herald reports:

A young Australian has won a prestigious car prize for designing a truck that mimics the movement of ants.

Bryan Lee, 24, created the Aid Necessities Transporter for a university project after hearing about the devastating natural disasters that stuck in Haiti and Chile early this year.




"There were a lot of natural disasters happening, and one of the main problems was the deliverance of medical supplies.

"So I thought that by solving that delivery problem, you can help [the victims] a lot more".

The design won Lee the tertiary design category at this month's Victorian Automobile Chamber of Commerce Target 2020 competition.

The former Monash University student, who now works at Ford Australia, contacted a United Nations soldier to get advice on what vehicles were needed for transporting aid in disaster zones.

But it was a documentary about the insect that he stumbled across that inspired him to develop the all-terrain vehicle.




"After seeing the ant, it seemed the most logical solution," he said from his office in Melbourne.

"Ants themselves already have a system to transport supplies back to their nest. Nature itself is a perfect source of design."

Lee designed a "two-faced vehicle" that moves on six wheels and has an abdomen-style cargo unit, which carry loads 10 to 15 times its own weight, much like the ant.




The ANT operates like a Autobot from the Transformer cartoons - converting from a supply truck to a mobile housing unit through an expansion of its side panels.

Each wheel is individually powered and has its own suspension, allowing it safely to negotiate different terrain, such as those encountered by humanitarian workers in areas where there is little or no infrastructure left.

While the ANT remains a concept, Lee is confident advances in technology - such as the development of in-wheel motors, whereby a vehicle is powered by its wheels, thus removing the need for a central engine - will make such machines a reality within the next decade.

There's more at the link, and more details can be found at this Web site. Here's a video clip of the vehicle concept.

It's certainly ingenious! At the moment it exists only as computer graphics and specifications. It'll be interesting to see whether some forward-looking manufacturer is willing to try to produce it.

Peter