Other Autonomous “Personal Mobility Vehicles”

Story: One of the challenges my father faced later in life was that he still enjoyed walking, but once he walked out the front door, he couldn’t necessarily find his way back by himself. The basic technology we’re talking about for navigation in Autonomous Vehicles is already present in smartphones – note you can use the camera as a sensor for simple forward navigation. The technology will continue to get smaller and cheaper, and will lead to what I call “Super-Smart Watches”. If my father had a Super-Smart Watch it could have guided him back home, or to the library, or the restaurant. You can imagine extending this to Autonomous Canes for those who need support, and Autonomous Glasses, if those come into fashion. My father also retained his youthful enthusiasms, so you can imagine Autonomous Scooters, Skateboards, and even Hoverboards.

Fortunately, my father maintained his mobility, unlike so many aging seniors and other people. For them, one of the daily challenges they face is going to the toilet. Here is a design of Autonomous Vehicles to help solve this problem. An Autonomous Toileting Vehicle can take the person into the restroom and over the toilet. By backing into the room, the vehicle can maneuver in tight spaces.

This Autonomous Toileting Vehicle has several modifications from an ordinary Autonomous Personal Mobility Vehicle: the structure is open in the back, so it can maneuver over a toilet. The center portion of the seat can be opened, either manually or automatically, to expose the opening to the toilet. The mechanism can open and close the toilet lid and flush the toilet. There is a mechanism for cleaning the user, either a wiping mechanism or a spray similar to a bidet – these already exist. This will lead to new clothing designs, so that the bottom can be easily opened – it won’t be the first time technology has driven fashion. For more information on this challenge, click the "Autonomous Toileting System" label.

One issue my daughter raised is how seniors might adapt to all this new technology. This is certainly a challenge: my father was one of the early users of the revolutionary HP35 handheld calculators, yet a decade later he never connected with the Apple II Plus he purchased because my family was having so much fun with it, and I used for work too. Yet I see lots of other seniors using new technologies as they become easier to use – typically a sign of maturity in the technology. So I view adoption of technology as a challenge to technologists to make the items so useful, and so easy to use, that most people who need them will benefit from them.

This brings up an important point about the designs and devices I’m talking about: these are meant as examples of things that could prove useful, not as detailed designs, or even specific ideas for products.  Rather my intention is to motivate people to build and use devices and systems to help people solve a wide variety of challenges. I’m sure there are better ways to solve the toileting problem than what I described above – so get busy all you out there and build these things that people need. 

For example, Google “stair climbing wheelchairs” to see some examples of interesting designs and progress on this challenging problem. Later I’ll describe some thoughts on how to make such solutions even more useful and inexpensive by separating the stair climbing part from the rest of the Personal Mobility Vehicle so it can be shared among everyone going up a set of stairs.

Efficient Toilets and Autonomous Vehicles

Men may be familiar with waterless urinals, especially in places that have trouble getting rid of the waste products, but women may be unaware of these, because as far as I know there aren’t urinals for women. There is often a sign above the urinal stating that it saves up to 40,000 gallons of water per year.

One place with waterless urinals is the summit of Stowe ski slopes, which certainly has the dual challenge of dealing with wastes and providing a supply of water because the mountaintop is solid rock and frozen all winter.

You may not be aware how critical the shortage of water is around the world. Water is a major source of contention in Southern California, much of the southwestern US, and certainly the Middle East and Africa, even places you don’t think of as being deserts. Water is vital not only for drinking, cooking, and washing, but also for irrigation and sanitation, so it affects everyone vitally. There is even a Water War in Atlanta, Georgia.

When we were hiking up above Lake Louise in the Canadian Rockies, heading up toward the Tea House, we saw a helicopter fly over – we thought someone really important, or at least really rich, was getting an unfair lift to the Tea House. (Helicopters are very inefficient with fuel, and even worse at high altitudes due to the thin air.) A while later we saw the helicopter coming back from the direction of the Tea House with something suspended from a cable below. When we reached the Tea House we discovered that the suspended object was a container of wastes from the privy. Now there is a waste disposal problem.

Waterless urinals save clean water and also allow efficient treatment of the wastes, since they aren’t mixed with water and other wastes.

So how can Autonomous Vehicles improve this situation?

Waterless urinals are most efficient and cost-effective if they are shared among many people. You don’t usually see urinals in homes because the savings of a urinal over a toilet are not sufficient to warrant the extra cost, space, and maintenance, and besides many houses have more toilets than people – wasteful, and who wants to clean all those toilets anyway.

Autonomous Vehicles provide rapid and efficient movement of people, so your Personal Mobility Vehicle can whisk you to a nearby toilet whenever you need one. The 4-Dimensional Global Map we have been discussing is also good at keeping track of which facilities are available, so you are assured the toilet will be ready for you when you arrive. Note if you prefer to walk, or run, the 4-D Map can guide you there as well. Later I will talk about the Optimal Adaptive Routing System to help you get there quickly and efficiently.

Another tool for reducing the volume of clean water used, and the volume of wastes, is composting toilets. Note they are usually designed to separate the liquid from solid wastes. After processing, the wastes may be used as fertilizer. Again composting toilets are more efficient if shared among many people.

A concern I found in researching toilets for this Post, is “the mechanical action of flushing creates an aerosol containing fecal and/or urinary organisms and distributes them to every surface in a restroom” and “the number of organisms in the bowl reached a plateau below which their number could not be reduced, even after repeated flushing.” An advantage of waterless urinals: “the cell count per area of measure was lower for the ... water-free urinal than for the flush urinal.” Here is an analysis of composting toilets, including health issues.

It’s clear more work needs to be done on health issues. What other improvements can Autonomous Vehicles effect?

The Autonomous Transportation System can manage the monitoring, servicing and maintenance of the toilets, and Autonomous Vehicles can bring in the appropriate people and systems to maintain the toilets as needed.

If we are using toilets more efficiently then we can focus on quality instead of quantity. Improving toilet design not just for efficiency but better function: so they don’t splash, so they are easier to clean, smell better, and perhaps most importantly are more healthy. Shared facilities make it economical to use sensors to detect heath and other issues – we will talk much more later about the impacts of improved sensors.

This introduces a theme for all my designs and ideas: there is enormous potential for innovation in even the basic areas to improve our lives, and this can provide a continuing opportunity for everyone to be happier and more “productive,” and I believe these are inextricably linked.

Lifelong learning is a key to this. For example, currently I’m watching a fascinating and informative Teaching Company video course on Chaos – the mathematical variety. J I watch a half hour session each day while doing my stretching and strength exercises – building mind and body at the same time.

We’ve considered how Autonomous Vehicles can help getting you to the toilet, maintaining the toilets, and about efficiencies of sharing. Next let’s consider what to do with the wastes.