GYMINO Concept – Fitness & Health Monitoring Vehicle

Category: Human/Electric Hybrid Vehicle
1st Author / Designer: Daniel Otelo
2nd Author / Mechanical Engineer: Rodrigo Melo
Country: Portugal
Status: In progress

WE’RE LOOKING FOR PARTNERS AND/OR INVESTORS TO DEVELOP THIS PRODUCT IDEA

GYMINO – Human/Electric Hybrid Vehicle by Daniel Otelo and Rodrigo Melo is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 3.0 Unported License. Based on a work at OteloDesign on FB: https://www.facebook.com/OteloDesign

Idea/invention

The GYMINO was designed as a four-wheeled human/electric hybrid vehicle that combines human power with the electrical power stored in batteries, that provides the possibility of moderate daily exercise during commuting. Physical activity monitored by sensors that control vital parameters and supply specialised medical counselling using the user’s full history. The pedal generator provides power to the batteries and fun to you. You may regulate the effort from a light pedal to competition level (anywhere from 25 W to 1500 W), used as an accelerator (faster pedalling equals faster vehicle) and as a static bicycle for family home workouts providing leisure health and wellness.
1+1 tandem seats or 1 seat + cargo, cabin that protects the user(s) from: impacts, weather, pollution and dust. Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, Fitness Functions, Cardio Control, Energy Meter, Exhibition of System Data, GPS, 360º Surround View Car Camera 5 DVR channels (front, rear, left, right, inside), and Social Sharing.

Cardio-Control

The GYMINO has functions of Cardio-Control with biometric information. Through a Heartbeat Rate Screen you can automatically select the desired level of exercise. You can choose to use the electronic pedals or not, but if you choose to have physical activity in your daily commutes, more information will be gathered by the GYMINO through sensors, offering the possibility of the GYMINO to supply you with specialised medical advice to improve your health, fitness and quality of life. In a last analysis, the GYMINO is a therapeutic car equipped with advanced sensing. That way, we are able to not only obtain a perfect integration of the driver and the power unit, but also a system that can be cardio-controlled with biometric information, supplying you with the most recent technology in accompaniment, support and pro-active intelligence.

• Driver eye/face monitoring 
• Advanced real-time detection of vital signs. 
• Emotion measurement as a complement to detection. 
• Optimised estability and usability. 
• Pro-active and reactive support. 
• Control and recommendation system. 
• Training supplements. 
• Assistant and personal trainer. 
• Global control system. 
• Complete user history.

Needs/Problems to solve

The GYMINO aims to address: the economical and environmental costs of transportation; the need for pleasant transport in urban areas; the costs of zero-emission; the placement of physical exercise in a busy user’s schedule. The main concerns are of the increasing price, both economical and environmental, of today’s ways of transport. The user’s experience with them isn’t usually good, be it in traffic, with parking or in the crowded public transport. The total cost of electric vehicles today is still very high, even with low costs of “fuelling” and maintenance, due to three main factors: acquisition cost, battery rental cost (when necessary), and battery replacement cost.

Value Proposal

The daily use of the GYMINO in commuting increases both physical and emotional well-being, health and quality of life. The GYMINO offers daily exercise, with zero emissions, almost no maintenance, excellent parking and manoeuvrability capabilities, minimising stress during trips.

Series Hybrid Human/Electric Technology
How does it work?

The GYMINO is a SH-Series Hybrid vehicle with a battery-powered engine. You can contribute to slightly increase the vehicle’s range if you choose to accelerate the vehicle through the electronic pedal generator, instead of through hand control. The power that comes from pedalling can directly feed the engine, but also recharge the batteries. The electronic pedal generator accelerates/de-accelerates, according to the way of pedalling and the speed of the pedalling. If you want to go faster, pedal faster, but if you want to go slower, pedal backwards and recharge the batteries. Regenerative braking de-accelerates the car with no friction, resulting in a higher durability than of conventional brakes, also increasing the vehicle’s autonomy. Your effort is never wasted and the passenger too can contribute to the autonomy increase if they choose to manually operate the generators at their disposal (optional extra).

Control Unit

The control unit is prepared to ANT + and Bluetooth LE . Designed to be extremely simple and intuitive to use, the control unit will have a recharge port included to charge smartphones. Touch screen device where you can adjust the dashboard setting as you want them to be, change the settings of the GYMINO, get traffic information, get weather reports, autonomy, use the incorporated GPS, listen to your music through Bluetooth or a WiFi connection, upload data of recorded tracks onto your laptop, record videos or moments of the trip through the incorporated webcam, publish them on social networks and much more.

Why pedals?

Their use is clearly positive! Using the pedals in your daily trips will uphold your physical welfare, your health and life quality. The GYMINO possesses a clutch that allows you to continue to pedal and recharge the electricity storing device, even during traffic jams. That way, while you’re on a trip or even at home, you can have a good dose of daily exercise without needing to spend extra time for that. You can also recharge your gadgets while you exercise. For this vehicle, we’ve chosen this way of pedalling to dismiss the use of complicated mechanical transmissions, to obtain faster accelerations and better regenerative braking, allowing for a higher average speed, especially in mountainous terrain.

Clients

They are all the people and companies who need to move around in a city, using current personal or public transport, that require cleaner, easier-to-use, cheaper, more compact and more efficient vehicles. People aged from 16 to 60 years of age, licenced drivers (motorcycle or car), and revenue classes A, B and C+.

Innovative Passenger Entry

This completely innovative solution allows the construction of smaller cars and solves the difficulty that the passenger has in getting in, common in all microcars. The passenger seat is made up of two parts, the backboard and the lower part. The backboard climbs stuck to the rear door and the passengers sits on the lower seat just like in a motorcycle or scooter. The door goes down and behind the backboard of the seat, providing the passenger with more comfort and a safety belt. The lower part is retractable to allowe for more cargo if the driver is travelling alone.

Modular Body Shell

By adding or removing different body panels, you will be transforming the GYMINO into a open-top roadster, a cabrio, or a totally uncovered microcar, according your preferences or needs.

Low real cost in every way

Consumption: 0.5 € for every 100 kms
Maintenance: zero, besides tires, brakes, windshield fluids and windshield cleaners.
Battery replacement: 8 years of warranty or 120,000 kms (extension possible for a warranty with unlimited kilometers)
Environmental: no exhaust pipe and with a potential of zero gas emissions with the use of renewable power sources
Health-wise: moderate daily exercise means a more robust and lasting health, and a biggest quality of life.

The GYMINO is projected to be 2,350mm long at maximum. That way, it can be parked between other vehicles. Besides that, it facilitates the dispatching and the logistics with the use of the “PalletWide” containers with a free internal size of 2,426mm of width, making it possible to transport 4 units per container.

Status

Based on the feedback of potential clients we’re setting points of balance and profitability estimates. To test the market we need to create a multifunctional team and make a prototype to test it in typical use situations. Introducing our product in fairs, having interviews with clients of our target market and make adjustments when necessary. Afterwards, producing an initial quantity of the product and selling it in an area of a test market to determine the acceptance of the client.

Thank you for your attention!

Please contact us with all the questions and comments you may have.

otelodesign@gmail.com

Daniel Otelo