A RooT coloured e-scooter

Abstract

The RooT Reverse Tilt Suspension platform is an integrated suspension mechanism which delivers a unique experience: “like riding a magic carpet, playful, fluent and self-balancing”. With their innovation RooT wants to bring a positive impulse to green mobility on the electric scooter market. The key to RooT’s innovation is a rod mechanism which achieves a passive reverse tilt motion. Reverse from conventional because the e-scooter tilts forwards when the driver accelerates and backward when the driver decelerates. Passive because the tilt motion is induced by the reaction of the RTS to the acceleration. The amount and rate of tilt depend on the acceleration magnitude. At a constant speed the RTS’s self-balancing property keeps the scooter horizontal. The effect is that the driver experiences a more fluent ride. Moving with the scooter instead of being dragged after or pushed into the handlebars. The tilt technology has been developed and tested through various prototypes. But how, where and in which product form can the RTS platform be brought to the market successfully? And how can the industry and consumers be convinced of the added value and feasibility? When driven the concept has proven to sell itself. Therefore an example case of the RTS platform application to a Novox C50 e-scooter was initiated as a graduation project. The Novox C50 RTS has been developed in seven phases. An Internal and External Analysis lead to a detailed design brief for the development of the RTS platform. During the Synthesis a RTS concept for the Novox C50 was conceived. To achieve the desired tilt motion a simulation model was used in the Optimisation. In the Embodiment phase the RTS was modelled in a detailed CAD design. A Novox C50 RTS prototype was built to Validate and Evaluate the simulation model and design.