poimo is a new family of e-mobility devices built upon knowledge of personal mobility and soft robotics. poimo is unique in that most of its body is composed of “inflatable” structures. Thus, it is lightweight enough to lift, soft and safe, and foldable so that it can be kept in a bag when unused. These properties are suitable for seamlessly connecting “first and last miles,” such as, for example, the distance from Hongo-sanchome station to Hongo campus. Because poimo incorporates a structure known as drop-stitch fabric, it can sustain human weight despite its fragile balloon-like appearance.

Another benefit of poimo is its customizability to suit users’ shape preference and purpose. While existing hard mobility assumes mass production by molding, it is relatively easy to change the shape of an inflatable structure. We implemented a software interface that can scan the body size and posture of the user and suggest a 3D shape of poimo. The user can then customize the suggested design by changing parameters with sliders on the screen.

The poimo project team consists mainly of members affiliated to the IST, III/GSII, and School of Engineering at the University of Tokyo, in collaboration with mercari R4D. From the III/GSII, Prof. Yasuaki Kakehi and his student Kazzmasa Tsujimura are participating. In addition, Prof. Ryuma Niiyama (IST, UTokyo), Researcher Hiroki Sato (IST, UTokyo), and Prof. Young Ah Seong (Hosei Univ.), who are all GSII graduates, are core members of the poimo project.

Research and development on poimo is ongoing with the hope that an even greater diversity of people will come to enjoy its benefits. Someday, perhaps, you will also be able to ride your own poimo.

〈LINKS〉

・Soft yet Strong Inflatable Structures for a Foldable and Portable Mobility (YouTube) https://youtu.be/0F-B-xAxwog

・poimo: Portable and Inflatable Mobility Devices Customizable for Personal Physical Characteristics (YouTube) https://youtu.be/HgFTZsKX2k4

・mercari poimo Website:　https://r4d.mercari.com/mobility

・Univ. of Tokyo poimo website: http://poimo.jp

・Ryuma Niiyama*, Hiroki Sato*, Kazzmasa Tsujimura, Koya Narumi, Young ah Seong, Ryosuke Yamamura, Yasuaki Kakehi, and Yoshihiro Kawahara. 2020. Poimo: Portable and Inflatable Mobility Devices Customizable for Personal Physical Characteristics. In Proceedings of the 33rd Annual ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology (UIST ’20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 912–923. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3379337.3415894 (* contributed equally)

・Hiroki Sato, Young ah Seong, Ryosuke Yamamura, Hiromasa Hayashi, Katsuhiro Hata, Hisato Ogata, Ryuma Niiyama, and Yoshihiro Kawahara. 2020. Soft yet Strong Inflatable Structures for a Foldable and Portable Mobility. In Extended Abstracts of the 2020 CHI Conference on Human Factors in Computing Systems (CHI EA ’20). Association for Computing Machinery, New York, NY, USA, 1–4. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1145/3334480.3383147

Text: Koya Narumi (Assistant Professor)
Photos: The University of Tokyo and mercari R4D
Proofreading: David Buist (Project senior specialist)