Honda built a powered chair to zoom around theme parks while wearing an AR headset
www.engadget.com
At SXSW this year, people will be able to ride the Honda UNI-ONE while wearing a virtual reality headset and play a choose-your-own VR adventure.

At the upcoming SXSW Conference… Honda will give attendees a chance to try out a new mobility device… specifically designed for mixed reality entertainment experiences.

Users can steer… without the use of their hands — they simply have to lean into one direction to move forwards, backwards, sideways or diagonally.

Wall-e humans in mobile chairs with AR

  • @[email protected]English
    18•9 months ago

    Did they actually, you know, talk to any disabled people while designing this?

    No, why would they when that’s not the target demographic or use case?

    specifically designed for mixed reality entertainment experiences

    Sounds like they’re not in use as mobility devices for the disabled but as a more interactive ride vehicle at an attraction, which also means the uncomfortableness is less of an issue and that they’ll likely be used in places where the caster wheels will be on smooth surfaces and not an issue

    Frankly this sounds like a neat idea and could be something very cool, but we’ll have to see it in action first and the first generation or 2 are likely to suck monkey balls

    • @[email protected]English
      18•9 months ago

      Well, maybe the first generation or two wouldn’t suck if they had consulted people who use wheelchairs and know how they should be designed. Too bad they thought the same way you do and said ‘why bother’!

    • @[email protected]English
      3•9 months ago

      On top of what OP said, why aren’t disabled people one of the target demographics*? Its literally a gaming experience that is mobile was also being able to be super accessible physically for a lot of disabled people. It’s also bad design practices, you need to consider access from the start - trying to shoehorn it in later can lead to sub-par access measures, or much bigger re-designs, or worst case just, parts of it not being accessible at all.