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Thinking ahead is a skill taught to learner drivers from the outset – and the intelligent wheels being developed by Professor Matthias Nienhaus’s research team at Saarland University seem to do just that. By anticipating where the user intends to go they can provide a helping push at just the right moment, offer stability when cornering and make manoeuvring under load easier. The team will be showcasing the latest generation of their smart wheel technology at the Hannover Messe from 20 to 24 April. Depending on the application, their technology now works with or without the sensor handle that was part of earlier iterations. (Hall 11, Stand D41)
A parent pushing a baby stroller or a warehouse worker manoeuvring a hand truck: both guide their vehicle by small changes in the pushing, pulling or pressing forces they apply. Each of these subtle changes, no matter how small, tells the smart wheels what the user wants and where they intend to go. The wheels then interpret these incoming signals and respond accordingly. Vehicles fitted with this technology are easier to set in motion, can glide more smoothly around bends and will come to a halt more quickly. ‘With our smart wheels, it feels a lot easier to move the load, because the electric motors in the wheels provide much of the acceleration,’ explains Professor Nienhaus. Uncooperative shopping trolleys or bulky hospital beds can now be guided with gentle touches instead of the pushing and tugging that’s normally needed to keep them on the straight and narrow. Bicycle trailers are no longer merely towed passively, and wheeled walkers, rollators and wheelchairs can now actively assist their users.
Nienhaus and his team at Saarland University have researched, developed and refined this technology over many years. In 2018, the team demonstrated the self-sensing capabilities of these wheels at the Hannover Messe technology fair. They showed that by interpreting the measurement data of the electric motors inside the wheels, the wheel system could determine when and how to assist movement – with no need for any additional sensors. In 2023, they showed that by introducing a sensor handle, the wheels can move loads with ease: accelerating or braking, rotating more slowly or faster as needed – with each wheel acting either independently or in synchrony with the other wheels. ‘By combining the sensor handle with our smart wheel technology, we’re now able to move more than four tonnes,’ says Matthias Nienhaus. Until now, the sensor handle was required as the user interface that enabled the user to specify the direction of travel; it also housed the system’s control hub: the microcontroller.
Wheels that think for themselves: assisted motion without the sensor handle
In the latest iteration of their smart wheel technology, Nienhaus and his team have found a way to dispense with the sensor handle entirely. ‘That makes the technology simpler, more intuitive and more cost-effective,’ says Nienhaus. A tiny change in the pushing or pulling force applied by the user is enough for the wheel drives to recognize whether they should provide gentle support or deliver a more powerful push. This is possible because, with the right motion control strategy, the drives are essentially self-regulating and can generate the necessary control commands themselves. ‘Precise vehicle control is achieved through a combination of AI methods, high-performance algorithms and by identifying the relevant parameters from the electric motor data in the wheels,’ explains Nienhaus.
The new handle-free technology has been shown to work on vehicles weighing up to 100 kilograms, depending on the specific application and payload involved. At this year’s Hannover Messe, the researchers will show how smoothly a bicycle trailer runs when fitted with smart wheels. The team is continuing to explore how significantly heavier loads can be transported without a sensor handle. For very heavy vehicles, smart wheels combined with a sensor handle remain the best solution.
Artificial intelligence inside the wheel: data instead of additional sensors
The electric motors inside the wheels also function as sensors – effectively acting like the wheels’ own sensory organs. When a wheel moves, the readings from the drive motor located inside it change. Minute variations in these values reveal precisely what the wheel is experiencing. ‘The wheels’ electric motors provide all the measurement data we need to control them. So there is no added cost from installing additional sensors,’ says Matthias Nienhaus. In a number of earlier research projects, his group investigated how to extract as much information as possible from the drives by analysing the measurement data that is generated as the wheels rotate. One dataset, for example, might show how the electromagnetic field is distributed at specific points in the motor and how this distribution changes as the wheel rotates.
The researchers collected countless such measurements from the drive systems and mapped them onto specific motor states and wheel positions. From the mass of data collected, they were able to identify signal patterns that correspond with typical mechanical processes. Nienhaus and his team have also filed a patent application for a method that makes the data from the motors even more meaningful by eliminating any interference effects. The measurement data can reveal, for instance, the force imparted by a drive, how the positions of the wheels are changing, or whether the wheels are more heavily loaded on one side than the other.
Registering tiny changes in the applied forces is enough to keep the wheels on course
Mathematical models and intelligent algorithms are used to precisely control the motor drives so that they respond appropriately – and to monitor whether they are operating correctly. The motors in the wheels supply the data and a microcontroller processes the signals. The wheels are extremely sensitive, continually ‘sensing’ their position, speed and load. Even the slightest movement of the vehicle on which they are mounted – triggered, for example, by a touch of the hand – is enough for the drive system to infer the intended action. The microcontroller reads these motor signals, compares them and delivers the appropriate level of thrust. And all of the information is transmitted via the standard cables that are already in place.
At the Hannover Messe, the research team will be looking to engage with partners from industry and academia to further develop the technology and translate it into practical and commercial applications.
The research was undertaken in part in cooperative projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) and the Central Innovation Programme for SMEs (ZIM).
Professor Matthias Nienhaus is keen to see the results of his team’s applied research transferred to commercial and industrial applications. To that end, he founded WELLGO Systems GmbH as a spin-off from his university research department.
Professor Dr. Matthias Nienhaus (Actuation Technology, Saarland University): Tel.: +49 681 302-71681; Email: info@lat.uni-saarland.de
https://www.uni-saarland.de/en/news/hannover-messe-smart-wheels-45076.html - More Press Photographs
The lightest of touches and tiny variations in the drive data being measured are enough for the syst ...
Source: Credit: Oliver Dietze
Copyright: Saarland University
Professor Dr. Matthias Nienhaus
Source: Credit: Oliver Dietze
Copyright: Saarland University
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