We’ve all heard of ski resorts employing drone pilots that rapidly deploy for a birds eye view in potentially hazardous areas before rescuers are sent in or just generally survey the flow patterns of guests to make the on slope experience as smooth as possible but thats pretty much where the relationship between semi-autonomous machines and ski resorts ends. Not saying this clever two wheeled machine dubbed the Ascento Pro will be zipping around trails near you anytime soon but you could see the usefulness of such devices for anything from delivering a tourniquet to beverage service. This little badboy can climb full flights of stairs, drive at up to 12km/h and all this for up to 8h per battery charge. It moves quickly on flat and rough terrain, turn on a dime and can negotiate obstacles with ease (spiked tires and i betcha it’d go up groomers). Food for thought. Peep it.
Ascento started off as a student project at the Autonomous Systems Lab at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH Zurich).
The Ascento robot was first built as part of a focus project at the Autonomous System Lab led by Prof. Dr. Roland Siegwart. The original team consisted of 9 students in their bachelors, who devoted their time and soul to built a self-balancing system capable of jumping and overcoming obstacles.