Allison interviews Tony Hong, Founder and CEO of Strutt, about their smart personal everyday vehicle, the EV1.
The EV1 is a modern, four-wheeled battery-powered mobility scooter with a black padded seat and backrest, elevated armrests with integrated controls, and a compact, sturdy base. It has thick tires with suspension, a foot platform, and a sleek, dark gray/black design.
EV1 is unique in that it combines sensors with technology and software to create a power chair that is safer for passengers as well as those around them. It can navigate to a location with a voice command, avoid objects and moving people, and travel over varying terrain, unlike any other chair.
Learn more at https://www.strutt.inc
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Transcript of Interview:
Allison: I’m with Tony Hong from Strutt, and he and I are both sitting in personal mobility devices. And this is going to be audio only, but also audio and video. So describe what we’re sitting in and what this is we’re doing.
Tony: This is called the EV1. This is the new smart everyday vehicle that we invented for a new category. Basically what this does is it can move a person in a more intelligent way. For example, we have all these LIDAR sensors around. So you basically would be able to imagine a space that can be captured by the vehicle itself so that you don’t have to spend all the mental load, mental capabilities to drive this vehicle, but instead it drives together with you or sometimes for you.
Allison: So these look like real nice chairs, not like a wheelchair, but it’s sort of functioning like a wheelchair to move us around, but you’ve got LIDAR and radar, you said, and we’ve got Steve, if you want to come around and look at these screens, we’ve got mapping on here from the sensors, correct?
Tony: Yes, that’s right. So this vehicle itself captures almost everything around you, still obstacles, dynamic obstacles. And for example, Tian, can you help me here? For example, you can stand in front of me, and I can try to hit her, but it actually stops.
Allison: Can I try to hit Steve?
Tony: Sure, why not?
Allison: All right, here we go. Yep, I just drove straight forward towards him and it inched up to right in front of his feet and now he’s very, very close. And we’ve got a display here also that says co-pilot.
Tony: Yep. And then we also have some of the more advanced functions. For example, let me show you. This vehicle can drive by itself. For example, now I’m going to go over to that position, and then what you do is you long-press this position.
Allison: So he’s pressing and holding on the screen.
Tony: Yep.
Allison: And it’s calculating. Okay, bye-bye. I’m leaving. I am being driven away. And the guy in the next booth is like, “What are these people doing?” So it’s navigating, it’s planning, it’s moving around.
Tony: It’s moving around.
Allison: It’s changing its position. It just went around a table and it’s gone out right to the spot he pointed to on the screen.
Tony: Arrived at destination.
Allison: And it says arrived at the destination. So that was the Pathfinder function?
Tony: That’s right. That’s the Pathfinder. So imagine sometimes you have narrow corridors, locations that you don’t want to try back and forth yourself with this joystick. So you just click the position and then the vehicle will take you there. And then another function, like we can autonomously drive itself, for example with some waypoints. We have a booth here, we have the drinks over there. You can press this and then it will just take you over there.
Allison: Okay, so he tapped on the screen. He tapped; it’s going to look for the booth. It’s planning. Oh, you could have taken me to the drinks and you’re taking me back to the booth. That is, that’s a bad deal.
Tony: I’m going to show you something.
Allison: Okay, here we go. So he chose it from a menu and it’s just driven me right back to the booth.
Tony: For example, now we can do something like this: “Take me to the drinks.”
Allison: He just tapped and held on the screen for it to listen to him.
Tony: Heading to the drinks.
Allison: And it just said “Heading to the drinks.” Okay, so that waypoint had been created earlier, I assume. So now I’m backing up, and I’m going to go—apparently I’m going to go get a drink. Steve, what would you like?
Tony: Gin and tonic.
Allison: All right, here we go, here we go. Gin and tonic for Steve. I’m not doing anything. I’m just sitting in a chair that is driving itself over to the drink line. Let’s see whether it’ll run into these people in the drink line. Don’t worry, it’s going to stop. Oh, it’s going to go through you, I guess. Oh, there we go.
Allison: Yeah. No, no, this is fine. Oh, oh, sorry. Hey, it just cut the line though. All right, let me see. If I tap on waypoint and I go back to—
Tony: Tap on the waypoint.
Allison: Okay, and then I go back to the booth.
Tony: And then start.
Allison: Oh, and click start. Okay. The screen I’m looking at, by the way, is maybe four by four inches. And did I get it right? We’re going back to the booth and start. There it goes. It’s planning. And I mean, I’m driving through crowds of people. This just drove—I’m not, it drove through crowds of people. And apparently people are just getting out of my way, but in general it’s not going into anybody. And it’s a really comfortable chair. It’s got the joystick control on the right-hand side and then it’s got lights and nice little armrests and it’s pretty classy-looking. This is really fascinating. So Tony, who is this—hello, it’s still moving. Okay, now it’s really at the booth.
Tony: It tries to get oriented into the correct position.
Allison: So Tony, who is this for? Who is this for?
Tony: Oh, this is actually for everybody, for senior citizens, for disabled people, for anyone just roaming around CES, right? So people want to take a ride.
Allison: By Wednesday, we will definitely need something like this. So you’re unveiling this tomorrow, is that correct?
Tony: That’s right. We are launching tomorrow.
Allison: And what do you—are you going direct sales to people or through other companies, or how’s that going to work?
Tony: We have a website, so people can book a ride there. We are also creating a distribution network globally, so people will be able to see them in stores, try themselves.
Allison: Very good. And what’s the price point going to be on this?
Tony: We’ll see tomorrow.
Allison: Okay, so the company is Strutt, S T R U T T. What is the website?
Tony: The website is Struttt, S T R U T T dot I N C.
Allison: Very good. Thank you very much, Tony. This is pretty amazing.
Tony: Thank you.