We don’t seem to like the idea of autonomous motorcycles too much, but the truth is that motorcycles that maintain balance are necessary, such as the Yamaha AMSAS project.
Made public to the press a month ago, the president of Yamaha Motor, Yoshihiro Hidaka, showed the progress of the tuning fork firm in this field.
It is the answer to Honda’s self-stabilized motorcycle prototypes, which were already shown a couple of seasons ago.
The movement physics of a motorcycle is quite complex, which makes it difficult to create an active security system, for which the Yamaha AMSAS project was born.
There are already several motorcycle models that have been equipped for some time with front and/or rear radars that modulate the adaptive cruising speed systems, such as the new Yamaha Tracer 9 GT+.
These radars, to avoid ranges, warn the rider in the event that the vehicle in front slows down, at the same time that they reduce the speed of the motorcycle by braking slightly and decelerating.
The Yamaha AMSAS is intended to be a kit that can be installed on any Yamaha
But, of course, the bike cannot perform an emergency braking and stop the bike completely, because there are many factors that influence its stability, including the rider, and the bike could fall.
For this reason, the Iwata brand has been working on an autonomous motorcycle for a long time, and that maintains verticality by itself, and this is how this AMSAS project was born.
This acronym stands for Advanced Motorcycle Stability Assist System (Advanced Assistance System for Motorcycle Stability), and it is intended that the motorcycle never loses its verticality.
To test his new system, he starts from the base of a Yamaha R25 -here is the R3-, devoid of engine, exhaust and transmission chain.
In its place there is a battery pack and an electric motor has been arranged in the front wheel, and another in the steering column, to govern the turns and maintain stability.
The electric motor in the front wheel is not located in the wheel hub, but is external to the wheel, and placed at the height of the rim flange, and very close to the ground, to reduce the center of gravity, and is anchored to the bottom of the left fork leg.
This motor, in this prototype, is the one that moves the motorcycle, but this is not its task, since it would only act at speeds below 5 km/h, which is when the gyroscopic effect of the wheels is lost and stability is lost. .
The idea of creating a semi-autonomous motorcycle capable of maintaining verticality is pursued
The second motor moves the steering to keep the bike balanced, like a robotic Toni Bou. The combination of the operation of this pair of engines is what keeps the bike stable.
It is clear that the motorcycle is equipped with an IMU inertial control unit to be able to know its situation in space, obviously.
This AMSAS system has been thought of as a kit that can be adapted to a conventional motorcycle, but I think that a few pitfalls still have to be overcome.
I see it as more plausible to be able to install it on an electric motorcycle, without a gearbox, without a clutch and with an engine that delivers all the torque instantly.
At the moment it has been presented and we will have to wait for its application on a series motorcycle, something that we still see far away in time.
We leave you with the official video of the system presentation.
