e-Skins - motorized climbing skins patent!

[nemesis256]

There actually was an April Fools joke about this. But this is too much.

This is the type of stuff that's turning me into a grumpy old man in my mid 30s. Get off my skin track!

 

[cantunamunch]

. It seems likely they have at least one working prototype, if not multiple.

Very easy to believe. Especially considering the recent explosion of electric skateboards.

I'll bet there's a nordic country military applications study on those, somewhere.

 

[Joal]

Sometimes Getty images say "images may be subject to copyright". May be. Maybe not.

1957

 

[Crank]

I'll believe it when I see it and I hope never to see it.

 

[firebanex]

I'm not even sure what to think of this. It just seems so unwieldy and problem prone.

 

[tball]

Sometimes Getty images say "images may be subject to copyright". May be. Maybe not.

1957
View attachment 48420

Looks similar to the 1953 patent cited in the OP patent:

No doubt the technology has been moving slowly.

I think all the pieces have come together where will make a big leap like in motorized bicycles. Is there enough of a market, though? @cantunamunch's mention of military application is insightful and could accelerate these.

 

[clong83]

How is it that the binding appears to be on top of the conveyor-skin? Does the skin move and the binding is somehow immobile? Is the binding fixed to the ski with a slot in between the two for the skin to slide? How in the heck would that be safe, much less how would it actually ski well with so much separation of the binding and ski? Is it a fully coupled system? THat is, are the bindings, ski, and skin all part of the same product? Just the binding and the skin? If it were to break down on you somewhere in the backcountry, could you release your heel and use it as a ridiculously heavy traditional skin/ski combo so that you can get back out?

SO many questions... But not interested enough to actually read the patent application. It looks like it would probably be easier to rig up a Segway with a snow conveyor and just use that. Oh wait, I just described a crappy snowmobile.

If I ever saw one of these in the "wild", it had better be on someone over the age of 70 who just wants to get in a few more turns on their favorite backcountry run.

 

[Joal]

https://patents.google.com/patent/US3964560 Scroll down to "Cited by (13)" and see there are a few different motorized things.

Not leave out snowboards

 

[skibob]

Whoa, what is the DIN on those bindings, lol!

 

[cantunamunch]

military application i.

Have you seen any of the recent 'soft exoskeleton' art?

 

[cantunamunch]

Have you seen any of the recent 'soft exoskeleton' art?

For example -
20160220438
20160107309
20150321339

The relevant part to skinning starts at approximately Fig. 24A,24B - with skinning the push-off would be extended to a larger % of the gait cycle, and the toe-off would be stronger in absolute value. Fig. 35 shows the assistance curve for hard surface walking - notice the DARPA 100W system power limit. Notice also that a longer push off such as would be used with skinning or XC skis would allow similar total energy but without peaking above the power limit.

If the Harvard boys continue to chase this tech, it's a real alternative to powered skis, with significantly more versatile application in other fields.

 

[Corgski]

How is it that the binding appears to be on top of the conveyor-skin? Does the skin move and the binding is somehow immobile? Is the binding fixed to the ski with a slot in between the two for the skin to slide? How in the heck would that be safe, much less how would it actually ski well with so much separation of the binding and ski? Is it a fully coupled system? THat is, are the bindings, ski, and skin all part of the same product? Just the binding and the skin? If it were to break down on you somewhere in the backcountry, could you release your heel and use it as a ridiculously heavy traditional skin/ski combo so that you can get back out?

SO many questions... But not interested enough to actually read the patent application. It looks like it would probably be easier to rig up a Segway with a snow conveyor and just use that. Oh wait, I just described a crappy snowmobile.

If I ever saw one of these in the "wild", it had better be on someone over the age of 70 who just wants to get in a few more turns on their favorite backcountry run.

The point is to have a system that can attach and detach to a conventional ski, though with a different binding mounting setup. My initial reaction was very negative, but it is not as bad as it looks. Next time you are at an outdoor store, take a look at some small rock climbing cams and their load ratings, will make your structural concerns seem very resolvable.