CES 2022: Hyundai Unveils Vision of New Metamobility Concept, ‘Expanding Human Reach’ through Robotics & Metaverse

Inspired by our vision, “Progress for Humanity”, we dream of a future in which robots help humanity. At CES 2022, we unveiled our plans for our next generation robotics, which will move us beyond limitations, move things beyond our imagination and expand the role of mobility to virtual space, so-called Metamobility. Read on to find out more.

Hyundai at the CES 2022

CES 2022, which takes place in Las Vegas from the 5th-7th January 2022, is the first offline CES event to be held post-pandemic. We used the opportunity to share our hopeful message about connecting people and making progress for humanity. We explored the world of robotics and showed how our robotics will fundamentally change the way we live, work, and move in the future.

Expanding Human Reach

Are there limits to human curiosity? At CES 2022, Hyundai is opening up the stage with these questions, seeking to answer them with its newest ambition—robotics technology.

Hyundai is bringing in robotics technology to usher us into a new era of human advancement—all driven and dedicated to expanding human reach. Take a look at Hyundai’s vision towards this future.

Moving Humans Beyond Limitations

Marc Raibert, Founder and Chairman of Boston Dynamics, talks about how Hyundai and Boston Dynamics are “a match made in heaven.” Hyundai and Boston Dynamics share a core belief that robots are more than just machines, but very useful and trusted companions in which partnered together can improve safety, productivity, and quality of life.

VEX, for example, is a wearable robot helping humans to protect their bodies and enhance their own strength. The next-generation wearable robot will continue to be developed, eventually allowing us to do extraordinary things—from lifting heavy payloads to saving lives.

Moreover, Boston Dynamics robotics technology grants unprecedented mobility to humanity, expanding our reach to places we couldn’t reach before. To deep oceans and natural disaster areas, SPOT can go on behalf of mankind to places we would never even consider sending humans—SPOT was sent to Fukushima and Chernobyl, which was the beginning of a partnership between humans and robots.

Boston Dynamics is further expanding this passion to explore other planets and, in fact, is already working with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory to realize this dream in the future.

Moving Things Beyond Imagination

Hyundai’s robotics vision goes beyond expanding our capabilities. Vice President and Head of the Robotics Lab at Hyundai, Dong Jin Hyun, introduces the latest innovation—a universal tool that will move the world in a completely new direction.

Plug & Drive Module (PnD) is an all-in-one solution with intelligent steering, braking, in-wheel electric drive, and suspension hardware—all in a single-wheel unit. With infinite wheel rotation, the module is extremely flexible and can move interactively within surrounding environments with LiDAR and camera sensors—it’s not only a reinvention of a wheel but also a reinvention of the way we might use wheels in the future.

“In the world to come, you won’t move your things. Things will move around you” Mr. Hyun said. The core idea behind this invention is to make traditionally inanimate objects mobile. Imagine thousands of different things, from small objects to large facilities are powered by the PnD module and Platform, serving personal and social needs. For example, we can change the set of layout requirements, from desks to office partitions, to fully utilize office space on demand. This will allow us not only be able to configure the space but also be able to connect the spaces — expanding our reach to more places, covering isolated and secluded nooks and corners to better serve humanity.

As a mobility company, Hyundai’s ultimate goal is to create unlimited Mobility of Things (MoT) Ecosystem*. It’s a complete disruption of the status quo, challenging the limits to build new conventions.

*MoT (Mobility of Things) Ecosystem: A future mobility ecosystem based on robotics technology which traditionally inanimate objects become mobile, providing seamless mobility-on-demand as mobile connectors in urban areas.

Expanding to Metamobility

At the forefront of new mobility, Hyundai takes another leap forward at CES 2022. Chang Song, President and the Head of Transportation-as-a-Service(TaaS) Division of Hyundai Motor Group, introduces a new concept of ‘Metamobility’, with the goal of pioneering a smart device-metaverse connection that will expand the role of mobility to virtual reality(VR), ultimately allowing people to overcome the physical limitations of movement in time and space.

Mobility as a Smart Access Platform

According to President Song, future mobility will be more about simply getting people from place to place. In the world to come, mobility will be about connecting people to a virtual universe as a smart access platform, while we are on board.

Proxy Experience

In a virtual world, we are not physically there. We can’t just go into the Metaverse and start moving things around. But friends like SPOT will help us to enrich our experience in the metaverse. “A whole host of proxy robots will be ready and waiting outside the Metaverse,” said President Song. He continued, “they are physical ambassadors, designed to respond to our eye and body movements.” This will help us to expand our reach to new realities with “be-there” proxy experiences.

As a mobility company, Hyundai has been all about expanding human reach. While we are moving the world forward with robotics technology, our passion remains the same from the very beginning—we never limit what we challenge, we challenge our limits to achieve “Progress for Humanity.”

Source: Hyundai