Last year Honda announced that it would reveal a robotic concept bike at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas in January. Unsurprisingly the general assumption was that it would be a futuristic flight of fancy. But the Riding Assist concept is actually a near-stock NC750S.
That could be seen as a disappointment. But an alternative view is that it could mean the technology inside it is actually close to being production-ready.
While it’s clear the engine, frame and most of the bodywork are stock NC750, the big visible change is at the front. Under that odd-looking nose lies all the interesting stuff, which basically makes this bike self-balancing.
Honda isn’t revealing details at the moment. Its CES press information includes just one paragraph about the bike. It reads:
“In a global debut at CES, Honda has unveiled its Moto Riding Assist technology, which leverages Honda’s robotics technology to create a self-balancing motorcycle that greatly reduces the possibility of falling over while the motorcycle is at rest. Rather than relying on gyroscopes, which add a great deal of weight and alter the riding experience as announced by other companies, the Honda Moto Riding Assist incorporates technology originally developed for the company’s UNI-CUB personal mobility device.”
The UNI-CUB it refers to is a low-speed, self-balancing unicycle that’s been in development for years.
How does the new concept bike achieve its self-balancing aim without gyroscopes? What’s clear from the pictures is that there’s no longer a direct connection between the handlebars and the front forks. Instead it appears that steering inputs are measured and translated to the front wheel via a computer. Honda filed patents for just such a system several years ago.
While it officially only mentions the ability to reduce the chance of falling over at rest, the system could also help at speed. If it is indeed a computer-aided steering arrangement, it could be tied-in to stability control, traction control and ABS to ensure that the bike automatically does everything possible to prevent a crash.
It’s worth noting that the bike’s front wheel is wider than normal and has an unusual-looking hub. This probably contains a small hub-mounted electric motor. Rather than providing notable power on-the-move, it’s likely that motor can make slight front-to-rear adjustments when the bike is stationary to help maintain balance.
UPDATE: Honda has released a video of the bike in action, revealing that as well as steering itself the bike has pivoting forks that can transform its steering geometry at the touch of a button. See the video at the top of the page. It also shows the bike moving of its own accord at walking speed.