LITMOTORS AEV SEAT DESIGN

I had the pleasure of working with Litmotors in helping to develop their Autonomous-balancing Electric Vehicle. The Litmotors vehicle is an enclosed two-wheeled vehicle that is balanced by gyroscopes. The vehicle is meant to be a more sustainable alternative to buying a large vehicle that will ultimately only carry around one to two passengers at a time. I was tasked with further developing the seats to accommodate two passengers.

Learn more about the vehicle on their website here! —> Litmotors.com

SEAT V0

The first seat I was developing was made through quick modeling techniques with foam, scrim backing, and muslin fabric.

This was my first attempt at paneling for the seat cover, and testing the proportions to accommodate for heights that range from 5ft-6ft.

The seat has to have a particular shape with cut-outs at the sides to allow for a second passenger to sit in tandem in a straddle position.

ALTERCATIONS AND IMPLEMENTING FOLDING

For the next chair I did a series of foam board cut-outs with altered dimensions. It was also decided that the chair needed the ability to fold to allow for the second passenger easier entry. The chair needed to fold in a way to clear the steering wheel which resulted in another point of folding at the headrest.

We also created a custom folding hinge that locks at 0, 90, and 180 degrees for the base of the seat folding at the H-point.

SKETCHES & ITERATIONS

MEASUREMENTS AND USER TESTING

After the first seat was created, I tested and observed people of different heights and recorded their comments about the comfort of the seat.

I tested various heights in the front and back seat. To easier test the spacing and seating I built a 1:1 floor plan of the vehicle out of plywood sheets and 2x4s.

I found that the cutouts were not sufficient for people closer to 6ft tall, and that the headrest was too tall to be sufficient for the range of heights.

This was the time and best opportunity to measure heights, leg lengths, H-points, shoulder widths, etc to better understand the proportions that the seat needs to be for the human body.

SEAT V1

This is the second iteration of the seat that was made with the same proportions, but more realistic color, materials, and upholstery techniques.

This was a test of production technique as well. I created a Gantt chart to detail the time it would take me to create one chair for production purposes. This chair takes me 10 hours to make in total.

SEAT V2 PROTOTYPE BUILDING

These pictures show the final construction of my latest version of seat construction. It is made with classic plywood and upholstery techniques, and has a carved foam seat. The cover has classic scrim backing and has a grey textured fabric for a simple sleep look. The seat fully folded is shown to the left as well.