A shuttle ride took me up to the Aspen high school parking lot. Staged there were two tents, and two oddly shaped vehicles.. the Toyota i - ROAD.
“If you look at where cities are going, we think there is going to be a change in mobility needs," says Jason Schulz, the business developer and partnerships manager for Toyota. He says the car will be good for urban areas. "If you look at things like population increases, that has an affect on parking availability, on congestion.”
The Toyota i-ROAD is an electric, three-wheeled vehicle that steers from the rear. The car tilts side to side as it turns. Instead of a stick to shift from park to drive, three buttons are stacked on the left of the steering wheel. Drive, neutral and reverse. The steering wheel also has a vibration just in case you are leaning a bit too far.
The pink car that I was stationed in managed to become familiar after just a few seconds. The test course was filled with tight turns and i managed not to tip the car over.
Another technology on display at the ideas festival was the Genworth R70i, an aging suit. What is an aging suit? Imagine a metal skeleton with motors at each of the critical joins. The elbows, shoulders hips and knees. On top of that is a special set of headphones and a headset that the suit wearer looks through.
At the turn of a knob, or flick of a switch. Variables can be controlled so that the effects of aging can be felt and demonstrated.
Peter Kaplan who wore the suit during the demonstration says the sensations he was felt were unlike things he has experienced before.
“That was very sudden," says Kaplan. "I always expected it to feel a certain way. You see people walking down the street with hip problems or limps but it feels different than I expected. “
Kaplan, who has never broken a bone in his body, or been physically hindered before, says the suit is a good way to help people see what aging is like.
“Simulating this could probably be a pretty good way of dealing with preventative planning, so that people can simulate and experience what a disability might be like and practice a little less immediate serial thinking and instead think more long-term about if they truly want to risk being susceptible to these really, really tough issues that i can see probably interrupt daily and routine activities that you want to get done.”