Slashdot Mirror
Electromagnetic Suspension System
chuckgrosvenor writes "Every automotive suspension has two goals: passenger comfort and vehicle control. Unfortunately, these goals are in conflict. Two much comfort, and the car rolls and pitches a lot, too much control and you feel every bump. BOSE has found the happy medium by using electromagnetic motors, power amplifiers, & computer control algorithms to even out the road, while still feeling connected to it. Check the quicktime movies to see two different cars stay level while they go through cornering exercises." Reader gatekeep writes "Amar Bose, founder of the Bose Corporation and MIT professor and alumnus, has recently unveiled a new electromagnetic car suspension system. It's said to have taken 24 years to develop. There's only minor technical details available so far, but the author of this piece describes seeing the system allow the test vehicle to jump over obstacles in its path!"
Erm... a system just as good as this, if not superior to it, has been around for quite a while, and in its current generation will do everything that this BOSE system does; most probably better. And this is based technology that has been around since the early 50s, with major changes only being introduced in the last 10 years or so.
~
~
~
-- INSERT --
...The success of Bose is not due to superior products, but superior marketing. This article, this one, and this one all point to Bose offering low quality products with some heavy duty marketing to back them up. I'm really not impressed by this latest invention, it just sounds to me like the "Just add magical magnets" effect. Put on some magnets, call it magic, make some money.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
Mercedes already offer a comperable system on the 2004 SL, CL, and S class. This has been availble in the CL since the 2000 model year. This page is pure Flash, but it describes the system. http://www.mbusa.com/media/richmedia/main/models/t ech_demos/abc/abc.swf
What kind of car are you driving? I haven't seen a system like that in a car for nearly a decade. They were in style for a few years in the late 80s and early 90s, but quickly died a quick death. I'm sure it had nothing to do with the fact that the automatic belt gave drivers a false sense of safety, thus causing them not to latch their lap belts. The lap belt is the most important piece of a three-point belt restraint system, and with only a shoulder belt you run a very high risk of slipping down your seat in a collision, catching the shoulder belt with your chin, and literally losing your head.
Assuming, then, that you're driving a 10+ year old car, it's no wonder you have these types of problems. Such computer-controlled systems were still relatively new, and they've come quite a long way.
Just pickin' 'cause i use my camera (a lot), but that is not really over-exposure, the technique used there is what is refered to as a "rear-synced" exposure....the flash is synced to bang at the end of the exposure lighting the subject at the end of its movement during the shot. You are most correct in stating that this is an excellent way to show how this suspension acts though...a damn good way. It's also how some very dramatic and motion-capturing shots are taken in nightclubs and other low-light situations. Very nice effect and used here perfectly.
;-)
Again, just picking 'cause i'm love with the camera