Tech-Filled Harmony Scooter Concept Aims To Be the Safest Mobility Solution

This seems to be the case with Harmony, the scooter design you see today. While you may have seen scooters before, Harmony is a bit different from what's on the market. Before we go on about the project, let's look at the mind behind it and how it may have come about.

Harmony is a design conceived by student Min-Ji Park of Hongik University in Seoul, South Korea. Like other conceptual designs to come out of South Korea, this one also follows strict minimalism and capability principles. But as minimal as it may seem, Harmony is meant to be the solution to numerous safety hazards that scooter riders encounter daily. Best of all, it's created around the idea that it may, someday, be used as a rental service scooter.

First off, let's take a quick look at the overall design and then move on to the stuff you may have a hard time seeing. Overall, the scooter doesn't break away from the classic shapes we may be used to. Frankly, that's a good thing, as most people have difficulty accepting change.

However, in comparison to what you may be seeing on the corner of your street, Harmony boasts a very fluid, clean-cut, and elegant design that should also feel comfortable as you ride. The project even spat out a real-scale model of Harmony, and frankly, it looks pretty dang nice. I'm not sure if all the technology was integrated but just look at it.

Because Harmony is destined to reach local streets and be used as a rental service, the designer also incorporated several features like wireless charging and a foldable frame, just in case you need to take this puppy one the metro or other tight spaces. Folded, the rider can pull Harmony along as though it were a simple piece of luggage.

As I mentioned, one goal of this design is to be a safer solution to what we find nowadays. To do that, Min-Ji Park added an amalgam of technology to make sure riders are in tune with the world around them.

Safety is brought to the mobility game by using a LiDAR-like camera. Actually, if you break it down, we only know of LiDAR systems that function the way Min-Ji Park shows, but he doesn't use this term in particular; he just says "the camera."

I'm sure you've picked up which camera as there's only one and it's seen mounted right between the headlights at the base of the steering column. That camera is meant to detect just about everything from road signs to pedestrian traffic and even impending danger.

If an alert is raised, the rider will be notified in two ways. The first is an alert projected onto the road via lateral headlights, and the second is shown on the display that's integrated into the handlebar at the top of the steering column.

Once a rider activates Harmony, they will connect their smart device to the scooter's software. Then, an app will assist in planning routes, displaying battery levels, speeds, and the warnings mentioned earlier. This display is an integral part of the experience you may end up having one day. More added safety is yielded by a solid lighting system that warns others around the scooter of your intentions.

Even though there are no specifics as to what sort of power this machine may have, it may be a bit too early to invest in this aspect. However, if some billionaire investor falls in love with this machine, we may one day ride Harmony scooters through the streets of Seoul, maybe even your local town.

But, if Harmony never makes it into a real machine, one version of the technology displayed here will naturally migrate into vehicles like these; it's only a matter of time.