Outdoors

Remote-controlled motorized smart wagon makes hauling less of a chore

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The Orion motors at up to 4 mph, while hauling up to 180 lb of gear
Litefar
The Orion motors at up to 4 mph, while hauling up to 180 lb of gear
Litefar
A telescoping lantern illuminates night hauls
Litefar
The Orion rolls on four rubberized wheels, two of which are home to hub motors
Litefar
The Orion can fold down to 12 x 10 x 32 inches between missions
Litefar
The Orion can haul up to 180 lb of gear
Litefar
Add-ons such as side pockets, weatherproof covers and a fold-out table are available
Litefar
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Pulled wagons are great for moving stuff around, but tackling heavier loads can be exhausting. Startup Litefar has launched the Orion, a motorized cargo wagon with remote control that can haul up to 180 lb of gear so you don't have to.

The Litefar Orion sports one rubberized wheel at each of its four corners, with the pair at the rear home to 500-W hub motors. This gives the rolling wagon a top speed of 2 meters per second (4.4 mph), which is user adjustable over four speed points starting at 0.6 m/s via a small wireless remote.

That LumiMote has a zippy response time of 3 milliseconds, and a transmission range of up to 12 m (39.4 ft). There's a small joystick up top to for control. A touch of a button engages the electronic brake, there's a handy hold feature that keeps the wagon in place until unlocked, and reverse is also available.

The Orion can fold down to 12 x 10 x 32 inches between missions
Litefar

The designers have cooked in AI smarts that allow the system to automatically adjust motor power based on data from the "high-precision Inertial Measurement Unit" – so the onboard controller will, for example, ramp up the oomph when encountering a hill in order to maintain a steady pace. With Smart Mode on, it will also keep the Orion moving in a straight line (instead of veering off to one side), and if some chancer tries to give the trolley a hard push, the system will automatically compensate and slow down to the target speed.

The setup is powered by a 24,000-mAh battery that's reckoned good for up to 10 km (6.2 miles) of per-charge wagoning, and can be used as a USB powerbank for gadgetry if your smartphone needs a top-up when you wander into wilder parts.

The Orion is designed to haul heavy loads (up to 81.6 kg/180 lb) around in its 140-liter fabric cargo box, and is reported capable of towing up to 188 kg (415 lb) too. Side pockets, a cargo net and even a fold-out table are available as add-ons.

The Orion rolls on four rubberized wheels, two of which are home to hub motors
Litefar

It rolls on tubeless rubber wheels, which are IPX6-rated to shake off puddles, incoming tide on beach treks and so on. There's a built-in telescopic lantern for after-dark adventures. And the remote can even serve as a 300-lumen flashlight, with built-in SOS mode. The aluminum alloy frame collapses down by 40% for between-use transport in the trunk or for storage. And the wagon weighs in at 16.5 kg (36 lb).

Like the Buffalo Cart, Outisan and others before it, the Orion motorized wagon has rolled onto Kickstarter to fund production, where pledges currently start at US$389. The usual crowdfunding cautions apply, but if all goes to plan with the already funded campaign, shipping is estimated to start from December. The video below has more.

Source: Litefar

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2 comments
paul314
Will it follow you if you pull on the handle?
vince
My dad would have loved having a hub powered cart and myself a hub powered mechanics dolly nearly 70 years ago. Why? Well at the age of 5.5 years I was caught limping and so my parents had me visit an orthopedic clinic to determine the cause of the limp. That checkup revealed that I had contracted a very rare disease called Perthes Disease. What that disease does is to turn hard bones to putty and so hip and knee joints deform unless they are restricted in having ANY weight on them for years until the disease progress is stopped, which usually takes 3 to 5 years.

So to prevent the person from walking and putting weight on hip and knees they are wrapped from mid chest to tip of toes in a full body cast and that person has to remain flat for years. in my case 3.5 years. This cast would look much the same as the one that Salma Hayek was wrapped with in the movie "Frida". But even worse than one Salma had to bear was they also added a bar between the knees to spread the legs about 30 degrees. Ugh.

So how did I get around? I would slide off my bed onto a mechanics dolly and when dad was around he would sometimes haul me around in a wagon or cart. Kids are resilient but even so just going around a city block by pulling the cart with a swimming butterfly motion was really really hard work because not only are you using your arms for locomotion but the dolly weighed 12 to 15 lbs and the cast at least 25 lbs. That's a lot of weight for a 5 year old!

Hence an electric cart back then would have been a godsend.