Ideas, Philosophy, and Intro To My Mind.

Hello, My name is Robert Skinner. I am an BS Industrial Design major at San Francisco State University.

I am always driven by my curiosity and my thought process. It took me a while to put into words just as to why I do things, but one day I was on my bike chatting with a friend of mine and he said "I don't think you can really do that." I thought about how people would always say things like "just because you can doesn't mean you should." and how I always saw that as a challenge. In that moment it just rolled off my tongue:

"Just because you can't, doesn't mean you shouldn't."

It's been over 10 years since that conversation, and I still reflect on that moment every day. It's been the fuel to my best ideas, and it's also been the fuel to my worst. If the ups and downs of life were like a sine wave, to reach greater heights, you don't have to just rely on an upward shift of the graph, you can increase the amplitude as well.

Based on this thought process, it's led me to all sorts of different projects and creations of my own.

I have always been fascinated by the the potential of human power. 

In automotive design, it's often discussed, the capture of wasted energy, and improvement in overall efficiency of the vehicle. There is often a lack of appreciation for the energy source sitting in the driver's seat. My passion has always been in energy, efficiency, and movement.

My vision of the future is a society that embraces greater efficiency in movement. This can be anything from human power, electric, to automobiles, and more efficient distribution of our limited resources.

Regardless how humanity pushes for 15 minute walkable cities and better infrastructure, the need to transport humans and goods will always exist. I believe that it is our duty as inhabitants of this planet that we work toward doing this in a more efficient way. Some of this can be achieved with logistics and means of transportation, but other cases shapes and designs of vehicles need to change in order reduce drag for more efficient travel.

Aerodynamics and efficiency used to be cool, and in the early 1900's it changed the world in how we view and rely upon our vehicles.

In the 1970's automobiles reduced size and displacement, became smaller and lighter, thus more efficient.

Post-2000 we started looking different ways to create kinetic energy, along with a better understanding of aerodynamics and it's effect on efficiency.

When people ask me for words to describe myself, I honestly feel like I'm all over the place, but first and foremost I am Eccentric. I love lending a helping hand to people when I can. I am Dependable, and when I put my mind to something, I am Unstoppable.

Proposed Design directions:

1) Sectional modular battery system for electric vehicles. Why? Because Electric vehicles carry massive batteries, that rarely see full use in a single day. Carrying an entire battery in your car, everywhere you go uses additional energy to accelerate, adds rolling resistance, and wear and tear to the road/infrastructure.

Traditional EV battery setup on the left, proposed sketch to the right.

Additionally the modular segment can be left at home to power the house while the car is away. Allowing the home battery to draw electricity off-peak or from home solar, and reduce energy costs for the owner. All this while allowing the user to reinstall the battery for longer range and road trips.

2) My Crawler V3 Design. a 6-wheel bike, that has an extremely low deck/load height. The Idea here is to maximize efficiency with a low and light design, while creating an extremely utilitarian and efficient pedal powered/electric assist vehicle.

To the left is an example of the 1970's GMC motorhome. It was a FWD design with a tandem trailing axle. The lack of a driveshaft going to the rear wheels meant that the vehicle could sit closer to the ground, for better efficiency and handling. To the right is a sketch concept of my design for my crawler V3, the FWD design allows for an extremely low deck height, allowing easy loading and access. A design like this could potentially be beneficial in cities and industrial areas where cars might not be permitted to access.

3) An effective way to reduce commercial vehicle height. By reducing the height, therefore the frontal surface area of a commercial vehicle, it can reduce the overall drag of the vehicle immensely. In order to achieve this, this would mean rethinking how trucks load and unload, while working around the trailer axle and tire assemblies. Currently warehouse loading docks are situated in a way that allows trailers to back in side by side, and a forklift to drive all the way in. The concept would have to justify any changes to the current system by offsetting in fuel efficiency which is one of the largest expenses in trucking today.