AN INTERNATIONAL DESIGN PROJECT WITH FIVE UNIVERSITIES
ISBN: 9781388721923
Layout and Editing: Verena Paepcke-Hjeltness, Assistant Professor Industrial Design Iowa State University and Aziza Cyamani, Graduate Program Industrial Design Iowa State University
Co-Editor: Maria V. Miller, Visiting Assistant Professor, The Ohio State University
Project Introduction: Reinhart Butter, Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University
RATIONALE AND OVERVIEW
The desire to speed up walking with a simple device that can be instantly and safely operated by just about anybody and without any training led to the challenge of upgrading the basic kick-scooter with power assist - somewhat similar to the electric e-bike and its enormous popularity.
If small enough and minimal in every respect, such a scooter could go where bicycles are impractical or prohibited, becoming especially useful for the so-called ‘first and last mile’ of urban or rural commutes. By folding down (as simply as an umbrella), it could be carried along instead of needing to be parked and once compacted, would take practically no space in the trunk of a car.
Being a ‘scooter’ this device would be propelled by kicking, thus providing physical exercise. Yet combined with the convenience of electric assist (e.g. in uphill terrain), its use would be simplified and greatly broadened. Overcoming the stigma of such product -that it is a child’s toy- is one of the biggest problems of the project since adults don’t want to look childish, even though backpacks carried over business attire or sneakers worn with suits and dresses prove that cultural norms can be successfully challenged.
While many others have thought about how such a product might gain popularity, and many comparable designs have lately emerged on the market, the idea of creating an ideal answer to this challenge has been explored for nearly a decade at a range of universities around the globe. They led to test-runs -first in the context of short workshops at Shih-Chien University in Taipei, and subsequently at Drexel University in Philadelphia- concluding that the concept of an electrified kick- scooter still seems quite original and worthy of further exploration.
PARTICIPATING UNIVERSITIES
Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA
Shih-Chien University, Taipei, Taiwan
Moholy-Nagy University, Budapest, Hungary
Hochschule für Technik & Wirtschaft, Berlin, Germany
University of Applied Science, Darmstadt, Germany