(Our next Design Meetup is next Thursday, Nov. 1!)
Designer: Daniel Stillman
Product: Nano Skate Concept
Link: Daniel's Coroflot Page
Smaller & quicker for City Homes. At our 5th Meetup, Daniel Stillman showed us how he's trying to improve urban travel while keeping in mind that many of us live in homes with little space and the occasional four floor walkup. Still in concept mode (Daniel's finishing up at Pratt), the crowd responded heartily to the challenge and Daniel gave folks rides on his prototype outside on the street...
- Nano Skate
- Short Range Human Powered Vehicle
Our basic design space in in short range human powered vehicles - when a bike is too cumbersome (under 2 miles) or when the number of trips becomes large (we've talked to professionals like dogwalkers, at-your-home piano teachers, and personal trainers who use various forms of transportation to help their busy days.)
We're visualizing scooter (see http://www.xootr.com) sharing programs as cheaper, less space-intensive alternatives to bike sharing and have some possible donors lined up for beta test program.
We're investigating designing for the hard-core scooter user as well as trying to design devices that could re-capture mass-market appeal for non-bike, non-skate transportation.
This is retarded. First of all, ever heard of the Razor scooter fad that came and went five years ago? And where are you supposed to use this thing? Certainly not on the crowded sidewalks of the city. And if the potholes don't swallow you, using this on the city streets will guarantee you will become roadkill courtesy of those crazy livery drivers who DON'T GIVE A FLYING FIG ABOUT HUMAN LIFE. I can't believe you wasted blog space for this nonsense.
view hejiranyc's profile
I agree...am I missing something here?
view Matthew's profile
Are there pills for restoring self esteem? They should come with every scooter purchase.
view Rick's profile
it's clear that people that make things like this don't have to carry anything or stop at one of the stores along the way.
view Sara48's profile
I have no particular opinion one way or the other on scooter use (never been on one), but I have to say that during a recent two-week stay in Paris, I was rather surprised by the number of people who appeared to use scooters and rollerblades as a serious form of transport in the city, crowded sidewalks be damned. There were enough scooter users (and not just kids playing around) to make me stop and ponder the issue, as I too thought the Razor trend had largely faded.
view J's profile
WTF! Scooter revival 2? no... Nano Skate! BULLOCKS!
view Djluckyonline's profile
I think it's a good idea. I'm surprised at the negative comments. Yeah, I think you could use one of these on the sidewalk in Manhattan. It looks small and light. I think if you ran into major foot traffic (like Time Square) you could simply carry the scooter with one hand.
view Vanessa in New York's profile
I agree this concept is goofy, I went to Pratt (graduated from the same program) and I know there is better work comming out of this school
view nada naha's profile
unfortunately the writeup doesn't fully cover daniel's approach. he considered and addressed many of the issues some of the people here commented on (e.g. use in the city, transportation of additional items).
also, from my understanding, the scooter is more of the starting point, to create a different kind of short distance transportation option. letting go of the initial (scooter fad) reaction and approaching this concept with an open mind helps ;-).
obviously though, at the same time, this kind of reaction is something he will need to address as well to make this successful.
view martin g's profile