FLO

Abstract

The aim of this graduation project was the design of a compact, simple, and effective means of transport for the last mile, suitable for an environment with a system of shared usage. The focus of the project lied on the design of the vehicle itself, while the design of the marketing strategy and the sharing system were left out the scope.A university campus environment was chosen as context for the research and development of the product, due to its medium-large scale, its enclosed nature, and the wide variety of users. This combination of factors made the design feasible in the timeframe of the graduation project, while keeping it open for possible future applications in other environments such as factories, hospitals, and airports.The vehicle typology to design was not set upfront or arbitrarily chosen in the beginning, but it was determined by process of analysis, during which a design vision and a set of requirements were created.In a cycle of three iterations, concepts were created by following an incremental process in which insights from one idea served as a starting point for the next, leading to well-defined product architecture. This was built with simple prototyping techniques to generate a proof of concept, ready to be tested by users.Finally, the embodiment design phase elevated the product architecture to a detailed state, defining construction, mechanisms, materials and form through the use of a variety of techniques, ranging from sketching, digital visualisation and simulation, physical prototyping and user testing.The result is a dynamic, elegant and robust kickscooter with a stable three-wheel tilting and steering mechanism, an expandable compact cargo solution and a nestable configuration, specifically designed to answer the demanding requests of a chaotic shared mobility environment. Its name is Flo.