Student Designers Win First Place in Stanford's International Challenge

Monday, April 11, 2016
Photo of Eric Renard, Brandon Lopez and June Fisher with a CityCart prototype

NATIONAL PUBLIC RADIO/WEEKEND EDITION -- The Stanford Design Challenge is a competition to encourage students to design solutions for mobility and mental stimulation. The contest could change the way people live in the future.

“The winner was something called City Cart,” Ina Jaffe says on the broadcast. “It’s a cool-looking thing on fat rubber tires that functions as a shopping cart and as a walker without really looking like one. It folds up for storage, it has brakes for dealing with hills. It even has a cup holder. And the designers, Eric Renard and Brandon Lopez from San Francisco State, got a $10,000 prize. ...

“They were inspired by Dr. June Fisher. She’s 82 years old and has severe arthritis and it forces her to walk using two hiking sticks, one in each hand. And that means she can’t go to the farmers market, for example, something she really loves to do. ... Fisher happens to work with the students in this industrial design class at San Francisco State. And they were inspired to create something that would help her take home those heirloom tomatoes she’s so crazy about.”

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Links

  • News article: Students' Accessible Walker/Cart Recognized in International Design Contest, March 10, 2016
  • Stanford Center on Longevity Design Challenge
  • Brandon Lopez
  • Eric Renard
  • Design and Industry Department
  • Photo: From left: Students Eric Renard and Brandon Lopez and community partner Dr. June Fisher with a CityCart prototype. Photo courtesy of Ricardo Gomes.

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