Gear and Tech : November 19, 2008

You know, this may be an odd article, but I saw this and just had to cover it.

This is one badass baby carrier.

Rory Craig of the Art Center College of Design has created a clever prototype for a new Sparco Babyseat. While not officially affiliated with Sparco, Rory is trying to pitch the idea to Sparco to see if this thing can go into production. It’s meant to appeal to racing enthusiasts, which in all honesty does effectively. Swathed in carbon fiber and wrapped over a CNC’d foam core, this baby seat is not only ridiculously lightweight, but strong as well. All straps are from real Sparco harnesses and the chair is fully internally padded.

One cool feature about this seat is the fact that it can adapt to a child’s age from 1 month up to 10 years. The first function is for a Rear facing Infant seat, from age 1-24 months, next is for Toddlers and is forward facing from age 1-3 years. Once they get a little older, the seat detaches from the base and the base can be used for a booster seat from 1 to 10 years or you can use the detached seat as an infant carrier. All of this means that for the initial cost of the product, you end up saving money by avoiding the cost of purchasing new products.

I’d really like to see this idea come to fruition. It’s hard to argue that this thing doesn’t look damn cool. It’s always best to start them off young, why not start immediately?

NOTE:  THIS PRODUCT WAS JUST A PROTOTYPE AND WAS NOT ACTUALLY PRODUCED FOR RETAIL