The Carryology post that sucked us into their site, and their mission, was an in-depth look they took at a problem faced by a subset of people who need backpacks for survival. We're not talking about the Bear Grylls kind of elective, recreational survival; we mean those with conditions that require they transport medical supplies with them at all times, unless they want to spend their lives in confinement.
As Brandon, the subject of the IV Backpack project, writes:
Basically I have a digestive disorder where I require IV nutritional supplements to survive. Every night I'm hooked up for 10 hours and being strapped down to an IV poll kind of puts a damper on things. However, with advancements in technology pumps have gotten smaller. As a result a backpack was specially created to fit this pump and the IV bag, which opened the door for mobility while being hooked up. The problem is this bag is 10+ years old now and is falling a part. The company that makes it is no longer around, and I'm not able to find anyone else who makes something like it.
I'm part of an online community where patients have similar situations and unfortunately those who are hooked up just go out and buy regular backpacks and modify them by cutting them and adding all sorts of contraptions to it to feel a bit more mobile. Personally, I believe that the market is fairly large; however, no one seems to really want to look into it....Carryology laid out design briefs for the project and solicited ideas for solutions a little over a month ago, and thus far the ideas have been pouring in. Potential solutions are in three different categories: Mod an existing bag, creating a slim-form insert for a conventional bag and create a purpose-built bag.
The project is ongoing. This is the kind of crowdsourcing we love to see, where the creativity of the masses can be harnessed to solve high-stakes problems, all because Carryology took the time to listen to Brandon and lay the project out. Check out the original post here, and the more recent update on the project here.
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Contact me at dcdesign4u@aol.com. I design (NDA) for a couple medical companies, and my experience is technical backpacks. I have 2 options for you. We can discuss anything else you might need.
Sincerely
Derek
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