I'm not a huge fan of unrealizable concept studies, but this so-called Insane Stroller Week is fast coming to an end, and James Frey's Bugaboo is still the craziest thing around, so here goes...

Tehran-based designer Pouyan Mokhtarani created the Smart Baby Case for Samsonite as part of a design competition. It's not clear from the Yanko Design writeup, but the original objective is a safe, car seat-like environment for protecting a kid during emergency situations and travel in poor conditions. It's basically combining a cradleboard, an 80's-era Buck Rogers helmet, and a Wheelie suitcase to do the job of a stroller.

Obviously, enclosing a kid in a porta-pod is going to raise some eyebrows; I think it just means Mokhtarani really loves The Matrix and was trying to accentuate the positive aspects of being immobilized and jacked into a TV, an easy chair, and an automatic waste elimination system from birth.

Me, I still see it as a potential breakthrough. A pod is kind of useless, but I'd love to see some pared down kid transport options based on the wheelie or handtruck paradigm. The kid loves riding around Ikea on those spindly little yellow handtrucks. It feels like there could be something that moves a standing or leaning kid around without the builk or hassle of a stroller. A rolling IV stand with a platform, just something to keep those tired little legs from holding you up. Phil & Teds used to have a 2-wheeled stroller deal, sort of a lightweight cart that folded for the bus.

Hopefully, Pouyan is taking his sketchbook with him to the Tehran Ikea to figure out the next iteration.

Keep That Baby Swaddled [yankodesign via dt reader michael]
Smart Baby Case, 2009, by Pouyan Mokhtarani [pouyanm.com]