Design of a quadracycle for visitors of botanical garden

Human Powered Transportation (HPV) is popular because of its low cost, for leisure rides, physical exercise and its environment friendliness. It is the only sustainable transportation or the only source of transportation in underdeveloped countries. Compared to all land HPV vehicles, bicycle is the most efficient one. Its efficiency can be variably increased by adding a set of gears or imrpoving its aerodynamic charctristics.

In this project the need for an inexpensive private vehicle for visitors of botanical garden has been identified. In the research it was observed that other than walking, the only available means to visit the garden was an expensive electric golf cart. This runs a like public transportation stopping at few tourist spots to allow the tourist to take photographs. However, the tourists are unhappy with such arrangement. Introducing a bicycle to solve this problem was the initial idea, but it was understood that not all the people can ride a bicycle. Also the visitors on an average visit the park as a group/family/couple. Hence, the need was addressed by introducing a Quadracycle on which the visitors (family of 4) can have the pleasure of having a fun ride, interacting and pedalling together. This private mode of transport will allow the tourists to move around the park, using some of their physical energy, at their will, stopping where they want for however long they want in the fresh air atmosphere.. The Quadracycle is an innovative, healthy and economic solution for visitors to have a pleasurable visit to the Botanical garden.

A literature study on quadracycles was carried out and the needs of the market segment were understood. Latest design trends were also understood and relevant data was collected. To explore the users’ requirements, an ethnographic study was carried out. To generate a form to the product the lifestyle board, mood board, theme board were created. With the help of these boards, 11 concepts were generated and best five were shortlisted. The final concept was selected by the customer rating and on the feasiblity criteria. A mock-up model of the final concept was made and displayed to the user with illustrations for feedbacks and suggestions.