Rationale

"The Runner" is a product designed to aid in the rescue and recovery effort following a natural disaster, the disaster used as a case study for this design was the 2004 Indonesian Boxing Day Tsunami.

Early on in my design I outlined what I required from my product.

- It needed to be cheap to produce

- It had to be easy to transport

- It had to serve more than one purpose

- It had to be robust

Rotationally moulded out of High Density Polyethylene, the chassis is stiff, yet light, allowing it to carry loads greater than a human can carry without mechanical assistance, while still being manoeuvrable. Manoeuvrability is a much needed trait, as the user will need to navigate through debris and rubble.

Mounted on either side of the chassis are large wheels with tough pneumatic tyres allowing a manageably plush ride without the need for heavy suspension systems. The tyres are completely removable, allowing the product to be transported in broken down, grouped parts, reducing storage size and logistic costs.

The main purpose of "The Runner" is to help survivors transport their shelter boxes from the refuge centre to the camp site. Shelter boxes are large and heavy scaling 600x600x300 and weighing upwards of 50kgs. Normally this would require 2 volunteers to help move them to the desired spot, but with the use of the runner this cuts people required down to just one, the person doesn't have to be particularly strong either, as the mechanical advantage provided by the wheels allows the sled to roll along the ground.

"The Runner" serves a second purpose, it scales 1400x500x300 and is also designed to be able to support an injured or fatally wounded victim of the Tsunami. The typical male Indonesian is 1600mm tall, so, with strapping support, a victim is able to be transported out of the impact zone to be processed and buried. This is a vital process, as corpses create substantial health risks, and after impact many bodies are left strewn all over ground zero. Traditionally, bodies would be carried by hand, or, less respectfully, carried in a wheelbarrow. "The Runner" provides with a more respectful, yet equally effective method of corpse extraction.