{"id":3980,"date":"2016-03-11T11:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-03-11T17:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ulprospector.com\/knowledge\/?p=3980"},"modified":"2023-06-06T13:10:05","modified_gmt":"2023-06-06T19:10:05","slug":"pe-loop-transport-system-keeps-water-roll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ulprospector.ul.com\/3980\/pe-loop-transport-system-keeps-water-roll\/","title":{"rendered":"Loop transport system keeps water on a roll"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Loop_field-image03\"
Loop simulation imagery shows how the system would be used in the field.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Empathy. Psychology Today defines it as \u201cthe experience of understanding another person’s condition from their perspective.\u201d It\u2019s a vital trait for all, but is particularly valuable to designers, since it allows them to better grasp the wants and needs of the prospective users of their products and services.<\/p>\n

It also was a driving force behind an award-winning product concept hatched by a pair of young, German design students. Neither has ever set foot in Africa, and yet they sympathized with the difficult challenges facing African villagers who struggle daily for access to clean, safe drinking water. That led Anna-Katharina Halde, 25, and Marilena Hamm, 23, to embark jointly on a project for one of their industrial design classes at Hochschule Pforzheim, about 30 miles northwest of Stuttgart. The two met at school and quickly became fast friends.<\/p>\n

“Loop won recognition recently from the iF International Forum Design GmbH, which organizes one of the world’s most celebrated and valued design competitions, the iF Design Award.”<\/h3>\n

\u201cWe both have wanted to go to Africa for a long time,\u201d said Halde in a recent Skype interview. \u201cWhen I was little, I watched a lot of documentaries about the hunger, drinking and sanitation problems there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe wanted our project to help solve one of the difficulties Africa faces,\u201d she and Hamm explained. \u201cWater is the most important basic element of everyday life, and everyone should have access to it. In reality, though, almost 800 million people worldwide are lacking access to clean water, with some 358 million people in Africa affected.\u201d<\/p>\n

In Africa, she noted, people often have to walk for miles to get to the nearest water source, only to transport the often-contaminated water in 20-liter, used canisters on their heads or on their backs. And it is often the women and girls who are primarily responsible for supplying water to their families.<\/p>\n

\"\"So as a project for one of their classes, and with mentoring from their professor, Cosima Striepe, Halde and Hamm spent four months researching and designing a new water-transport product they dubbed Loop. Why Loop? \u201cLoo is an African word for \u2018happiness\u2019 or \u2018joy,\u2019 like when you say \u2018yippee!\u2019 Also, it\u00b4s the short version of looping, and our tank is rolling or \u2018looping\u2019 all the time.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both wished to give credit for some of their inspiration for Loop to a similar product, called the Hippo Water Roller (www.hipporoller.org), which was launched in 1994 by two South Africans. Designed in Africa for Africa, the 90-liter, extrusion-blow-molded Hippo Water Roller is a handled, rolling plastic barrel that enables women, children and the elderly to collect five times more water than a single bucket by simply rolling it along the ground. But it is much too large and heavy to carry, and Halde and Hamm say that those gathering the water often need to climb over fences or branches or navigate steep, uneven terrain and being able to comfortably carry the tank like a backpack would solve much of those problems.<\/p>\n

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Some of their objectives with the Loop product included:<\/p>\n