A senior student of the National Cheng Kung University’s (NCKU) Industrial Design Department, Lee Ching-hua, designed and developed a new kind of caster board, the X-TUBE, out of a simple concept. It is made of a single piece of flexible material, a breakthrough design addressing the weak structural integrity of current caster boards. This design makes it safer and more stable. The design was entered in the 2011 iF International Forum Design in Germany, known as the Oscar Academy Awards in the design industry, and won the iF product design award in a contest with more than 2,700 entries from 43 countries.
Caster boards have become very popular recently. It is a new kind of sport, and is also called street surfing board. It is propelled with the energy produced from the repetitive movements of the waist, hips, feet and hands. Lee flung himself into the design of this caster board while taking a course run in collaboration between industry and his department.
Lee said he spent a month trying to understand the structure and movement pattern of existing designs, and practised using an actual caster board. When he had mastered all this, it only took him one night to work out the design for the X-TUBE’s prototype .
Photo: Meng Ching-tzu, LIBERTY TIMES 照片：自由時報記者孟慶慈
Lee added that the X-TUBE he designed is in a single piece and doesn’t have anything unnecessary on it. The entire caster board is made of a flexible plastic, and using the same material throughout helps to lower cost and makes it possible for it to come in various looks.
The university said the iF International Forum Design is regarded as a standard of excellence and quality in both the design industry and business circles, and many international brands, such as Sony, Apple and Samsung, are frequent participants. The iF International Forum Design is open exclusively to design students.
(LIBERTY TIMES, TRANSLATED BY TAIJING WU)
成大工業設計系大四學生李京樺以精簡的觀念出發設計新型活力板X-TUBE，彈性材質一體成型，突破現有活力板較為脆弱的建構，大幅提高安全性與穩定度，參加二零一一年有設計奧斯卡之稱的德國iF設計獎，在四十三個國家二千七百多件參賽作品中脫穎而出，獲得iF產品設計獎。
活力板是最近開始流行的新運動，又有路上衝浪板之稱，運動原理是利用人體腰部、臀部、雙腳扭動以及手部擺動造成的慣性來驅動前進；李京樺因系上產學合作課業而投入活力板的設計。
李京樺表示，花了一個月時間去了解現有產品的建構、運動模式等，並實際玩活力板，全方面掌握之後，只花一個晚上就構思出X-TUBE的雛型。
李京樺又說，自己設計的活力板X-TUBE，採一體成型設計，沒有多餘的建構，整個活力板用的都是具彈性塑膠材質，使用同一種材料可降低成本，也提高外觀的可變化性。
成大表示，德國iF產品設計獎，是國際設計界、企業界最為卓越及品質象徵的指標性競賽之一，許多國際品牌如Sony、Apple、Samsung等企業都是常客，而iF概念設計獎則是專門給設計系學生參賽的獎項。
（自由時報記者孟慶慈）
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