Rotating Spherical Car Seat

Did any one else happen to catch the TV show American Inventor this evening? I dont usually have time to watch TV and if I do get time I dont watch silly reality shows, but this caught my eye.

A gentleman had lost his daughter to a car accident, I dont know the details but he invented a neat new car seat. It’s a seat that is suspended in a spherical shell, the seat moves independently inside of the circle. I dont know how well it will do in the crash tests but it sounds like a revolutionary idea. He was chosen to go on to make his product and he is up for the grand prize.

Out of all the ideas I think he has the best.

I heard that a carseat invention was going to be on the show, so I made a point of tuning in last week and again last night. Like you, I'm not sure how it would fare in crash testing and I agree it's the best idea on the show. It also seems like the design would cause the child to spin or at least partly flip around when the car is turning or stopping during typical driving situations. The inventor, a father who lost a daughter in a car crash, is definitely motivated and has a compelling reason to pursue this, by far more compelling than any of the other inventor candidate's sob stories. I intend to continue watching solely to see how his carseat invention progresses.

I keep missing that one! I tuned in last night just in time to see the product at the guys feet as he makes his last plea to the judges. I have never really heard about his product, how it is designed to work or anything. But I kept seeing it in the clips and wondered what it was. It intrigued me. But, also as OP, I dont watch tv much at all, I just *happened* to turn it on and catch that bit. But not quite soon enough.

Keep posting updates here would y'all? Sounds interesting.

I don't even HAVE t.v. in our house The only stuff I catch is what my parents save on Teevo for me when we come over for dinner once a week I know they were watching this show before, though -- I'll ask if they happened to save it (my dad has been "big into" catching anything carseat on t.v. lately since I told him I was getting my certification, LOL)....

We've discussed this seat before if its the one i'm thinking of. (come in a travel system but the stroller isnt normal?) Its called the Orbit and its really expensive and in my opinion no better than the rest.

Wow, absolutely no tv, tiff? I wish we could do that here. DF is a comedy central addict and i watch a lot of TLC but we were nearly kid show free before i went on bed rest (now we're kid show dependant )

Nope, this isn't the same as the Orbit Baby seat. It's an entirely different carseat invented by a contestant on the American Inventor show.

Ok then my mistake. Is this one actually better?

I think i found it, is it this this? Its an interesting idea but i'd be worried that the number of times the kid would go around in a circle at high speeds would hurt them in some way. The movements of the car seem like they would also make the kid move around alot, which could make them car sick.

Yup, that's it. Weird but interesting.

Huh -- the spherical carseat link -- I'm thinking it's never going to pass crash testing ... I mean, how can it evenly distribute violent crash forces on the strongest parts of the body (on the infant, this is the entire back: straps must be even with or lower than the shoulders to help "skootch" baby down into the seat before it coccoons up & around baby's body entirely)

& yep, for the last 10 *GASP* (I feel old suddenly) years since I moved out of my parents' house in highschool -- NY to FL then CA by myself at 16 -- I haven't had TV ... my ex got me a TV, but I was scared it would get in the way of my studying, so I refused cable/satelite/antenae/etc. & when I had Leila, it was put to use in my office for her when the rest of us adults are all unable to interact with her *SIGH* I did buy us a TV for Xmas last year (oops, I mean 2004, LOL), but we only used it for movie rentals on bath & hair braiding nights ... now that we're moving, it's already in storage

I think the spinning motion is supposed to cause the baby to rotate until all the forces have been used up by the action. The idea being no force or limited force is on the baby itself b/c the weight of the baby makes it spin. I think it could give a baby some sort of shaken baby syndrome if it were in a high speed crash with a large baby in it. It also is covered completely so the baby would get hot b/c it acts as a green house and it also could be a SIDS risk if the baby isnt getting enough fresh air inside the bubble. (it is a bubble right? It looks like one in the pictures but they arent good quality and i dot see how it would spin if it werent a bubble.) How did he suggest installing this thing? I looks very round on the outside and i dont see a belt path of any sort. It seems to me that a really round base would cause tipping and be difficult to install (Cosco Caress/alpha elite/ITS for example). Also infant seats are nice b/c they are portable and you can take the baby out of the car without waking it up, does he think parents want to lug this huge thing around? I dont want to carry around the safe seat step 1 b/c its too bulky in my opinion (but i'm in the minority). Its a poor idea IMHO.

All i can say is wow tiff. I want to be TV free but my family would kill me. I thought DF was going to have a heart attack when i said we couldnt have a TV in the living room but he agreed SIL is too attached so he removed it. Now we have one in there b/c no one seemed up to the task of entertaining her without it. It has helped the past few weeks but i dont want to live thru the struggle next week when it leaves. We have a TV in our bedroom (the family bedroom for now) that i let her watch while i bathe or shower myself if DF isnt around. Besides that it only shows adult shows she wont like, she sometimes will stare at it captivated but can be quickly moved on to a new more fun activity than watching some woman scream in labor during a baby story (My favorite show) I let her watch it if i need to do her hair b/c she's less tender headed if its on

Just a side note- you can see something similar with a little more background information if you go to www.safetyegg.com.

The American Inventor carseat contestant didn't explain how his safety seat installed in the car and I didn't see any obvious belt path either. He had mounted it somehow on a rolling chair or platform to demonstrate it to the 4 judges on the show. As I posted earlier, it's an interesting idea but it's questionable how it would perform in crash testing and under normal driving conditions. But it was way more interesting to me than some of the other inventions that continued into the next round of competition, such as a couple of exercise equipment prototypes and a talking doll.

I took a quick peek at the safetyegg web link and that looks interesting and more researched and tested. I wonder what will come of it.

That safetyegg seat would make my kids puke. It's like a carnival ride!

Look at the infant seat demo. Can you imaging the amount of parents that wouldn't properly tighten the harness, allowing the child to be ejected from the seat? Parents don't tighten them now, but the seat rotates upside down! in the egg seat.

Innovative & extremely interesting

... but, I think we're just as far from something like either of these becoming a realistic product as we are of the vehicle & carseat manufacturers getting together to standardize child passenger safety (which would make it so much easier for parents to install seats correctly!)

That egg thing would make my kids SO sick !

I didnt download the videos bit how does one install the egg? I saw it mention latch but where do you put your weight to push it into the seat cushion?

I looks like the toddler version is huge. Can you imagine a 3 across situation with 3 spinning seats? Sure they do in fine but do they spin upon impact (the method of protection)? Nope.

The infant version wouldnt sit well with a small newborn in it b/c their heads weight more than their bodies so it would be at a less than horizontal angle (head pointed downward) i dont know if it would affect the performance of this seat but i know it does for others not to mention breathing issues.

How much force is required to make it do around? If your on a bumpy or curvy road are the kids going to be turning like tops? What if you take a fast corner or have to brake hard? are my kids going to be spinning for an hour b/c of it? Talk about a puking risk. No i want seats that lessen the chance on vomit (but if it proves safer and not likely to spin their brains to death i would buy one)

I'm guessing the shape and centripetal force would help hold an improperly belted child in. depending on how fast it spins its a possibility. Another thing they arent showing in the graphic demonstrations is how the weight of the child affects it. As the child spins upwards in the horizontal circle they dont show that the head being heavier than the child's body will cause it to spin vertically at the same time. Its like one of those spinning wheels at the fair where the outer ring spins one way and the internal spins perpendicular to the first. The engineers behind this seat should be sat in one of those things and be spun around at 30 MPR (which is a lot slower than the children will be spinning) Yeah, i dont think so.

The toddler seat rotates from right to left not up and down so it doesnt really help in a frontal or rear impact IMO. And in a side impact the child could be facing the danger.

I'm sure we'll never see this thing on the market. I guess spinning the force out of the child is the future but this seat design needs a lot of work before we ever see it.

Just to add another thing i dislike about it, it has half a handle. So carrying baby in it wont be easy. I like being able to carry my seats with my arm thru the handle not my hand on the grip so it wouldnt work for me. It also makes it more likely that if the handle fails the seat will fall, with two points of rotation and attachment that lock if one fails the other will help hold the seat upright or if it breaks there is still a hope the other side will support the weight long enough to set it down.

Maybe i should switch back to engineering? Nah accounting is for better for me (and my family)

I started to tune in to watch American Inventor last night but turned it off after seeing the intro. Only 3 contestants were going to be featured in the episode and none of them were the carseat inventor. Apparently the next 3 episodes will focus on 3 more contestants at a time, and 1 of each group of 3 will be chosen to advance to the final 4. It could be another week or two before the carseat inventor appears in an episode.

I need to look up the times for the final, i want to see this thing.

The carseat guy may not even make it to the final depending on how his invention fares. He will be part of another group of 3 contestants vying to make it into the final 4 in another upcoming semifinal episode. Next week the show is on ABC Thursday at 8 p.m. EDT and an another episode follows at 9 p.m. I think the 9 p.m. show will be another semifinal, while the earlier time slot is a look back at some of the inventions that were featured. The listings do not indicate which inventions will be featured though.