An exploration in keeping riders healthy.

KirbyPod began when our chairman Michael Barnett was riding a scooter to a business meeting, he noticed that his hands were dirty after using the scooter and wondered if there was a better solution than trying to find a bathroom to wash up after using the scooters. Luckily there was a better solution, Michael promptly sought out a team to facilitate the idea. This began with Drew McCluskey who is our COO and later Cole Harding which is our CEO and head of design. We approached the idea In terms of what we hoped it would accomplish, we thought about numerous different ways to solve or reduce the problem of bacterial and viral spread on micro mobility and a hand sanitizer was the best solution and the only solution that would clean the riders hands as well as the scooter.

Once we had the idea it was time for us to start designing the KirbyPod and great care was taken during this process to ensure the KirbyPod would have a modern yet timeless look. Finally after dozens of iterations we have our current design which has a mirrored acrylic body with chamfered edges and a pull lever below for easy and ergonomic usage. “We wanted it to look soft and approachable yet not too cluttered or busy.” -Cole Harding

On February 20, 2020 we filed for our patent and we are currently patent pending. Little did we know less than a month later the world would shut down for a pandemic, we knew that this idea needed to be brought to the market to keep micro-mobility users safe in our changing times. We are currently working with manufacturers to build prototypes to be tested on the scooters. After testing we will be looking for partners to help us take this to widespread markets.