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HipStar Cargo Trailer Ditches Your Vehicle and Transforms You Into an Optimized Cargo Mule

"Come, take a seat right here. There I was, minding my own business, when all of a sudden, this guy ran right past me. Sure, that's nothing out of the ordinary, but the fact that this human had a cargo trailer strapped to him, and I mean literally, to his body, led me to tell you this story."
HipStar Cargo Carrier 11 photos
Photo: HipStar
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Folks, I invite you into the era of entirely eco-friendly, green, and off-grid mobility. But there's a catch; you have to ditch the car. No joke! I recently ran across a trinket that may not necessarily be automotive-related, except that it has a pair of wheels and uses the human body as the motor. This is the HipStar.

If the name and product don't sound familiar, it's because this crew just recently completed its crowdfunding round on Indiegogo. Nonetheless, because this cargo trailer ditches our vehicles and uses the human body as a mule, I thought it might be a nice treat to show you one direction our society may be headed: true eco-friendly goodness.

The idea is simple: to offer a travel trailer that can carry your off-road gear to that last leg of your adventure, helping you reach the places our cars can't. Oh, it's also a sort of redesign on the classic hiking backpacks we're used to, as it takes all the weight off of the spinal column and uses the body's inertia to move. Of course, lugging a wheeled cart up rocky hills and tight spaces is challenging, so HipStar can also be adapted to work as a backpack.

HipStar Cargo Carrier \(Action\)
Photo: HipStar
Part two of the story is the harness you see around each model's waist. Typically, carts like these are maneuvered using those handles you see on the sides, much like a wheelbarrow; this one can do that too. What makes the HipStar so dang special is that very harness you see around the owner's waists.

Maybe you've had the imagination to visualize precisely what this sort of setup can do for you; perhaps you haven't. Nonetheless, I want you to imagine that you've just arrived at basecamp for the trip you planned for your extended weekend. Since you were aware that your car could go no further, you prepared with this trinket.

You and your spouse assemble your HipStar and unload your truck, throwing on a tent and sleeping bags. You tack on food, water, and even a portable galley. Do you have gear that works with solar power? There's a place for that too. According to New Atlas, this cargo trailer has varying sizes, each with its own cargo limit, but the peak you can carry seems to be 100 lbs (45.4 kg).

HipStar Cargo Carrier \(Action\)
Photo: HipStar
Finally, I want to point out that this project raised over $75,000 with just 201 backers. Why is that? Well, diving deeper into the design, I discovered the whole hands-free mechanism of the HipStar has applications in various industries. From touring and hiking to carrying gear while on hunting trips, even military applications can be explored with this trinket.

At the end of the day, what you do with this bugger is your choice. Personally, I'd throw on a few bags of sand and find a nice slope to exercise on. With a price of $340 (€330 at current exchange rates) for the smallest HipStar, it's worth checking out.

If you ever wondered what sort of eco-friendly machinery we could be looking forward to in the future, this is one of them; placing the human at the center of it all. After all, we've all seen The Matrix; the human seems to be the perfect battery, in this case, the motor.

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About the author: Cristian Curmei
Cristian Curmei profile photo

A bit of a nomad at heart (being born in Europe and raised in several places in the USA), Cristian is enamored with travel trailers, campers and bikes. He also tests and writes about urban means of transportation like scooters, mopeds and e-bikes (when he's not busy hosting our video stories and guides).
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