The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2025
Strutt's ev1 wheelchair hides automotive tech in a graceful shell — Red Dot Luminary 2025
Singapore's Strutt wins Red Dot's one-per-year Luminary 2025 with an electric wheelchair that looks and drives like premium personal transport.
Strutt
What it had to solve
Strutt, a Singapore mobility-robotics startup, set out to serve a rapidly aging society in which wheelchairs still read as hospital equipment; the product had to clear real urban barriers (kerbs, crowds, charging) and be something users would want to be seen using.
How it works
Most wheelchairs are designed around a clinical brief: durable, functional, and visibly a medical device. Strutt, a Singapore mobility-robotics company, treated that assumption itself as the design problem. Its ev1 is a compact electric wheelchair that the company deliberately calls a 'smart personal transport' and presents with the design language of a premium consumer product.
Under the graceful shell sits technology that has never been standard on personal mobility devices: advanced sensing, autonomous navigation and intelligent drive-assist, bundled into a smart Co-Pilot system with a rugged Smart-Wheel and a high-capacity LFP battery. The aim was to give users environmental awareness so they could negotiate kerbs, crowds and complex urban routes with confidence — and to make the chair something people were proud to use, not embarrassed to be seen in.
The concept jury agreed. The ev1 won Red Dot: Best of the Best and then Red Dot: Luminary 2025, the top honour of the Red Dot Award: Design Concept, given to just one project per year and presented on stage by Professor Dr. Peter Zec. Strutt followed the award with a production ramp-up at JTC's Bulim Square in Singapore — targeting 1,000 units a month — a retail partnership with MOBOT, user workshops attended by former Paralympian Theresa Goh, and a planned CES 2026 launch.
Why it lands
- It attacks stigma at the identity level: the wheelchair is reframed as desirable personal transport, not assistive equipment.
- It brings automotive-grade sensing, autonomy and drive-assist into personal mobility for the first time, addressing practical barriers rather than just aesthetics.
- The design-first approach earned the industry's highest concept honour, which then opened production space, retail and market-entry doors.
- It aligns product ambition with a real demographic shift — Singapore projects 25% of its population will be seniors by 2030.
What it did
Red Dot: Luminary 2025 — the only award of its kind given globally that year, selected from thousands of entries — plus Red Dot: Best of the Best. The win helped Strutt secure Singapore production, a MOBOT retail partnership, user testing with a former Paralympian, and a CES 2026 debut.
What you can take
To de-stigmatize a category, change the object's identity rather than just its specs: folding automotive technology into a wheelchair changes who wants to be seen using it.
Since then
After the Red Dot wins, Strutt announced dual international recognition plus production at JTC's Bulim Square facility in Jurong Innovation District, with a target of 1,000 units per month once operational. The company partnered with MOBOT, Singapore's largest personal mobility device retailer, ran user-testing workshops with notable community figures, and confirmed participation in CES 2026 as its global market entry step. Backed by Matter Venture Partners and Vertex Ventures, Strutt positions the ev1 as the first of a line of intelligent mobility products rather than a single award concept.
Sources
- Strutt ev¹ is the winner of Red Dot: Luminary 2025
- Strutt Redefines Next-Gen Mobility by Winning Top Global Design Honor and Establishes Singapore Production
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