Out of Gas! - Urban Green Transportation by RISD and Brown

12 weeks+ 12 engineers + 12 industrial designers (or 15 but whose counting)+ 1 big problem = an opportunity for change and a chance to save the world!

The problem: rising energy costs, greenhouse gases out of control, growing populations and unmet demands for mobility combined with a lack of response from the design and engineering communities to the needs of the other 90%. In many areas of the world, the transportation needs of local populations are currently inadequately met. Many lack any vehicle, traveling great distances to sell goods or obtain needed supplies on foot or with a precariously loaded standard bicycle. Others use polluting and geographically incongruous vehicles such as motor scooters and cars. What is needed are alternatives - perhaps something like a locally sourced bio-diesel powered vehicle that is smaller and cheaper but has many of the capabilities of a car with the footprint of a motorcycle. We will work together in small teams to leverage the skills of RISD and Brown students to design, engineer, and build a road worthy bio diesel test vehicle capable of carrying three of us between RISD and Brown. (that's up the hill). We'll have the opportunity to use Brown's Prince Engineering lab's equipment such as RP, CNC, and EDM machines to develop and test our ideas. This studio will challenge us to transform user needs into real solutions, incorporate engineering analysis into design decisions, and synthesize solutions to problems with complex constraints. This is an opportunity to undertake the hard work of collaborating across disciplines---a necessary skill for real world solutions and to demonstrate to the larger community the viability of these solutions We've been invited to present initial concepts at the world famous AltWheels Alternative Transportation Festival in Boston at the end of September!