Pedaled-powered laptops for school children in Afghanistan.
We've always been a fan of the OLPC initiative. It's hard not to like an organisation that works so hard to help educate children in developing countries but what we like most are the innovative solutions the OLPC team comes up with when faced with problems.
This week OLP Afghanistan, which has been running for about a year, announced a few technical developments, one being a prototype for a pedal-powered version of XO laptop. Previously, machines deployed in areas where power is an issue have been charged via a hand-crank. However, OLPC Afghanistan has taken the Freeplay hand crank and connected it to the feet, which can more easily provide power. OLPC says doing so should make it much easier to deploy the laptop to countryside / rural areas.
Check out the video below.
For more on what OLPC Afghanistan is up to, check out the rest of the blog post by clicking here.
I assume you meant "Been a fan"
Anyhoo.
Good idea. I can also see that as a helpful tool for overweight kids in industrialized nations.
I assume you meant "Been a fan"
Anyhoo.
Good idea. I can also see that as a helpful tool for overweight kids in industrialized nations.
It would be better (damn posted before me), if this was used to power huge battery that would store the power till its needed, such as when areas such as afghanistan, where having power 24/7 is a known problem, can just easily connect their electric devices to this battery, during a power outage.
Ofc the alternative is a generator.
I don't think you'll have to pedal too much, The XOs don't have significant power consumption.
+1. Haha..I could imagine this tech being implemented on today's high end notebooks. Buy a Core i 920XM with Sli GTX 280M + 640 GB x 2 in RAID 0, and a huge 12 cell battery, excellent for two hours of juice and a pedal system for recharging.
In less than a week, no magic fat-to-thin-in-less-than-a-week pill or some strange utopian natural herb is going to match the exercise you'll be doing on this aerobic desktop replacement.
Australia is now ranked above the U.S. in obesity.
In a couple of years we'll have American's become the most muscular people in the world, when it comes to legs at least