Hi. This is Curt from the Publication Team
at MIT OpenCourseWare.
I'd like to show you a class called SP.722
D-Lab: Design. It's one of several classes
we've published from MIT's D-Lab program,
where students get to develop solutions for
some very fundamental human needs like clean
water, healthy food, health care, and earning
a living. Using "low-tech" materials â€“
like bicycle parts and 2-liter soda bottles
â€“ the students experience the challenges
and benefits of making technology radically
affordable, easy to manufacture, and sustainable.
I worked with instructor Amy Smith on this
class. Sheâ€™s the founder of the D-Lab
program.
The class is a mix of classroom instruction
and hands-on project work. Here we see the
final prototype for one project, a pedal-powered
washing machine.
Overall, five project teams worked with community
partners in Brazil, Guatemala Lesotho, and
Zambia, and mentors around MIT. The Assignments
page shows how they got it all done in just
13 weeks: from a problem statement, throug
stakeholder analysis, design specifications,
a spring break visit to the partner country,
design reviews with panels of experts, and
finally building the prototype.
Here we've posted milestone materials from
each team, especially videos of the review
panels, to illustrate the D-Lab design process.
Let's look at the washing machine project.
In developing countries, millions of people
have to wash clothes by hand. It's a chore
that can take an entire day, and definitely
takes a lot of energy. It's an example of
how uncompensated labor limits opportunities
for educational and economic development,
especially for women.
Bicycle technology, being relatively low cost,
and good for local manufacture and maintenance,
might help. So, working with two bicycle-based
NGOs - Maya Pedal in Guatemala and Bikes Not
Bombs in Boston â€“ these three students
designed and built a prototype pedal-powered
washing machine.
And after the term ended, they returned to
Guatemala for more testing and refinements.
In addition to the pleasure of building truly
useful stuff, students attended twice-weekly
lectures on development, design, and case
studies. I took notes in many classes, plus
photos of in-class activites. They're all
posted here.
For instance, here are some notes for a hands-on
lab on water testing, complete with photos.
The water testing kit is built with a baby
bottle and is another example of the D-Lab
approach.
By the way, OCWâ€™s site for D-Lab: Design
can be downloaded for use offline. The link
and instructions are right here.
You can explore more courses like this one
at ocw.mit.edu, or get email updates from
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