EC.720/2.722J D-Lab: Design
D-Lab: Design addresses problems faced by underserved communities with a focus on design, experimentation, and prototyping processes. Particular attention is placed on constraints faced when designing for developing countries. Multidisciplinary teams work on semester-long projects in collaboration with community partners, field practitioners, and experts in relevant fields. Topics covered include design for affordability, design for manufacture, sustainability, and strategies for working effectively with community partners and customers. Students may continue projects begun in D-Lab Development (SP.721)
Course Information
| Instructors: | Jesse Austin-Breneman, Nathan Cooke, Gwyn Jones |
| Semester Offered: | Spring (Offered since 2003) |
| Lecture Location: | E34-230 |
| Lecture Times: | MW3:30-5 |
| Units (credit hours) | 3-0-9 |
| Class Size: | 30 students |
| Grading: | A/B/C/D/F |
Recent Projects
| 2013 | Braille Typewriter | A Braille typewriter for children in Vellore, India, to help them gain skills that lead to jobs |
| Brazil | A water level reader for residents in Dois Palitos, Brazil, to keep them out of harms way | |
| Food Grinder | A food grinder to aid a biogas digester at a school in El Salvador | |
| Plastic Compactor | A waste compactor for women in a co-op in Nicaragua to help them gain independence | |
| Team Emmanuela | A one-handed washing machine to assist a young amputee in Ghana | |
| 2012 | Bicycle Centrifuge | Working with a community partner in Nigeria to improve an off grid centrifuge design for medical applications |
| Coir Spinning | Design a device to allow women in Assam to spin coconut fibers into rope | |
| Crayon Manufacturing | A device to aid low scale manufacturing of natural dye crayons for Avani, in Uttarakhand, India | |
| Multi-Crop Thresher | A low-cost device with the ability to thresh multiple crops in Ethiopia | |
| Narrow Rickshaw | Designed to help Rickshaw Wallas in Dhaka, Bangladesh keep their jobs and maintain livelihood | |
| 2011 | Flour Power | Affordable in-home human powered grain mills to finely grind flour in East Africa |
| Hairzingers | Simple tool to facilitate the beading process for women working in co-operatives in China | |
| Moringa Sheller | A device that shells moringa seeds, a high value crop with income generating potential in Ghana | |
| Rickshaw Lighting | Low cost, pedal-powered lighting for the Rickshaw Bank in Assam, India | |
| Straw Chopper | Chopping straw to use as a substrate for growing mushrooms growers and supplement income in Assam, India | |
| Toilet Seat | Improved design for locally manufacturable urine separating toilet seats in Ghana | |
| 2010 | Bamboo Pencil Maker | Process for easy manufacturing of bamboo pencils that are comparable to pencils made from wood. |
| Chlorine Generation | Using locally run electrolysis for a do-it-yourself approach to chlorine generation | |
| Plastic Bottle Recycling | Device that granulates and cleans used plastic bottles into reusable flakes | |
| Portable Bicilavadora | Pedal-powered washing machine that easily transports from house to house. | |
| Spiral Pine Needle Cookstove | Cookstove for burning pine needles as an alternative fuel source in India | |
| Vegetable Cutter | Mechanized device for dicing large volumes of potatoes for an orphanage in Peru. | |
| 2009 | Cell Phone Enabled Baby Scale | Integrated solution for for tracking infant health parameters in General Practicioner clinics in Pakistan |
| Chlorine Dispenser | Point-of-collection chlorine dispenser for rural communal water sources in western Kenya | |
| Hydropower Lantern | Self-powered portable hydro-powered lantern for the Peruvian highlands | |
| Plastic Bag Recycling | A simple device to turn waste plastic bags into plastic yarn | |
| Soil Block Maker | Utilization of vibration for the compression of soil and cement into bricks | |
| Solar Water Heater | Affordable solar water heater for high altitude deserts | |
| 2008 | Bamboo Pencil Maker | Device for cutting and slotting bamboo pencil shafts |
| Integrated Food Vendor Cart | Multi-system mobile food cart for Indian street vendors | |
| Mobile Maize Sheller | Bicycle-based system for on-farm shelling of corn | |
| Mobile Stove Monitoring Kit | (MOSMO) Portable cookstove emissions test kit designer for field applications | |
| Peanut Oil Press | Portable, pedal-powered peanut oil expeller | |
| Portable Solar Cooker | Portable solar parabolic concentrator designed with nomadic peoples of the high-altitude regions of central Tibet | |
| Soy Milk Maker | Device for mechanizing the production of large volumes of soymilk for an orphanage in Peru |