Pedal-Powered Computer

The One Laptop Per Child project (OLPC) hopes to distribute a simple but useful laptop computer to impoverished children in developing nations at a very low cost per unit. One recurring problem in the project has been power supply. So the Afghan IT company Paiwastoon has developed this prototype pedalling machine that allows the user to crank electricity into the computer.

Link, Via: CrunchGear | Paiwastoon, Via: Neatorama

Steam Boat Willy :: Human Powered Hovercraft

Pedal powered hovercraft SBW on Thames. LINK: Youtube

The Shweeb — A Human-Powered Monorail

The Schweeb is an experimental transit system in New Zealand that combines the bicycle and a monorail track. Users lie down individual pods and work the pedals to move forward: LINK, Via: Youtube

Across the Atlantic in a Human-Powered Submarine

Inventor and entrepreneur Ted Ciamillo is planning to paddle across the Atlantic Ocean later this year in a one-man submarine he designed.

The sub will use a pedal-powered propulsion system based on a dolphin’s tail. (It’s already available in a swim-fin model that can propel swimmers fast enough to nearly leap out of the water like a whale.)

If he succeeds in making the 2,300-mile trip from Cape Verde to the Caribbean, Ciamillo may also help open a new window in marine science:

Link - Via: Juliansmith, Via: Neatorama

Human-Powered Ferris Wheel

No motor? No problem! In India, this ferris wheel is powered by men climbing up and using their body weight to rotate the wheel.

I guess you’d want to try this ride early, since the operators must be exhausted at the end of the day! LINK, Via: Youtube