Treadle Pump Workshop 2009
University of Michigan BLUELab Guatemala Team Starting fall 2008 a group of dedicated, energetic and really bright students from the University of Michigan BLUELab accepted a challenge from the Appropriate Technology Collaborative (ATC). To design a treadle pump using only materials that might be found in Tanzania or another mostly rural African or SE Asian [...]
Open Source Treadle Pump
Treadle Pump Prototype A team of students from the University of Michigan BLUELab produced their first prototype of a treadle pump in Quetzaltenango, Guatemala last week. There are currently many treadle pumps patented and manufactured by NGOs, but the BLUELab pump is unique in that all the drawings and specifications are available online for free. [...]
Posting From Guatemala
We arrived in Guatemala Sat. Feb 21st. The University of Michigan BLUELab team was held up in Miami overnight so we arranged to pick them up directly from the Guatemala City Airport on Sunday and head directly to Quetzaltenango (Xela, pronounced Shay-la, to the locals). The BLUELab has designed a very efficient and low cost [...]
John Barrie
John Barrie is the Executive Director of the Appropriate Technology Collaborative, a Nonprofit company whose purpose is “To design, develop, demonstrate and distribute appropriate technological solutions for meeting the basic human needs of low income people in the developing world”. In addition to his design work, John Barrie has been an Adjunct Professor of Architecture [...]
Appropriate Technology Collaborative at Appropriate Technology Fair
Our LED lamps on display The Appropriate Technology Collaborative recently had some of our products featured at an appropriate technology fair at the University of Michigan’s North Campus. It was great to see so many engineering students engaged in developing technological solutions to improve the lives of people in the developing world.
Low Cost Paper House for Slum Dwellers
A model of the prefabricated paper house Designers at Bauhaus University have developed a low cost paper house that could be used to provide housing for slum dwellers. From the article in Spiegel: Niemöller is a co-founder of the Swiss company The Wall AG, which holds the patent for material used in the construction of [...]
Donate a Laptop, Save the World
ATC needs your laptops The Appropriate Technology Collaborative is planning a trip to visit our project partners in Guatemala in February. We would like to bring some gently used, working laptops to a school we will be visiting. If you live in South East Michigan and would like to make a tax deductible laptop donation, [...]
LED Light Update
One of our prototype LED lamps Over the holidays we received our shipment of LED’s and resistors and have been soldering up a storm. We’ve cobbled together a few prototype lamps that are going to be on display at the Developing Nations, Developing Technologies show on North Campus next week. We’ve also sent off some [...]
Neonatal Incubator Made From Scrapped Car Parts
The incubator is heated with headlights Preterm babies often have difficulty regulating their temperature. This can lead to organ failure. Neonatal incubators are an important tool for reducing infant mortality. Unfortunately for developing nations, modern incubators cost $40,000 and up. They also tend to have very short life spans in the developing countries where power [...]
Solar Powered, Internet Enabled Classroom for Tanzanian Classrooms
The Linux desktop allows for up to 8 users reducing the systems total power usage Just got back from MSU’s Design Days, where College of Engineering students present their semester projects. There were a lot of great student projects, including a solar powered vaccine refrigeration system sponsored by ATC. There were also some other great [...]
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