Got a bike? It’s probably nothing like the pedal-powered vehicles brought to Bozeman, Montana a week and half ago for HPVC West, a design competition sponsored by ASME (the American Society of Mechanical Engineers). Student teams from nineteen university engineering departments showed up at Montana State University to display their human-powered prototypes… and, of course, to race them.
A group shows their literacy certificates.
Before Buckminster “Bucky” Fuller was known the world over for his feats of engineering – most famously for his geodesic domes – he was, at 32, bankrupt and suicidal after the failure of his first business venture and the premature death of his young daughter. But instead of languishing, Fuller decided to embark upon “an experiment to find out what a single individual [could] contribute to changing the world and benefiting humanity.” That was nearly 90 years ago, and The Buckminster Fuller Challenge continues to celebrate Fuller’s pioneering spirit, enthusiasm and ingenuity with their annual $100,000 prize.
A 1974 Volkswagen Super Beetle is probably not your idea of a dream car. At 25 mpg, it’s probably also not your idea of a green car. But a group of mechanical engineering students at the University of Kansas have completed a year-long project aimed at making a Bug much more eco-friendly… with an eventual goal of creating a 500 mpg vehicle.