And who says the greenies don't want to push us back beyond the industrial era? Naw.They wouldn't want that,would they? Talk about hypocrisy.Is the green beyatch from MIT staying to pedal it every day?

This machine looks like the one used on Gilligan's Island. If the students and faculty at MIT watch the remaining "Gilligan's Island" reruns and then the "Flintstones" what a wonderful green world they can invent.

I take it David Suzuki will be buying a new washing machine. Don't be keeping the lid open though, you will lose a hand. Could this thing pass a CSA standards test.

Pre industrial revolution living along with 45 year life spans. A greenie's hope for the future.

MIT project hey? WOWZER! Look out world!

And once again, I'm ashamed to be university educated. Dont MIT students have better things to do with their time than trying to bring us back to the flintstones?

Where's the NASA filter that allows them to use the effluent for drinking water? Sheesh.

I will wait for MIT to come up with either the Water Wheel or the Wind Mill version.

I think that Kate hit the nail on the head... it would be kid's or women working these machines; while the guys clean their AK47's

The kids would do much better having the chance to be kids..."give them a soccer ball.."

Didn't I see one of these in that Harrison Ford movie where he goes nuts and drags his family off the South America? Makes ice in the jungle or something?

Have these big brained MIT types never been to an agricultural museum? If they had, they'd have put a dog treadmill on there instead of a bicycle.

Oh I forgot, owning a dog is SLAVERY. Sorry, my bad.

Aw, c'mon folks. This greenie version of Utopia might actually work. It will surely come in handy after their brave new world has thrown most of the population out of work and driven them back to subsistence living. After all this thing has very little in the way of technological innovation unlike their bio-fuels farce and , it now appears, their oh so wonderful enrgy saving light bulbs which seem to do little except make people ill. David Suzuki will have to go back to screwing the taxpayer rather than screwing in bulbs.

I believe my grandmother used a washboard. Not as complicated as this contraption, maybe a little easier to use as well.

Does the bike shop (down the road?)make house calls for repairs?

Just look at the faces, lol the only grinning one is the western looking lady. So pleased with this result and it only took four years! Money well spent no doubt.
The kids faces say it all...yeah right, we boys are just living to have cleaner clothes to please the grinning western ladies.

Why take the wheels off?...add a tv antena and you've got the matching dryer.

To go to MIT engineering school is (or was) the wet dream of any geek.
Scratch that item from the list.

I used to have an old magazine that showed American ingenuity in the South Pacific, 1944. Under the threat of air raids and the reality of sniper fire, they had built a washing machine for the troops out of scrapped Japanese airplane parts. Didn't take four years, either. The illustrated MIT/Peruvian faux pas could be easily used to argue that women have no place in engineering.

The way the economy is going, I'd be more concerned that WE are going to need the damn things. Anyone remember how to use borax to wash clothes?

Elitist fools.

The locals look delighted.

Rather than hook it up as a washing machine, hook it up to a generator to power an X-Box/TV/Computer - No pedal, no play. Such a device would solve a lot of childhood obesity issues... I wouldn't do it in the 3ed world - they've got stuff to do, like finding enough food to eat; in the 1st world though, we got enough fat kids who spend their time on the couch round here that it makes sense.

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This is what happens when socialist universities try to produce engineering students.

Peru has gold, we have advanced washing machines that run on electricity. Why not develop electricity in Peru while they mine some of their gold, then we can sell them some really good washing machines so the kids can go play soccer or cut cocoa leaves or whatever they normally do.

Socialist trained engineers should stick to hanging Volkswagen's from bridges while drinking a lot of beer.

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Based on the youtube video. FAIL! No lockouts on the loading door. Who cares about health and safety....

Hey, from the standpoint of the people that are getting these, they're a step UP from crouching in freezing water beating dirty clothes against rocks. Is it a fancy new washer/dryer combo? No, but it's certainly a heck of a lot better than what they had previously. besides, most animals have enough sense to stop walking on a treadmill after a short time.

Soon as they get the pictures and go we'll hook it up to a generator and a flat screen.

I thought "The Professor" on Gilligan's Island invented this.

Fictional TV sitcom Character, MIT Grad do-gooder... Tomatoe, Tomato.

If MIT is building such garbage, no wonder the USA auto industry is in dire straits. What next? Bicycles with a wash and wear feature!

Hey wait a second you naysayers - there's money in this. I'm taking out a patent - something slightly different (no MIT infringement...).

I'll sell them to spas and gyms - get rid of the lifecycles. You can pump away listening to your ipod and get your laundry done at the same time. I'm amazed no one thot of this before...

And Phantom, ixnay on the dog treadmills ok? - cruelty to animals.

This "new" University invention was the result of 'research' !! heh

The Professors cannot just say 'search it again' - hence, they use the term 'research'. Sounds better.

Subsequent University "work" will just research the research. When there, I called it "(re) to the nth degree search".

A Center For Higher Learning ? More like; Centers for Tenure.

Great idea. It's running on the Bi-cycle. Get it?

Rather than hook it up as a washing machine, hook it up to a generator to power an X-Box/TV/Computer - No pedal, no play. Such a device would solve a lot of childhood obesity issues... I wouldn't do it in the 3ed world - they've got stuff to do, like finding enough food to eat; in the 1st world though, we got enough fat kids who spend their time on the couch round here that it makes sense.

some parents have already tried that, oddly enough the socialists haven't declared this sort of thing cruel & unusual ... yet

Too bad all of the parts they used required high-tech, fossil fuel sucking energy to create.

At least the professor on Gilligan's Island knew how to make things from bamboo, bound together with dried fish guts and seaweed.

I wonder if I can file a patent on the coconut-bikini I've been dreaming up. Hmmm...

Nah... I'm just one of those high-school educated oafs... what do I know?

I'll just down and keep my mouth shut.

The world is better left to be run by our academics.

So says Angry Lesbian Feminist, Ph. D., and her husband, Thomas the Turkey Baster, B.S(c).. You dumb farmers and your eight successful, law-abiding off-spring know noootttthhhing about raising children that A.L. Feminist, Ph D., doesn't know better.

How's that affirmative action/Title IX'ing goin' for you, MIT?

No wonder boys are bailing on school if this is the crap they can look forward to creating.

OMG 4 years!

BTW did anyone see the motorized picnic table built at SIAST in S'toon. Complete with BBQ, beer keg and a Riders flag. I believe that they've had it out at a Riders home game.

Personally I'd like to see this environmental nightmare patented and sold to the public. Utopia for me would be a world where I can drive my picnic table to the store for some beer and more hotdogs. For those concerned about safety, I’m sure one of those hardhats with beer holders and straws would work for me.

I wonder if the locals would be more in favor of 'Living Better Electrically' ??

But Mo & Dave say no-dice.

Hahaha! Look at those losers...they don't have electricity. Get 'em a generator and a flat screen TV.

Come on, SDA wankers, what other ways can you mock the poor and those that try to help them? Jesus is so proud of you.

Yeah, what a self-congratulatory waste of time. It would have been much better for the lot of them to get part-time jobs serving Big Macs and donate some of their money to a big time International Aid Agency.

Jack

Hardly uli. We're mocking the self-righteous snots like you who want to keep them from having electricity at all which is why your lot of grubby neo-colonialists go around inventing useless rubbish like this or the 'treadle pump'. For a bunch of supposedly enlightened lefties who talk up the dignity of mankind and the environment, you seem awfully in love with things that resemble slave labour.

Funny how idiots like you ignore the corporate economic policies forced on these people, ones which keep them so poor that even if they had electricity, they couldn't afford it.

Besides, why would the poor want clean clothes?

ulinob: Dear Ms.nob, if these orphans were living in your communist paradise they would obviously be put up for sale to the capitalist societies ala communist China infant diaspora.

Take a look at those kids clothes, do they look like they need something to replace their existing washing machine?

Another example of a make-work project designed to provide middle class student with a subsidized trip abroad.

Funding to universities needs a serious haircut.

sda mocks the latte-liberals who's "green" policies keep Third World countries in the dark. sda does NOT mock the poor.

Latte liberals believe in a world order that allows Elites to rule the unwashed - including the middle class.

Of course the media also sees no irony in Multi $Millionaire$ - Paul Martin, Iffy, Maurice Strong, David Suzuki, Al Gore, James Hansen et al - imposing a fraud on the lower class while attempting to tax the shi* out of the middle class.

The Elite ride around the world in private jets to attend photo-ops of "green" projects that keep the poor poor.

Something like former PM Paul Martin flying to the other side of the world for a photo-op of Tsunami aide - that never did arrived.

Ms.nob if you would observe the cleanliness and good repair of the children in the photo you would see that your invocation of Jesus is probably done several times per day by the hard working Roman Catholic nuns running this orphanage.

Of course, Ulianov, one could point out that the "monopoly capitalism" of which you complain is essentially the same as the "communism" which you adore.

Don't worry, I don't expect you to get it. I suspect you were university educated, so it's only fair to treat the cerebrally-challenged like you with kid gloves.

Now go outside at play. But not in the street! A Lada might run you over.

Yes, the "latte-liberals" are setting the economic policies of the world. The IMF, the WTO, the Bildeburgers, etc. have no say whatsoever.

uuess:

Why would we want to make life easier for those hard working nuns? Give your head a shake.

That such vacuous, condescending, disingenuous and blindly idiotic pretense to actual thought should have vomited forth such design is a scathing indictment on our ability to teach the fundamental concepts of engineering design.

Do they not know agitation should be gentle? That water is a solvent and dirt takes time to dissolve? (Bad boy! Detergent is a chemical!! Just peddle faster!!!). And a “spin cycle”? Aargh! Cretins! Can they do no better than plagiarize a brute force design, that trades off energy for time, and use it as a hammer to kill the freakin’ mosquito? Use a wringer, you imbecilic fools!

And not even a fraudulent attempt at a lifecycle analysis...

Where have we gone wrong?

Why, yes...I do happen to be marking midterms right now. Why do you ask?)

ulianob: Dear Ms. nob, do you think that this orphanage does not have electricity or industrial washing machines? The true market for these Bealza-bubba machines is the campuses of the finer insulated institutes of higher learning everywhere.

There is even a convenient little spigot to put the soap in!

Soap...what a minute...soap....DOH!

Sorry guys, we'll be back with some soap in another 4 years.

More water to haul in those big jars on their heads, but now you can't use the bike.

4 years to rig a sprocket to a barrel.

MIT is in trouble

in true ulianob fashion, they should be poor enough not to have clothes.

Uli Assuming the young individuals involved each donated one year of tuition at MIT those nice nuns would have local villagers being paid to do the laundry. They could spend that and maybe look after their kids. Cut waste..win/win and nobody pedals.

Only a silly Western socialist would think that this was the wave of the future. Maybe she should wash the piles of clothes this way all day.

Hey ulianov, can you say "dog treadmill"? Say it with me now... These poor people do have dogs, y'know.

BTW, did you mention Bildebergers? You're a friggin' satire of yourself these days.

I made a concrete mixer similar to this over one weekend last summer. wow, I guess I should have gone to MIT and taken 4 years instead.

Do I detect a nasty whiff of elitism here? Either none of you have ever worked in the third world or else you're just too full of ... (yourselves) ... to recognize a good idea.

These folks have come up with a practical and very cheap alternative to taking the laundry to a creek, laying it on a rock and beating the crap out of it with a stick.

Sure, it would be nice to electrify ever village on earth and raise local living standards to the point where families can buy washing machines. That's not going to happen for decades, and if the global warmists win their battle to deindustrialize the world, it's not going to happen - ever.

Don't forget, in your smart-assery, that less than 60 years ago, most washing machines in rural Saskatchewan were woman-powered through hand levers driving a slow gear system. Less "advanced" folks still used washboards and inventive people had washing machines outdoors (not practical in the winter however!) or in a well-ventilated shed, powered by stationary gasoline engines.

Four years to develop!! This looks more like a high school grade nine technology, or science fair project. So much for the value of higher education

phatom writes:

Can you say "dog treadmill"?

Hahaha. Thanks for giving us a little glimpse into how your mind works. It appears that you know all about satire.

Water is 10lbs per Can. gal. (US gal is a bit smaller though)
Add wet clothes and heh, you'll need three men and a small boy just to do one load, now the rinse, then the spin, next three days bedding and towels, smile everyone, we've done you a favor!
Seriously, better these MIT social elites be there than dealing with real technical stuff in the adult world.

My mother in law came from China 55 years ago. She worked full time and raised three kids and still does all the laundry by hand.
"Machine no good,... wreck the clothes"
She actually has a perfectly functioning new machine in the basement and a dryer.
One of her first jobs here was doing other peoples laundry in the traditional Chinese laundry (ancient Chinese secret, eh Mr Chan)) her uncle set up when he immigrated.

I would be amazed if she could ride that bike/washing machine for 30 seconds.
Where are all the women that actually, you know, do, the laundry at that orphanage?
Laughing their asses off, just like us, I'm sure.

Zog

Any of those folks in the picture could have come up with that design had necessity or demand required it. IMO it patronizing at best.

I doubt you'll find anyone here who is against students designing things that are efficient, cheap and clean, especially if it will help those who are less fortunate, but this washing machine is a joke.

BTW why aren’t leftards screaming that “ We have no right to expose people in other countries to our lifestyle”. Leftards get pissed when BK feeds a few Tibetan’s a few burgers, or when an actress whips out her tit to feed a hungry baby. Clearly this washing machine is an insult to South American culture.

Zog. Dude. Two words, "agricultural" "museum".

Which contain, to my certain knowledge, multiple examples of this very machine in question. Some run by dogs, some by ponies, some by humans. Also all manner of human, animal, wind and water powered hay rakes, binders, threshers, lifting, hauling and moving machines, mills, forges, bellows, and etc. etc. et bloody cetera.

Then there are the multitude of steam engines, distilate engines, oil pulls, all manner of things that go puff puff and turn a big frickin' flywheel.

All of which being already invented, patented, manufactured, sold, re-sold, and finally resting in museums all over the Western world. Available, free to anyone with a measuring tape and even half a frickin' brain to copy what somebody else already did.

There are also books.

I -am- an elitist. I think that is somebody gets in to an engineering school like MIT, they should damn well produce elite work. Which this is most certainly not. What this is, is plagiarism camouflaged in a thick coating of Massachusetts liberal white guilt.

ulianov, speaking of minds working:

What's your estimate for how long that kid is going to last pedaling that thing in that position? How's the ergonomics there? Great, good, or could be better? How does it compare to a scrub board and a tub of hot water for cost and efficiency? Can anybody make one? Without a welder? Is four years a reasonable length of time for the development of a machine like that?

I await your analysis. No doubt I'll be awaiting awhile.

I wouldnt mind one for the lake!!!

The Phantom, s/he's likely still stunned that water weights that much.
Might be searching (or editing! lol) wiki to disprove this and to the person stating that "crouching down in freezing water to wash clothes" or something to that effect...well IMHO, only cold ground water is in the more northern and I would assume southern hemispheres.
The ground water where this happy event is located would not be 'freezing' nor very cold at all.
Best to get those solar bags, to fill with water to heat up in the sun and soak dirty clothes with that water.
Positioned right one can actually have a hot shower, directly from the bag.

and Uli-what ever, you take your days clothing, one towel, (assuming you clean daily) you may be of European originas so I'll eliminate the face cloth for ya, one bed sheet (based on what likely they'd have and a pillow case - get them soaking wet then weight them,
Get back to us k?
Don't forget for that contraption to work the clothes have to flow, add more water please, otherwise it's be like moving wet cement.

Phantom, ldd - give up. We obviously cannot get the point across to enginering students. To then think that we can teach trolls...

But ... but ... but.... that kid is producing extra CO2 while pedalling that hard.

Climate criminal! Off with his CO2 ration!!

4 years to figure out how to ruin a perfectly function and useful bicycle and make something of questionable functionality and usefulness?

Would have been better to make something towed behind the bicycle, then have a secondary PTO from the bike to do the laundry near the source of water, the air dry on the ride home. (that only took me about 30 seconds to figure out). I am sure a resourceful third world welder could figures something out that is even more useful.

NOW do you clepto-commie faux caring individuals understand the disdain?

PS, and why is not the woman doing the laundry? (don't hit me please)
PPS and that bike position will ruin the kids knees in time.

Human Powered wash machines. Google search 272,000 hits. Four years of research. Homeless Dave has #1.

Frankly, that whole photo just says "Eco-paternalism" to me.

The Gaia worshipping, middle-class suburbanite, university educated fruit loop in green, shows how poor people can not only remain poor, but, work hard at it for her moral delight, on a 3 month vacation organized by some tranzy NGO.

Does my tirade indicate a puke factor??

An economical and efficient washing machine from General Electric would have done much more for these people.

Next, MIT eco-students will come up with tread-mills to power electricity generators so they can have green electricity.

After all this thing has very little in the way of technological innovation

I disagree, Powell Lucas at March 5, 2009 11:14 AM, this isn't low tech. It demands rotary bearings; steel production; bicycle and drum fabrication and lubrication oil.

My mother used a washboard; she was very happy and relieved when, finally, we could afford a washing machine.

Hi Honey, what did you do today,I suppose you sat around reading novels all day. Smack, thud.

or Wow Honey that thing is really toning you up, Here I'll get you some more clothes to wash, fancy a bit of romance later, smack, smack thud.

mike

Well RW they've emasculated the western males now onto the next frontier!

As uues pointed out, this person went to MIT and the best they can come up with is something obviously copied from Gilligan's Island -- except The Professor would have made it from "eco-friendly" bamboo and old coconut shells.

hey. 46 years ago today the hulahoop was patented.Maybe this will be patented by MIT?

actually,in central america, if the poor have electricity, it's delivered by extension cord laying on the ground, so walk carefully when it rains:-))))

so with NO electric pump at the well, which is centralized, you drag the "washing" machine to the well, problemo is you have to dump the damn thing, and that "clean" washer water will leak back into the well and flavour the drinking water, these MIT'rs didn't do their home work before their brilliance shone on their own pee brains

I note the trolls have fled for the baseboards.

See Tenebris? Its not education per se, its more Pavlovian conditioning. Yank out the cluebat and they run.

Did you catch the video with the MIT girlie pedaling that thing? Not easy!

And speaking of cluebats and hitting, that chick's instructors at MIT are here:

http://d-lab.mit.edu/development

They need some major cluebat smacking too. Wash the cloths for a whole g.d. orphanage with a bicycle? A bicycle set up that badly? Four years in the making? Major. Smacking.

How about the peddle powered washing machine used on GILLIGANS ISLAND or the peddle powered car and biodegradible to

Agree with previous commentators regarding the absurd length of time it took to create such a mechanically trivial device. Definately not what I'd associate with MIT unless they have different admission standards for students who do "green engineering".

The last place that needs a bicycle powered washing machine is the third world where people already exercise considerably more than they do in N. America. Given the increasing weight of many N. American children, what is needed is a bicycle powered generator that could be used to power video games and computers.

this is a better mechanism for a washing machine. cheaper too.check out the scot at the btm of the page.

http://www.historicgames.com/lathes/springpole.html

and 500 year old technology. suitable for most of the world.

Solves the problem of what to get my wife for her birthday. Thanks MIT.