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Pedal-Powered OLPC Tested in Afghanistan: Free Power (and Killer Calves) For All

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OLPC’s Give One Get One initiative has delivered around 11,000 XO-1 laptops to Afghanistan schools alone. But power is a problem when you get off the grid, so the team there has had to think outside the box.

https://gizmodo.com/olpc-give-1-get-1-returns-nov-17-at-amazon-5056838

They’ve developed this prototype human powered machine that can charge an XO-1 laptop while in use, and it’s easy enough for most 3rd graders to pedal. The OLPC Freeplay hand crank is connected to pedals underneath, and no backup battery is required.

They hope is to shrink the idea down, and deploy it to the many rural areas where under-privileged kids don’t have electricity. Nice work…I wonder how much peddling it would take to read Gizmodo? [OLPC Afghanistan via OLPCNews via CrunchGear]

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