MIT: Independent Activities Period: IAP

IAP 2016 Activities by Sponsor - MIT-SUTD International Design Center

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Bamboo Bicycle Frame Making Workshop

David Wang, Founder of Bamboo Bicycles Beijing

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/04
Limited to 8 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: None!
Fee: $40.00 for bamboo

Workshop Overview

In the workshop everyone will make a up to four bamboo bicycle frames and participate in a discusison about how the experience of building a bicycle and the bamboo bicycle itself might be used in different contexts. 

The workshop is broken down into three super fun stages: 1) Prepare and design your frame, 2) build the frame, 3) a ideation workshop on ideas for bamboo bicycles.

Please note that we have a maximum of 8 people for each workshop, but will build only 4 frames in each workshop. So, it might be best to do this with a friend so you can share the frame!

What is a bamboo bicycle?

At its core a bamboo bicycle is just another bicycle. However, we believe it’s special because making a bamboo frame is an accessible and fun experience regardless of ones skill level. In addition to this bamboo frames are: 1) light (~1.7kg); 2) vibration dampening; and 3) simply beautiful. The first bamboo bicycles was made in the 1890s, and in the past 10 years more and more people have been exploring how to use this material to make unique and personalized bicycles.

About the instructor

The course instructor, David Wang, has taught over 200 people to make their own bamboo bicycles in 2-day workshops in Beijing (Bamboo Bicycles Beijing). After arriving at MIT as a student in Urban Studies, David is excited to work across the MIT community to explore the potential of bamboo bicycles as method for building community and empowering young people.

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Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD International Design Center, Urban Studies and Planning
Contact: David Wang, 310-895-8280, DWANG8@MIT.EDU


Workshop 1

Jan/11 Mon 01:00PM-06:00PM IDC (N52 3rd fl)
Jan/12 Tue 01:00PM-06:00PM IDC (N52 3rd fl)
Jan/13 Wed 01:00PM-06:00PM IDC (N52 3rd fl)
Jan/14 Thu 01:00PM-06:00PM IDC (N52 3rd fl)
Jan/15 Fri 09:00AM-05:00PM IDC (N52 3rd fl)

Workshop 1- This workshop will be extended across the whole week. The first day will be preparation and esign. The 2nd, 3rd, 4th, and 5th days will be building the frames. Participants of this workshop can also elect to sign-up for the Bike Mechanics in the following week to install components on their bamboo frames.

 4 OF 8 SPOTS WILL BE RESERVED FOR SUTD STUDENTS.

(Please do not sign up for both workshops!)

 

David Wang - Founder of Bamboo Bicycles Beijing, Max Feldstein-Nixon - Assistant, Candy Yang - Assistant


Workshop 2

Jan/22 Fri 01:00PM-05:00PM 9-451
Jan/23 Sat 09:00AM-07:00PM IDC (N52 3rd fl)
Jan/24 Sun 09:00AM-07:00PM IDC (N52 3rd fl)
Jan/25 Mon 11:00AM-05:00PM 9-451

This a second workshop in which we will make 4 bamboo bike frames. It will consist of a preparation day, two intensive build days, and a final wrap up and ideation day. 

Please note that the workshop is not inclusive of components (wheels, pedals, seat, etc) to install on the bike frame but we're more than happy to help you find them and install them!

(Please DO NOT sign up for both workshop sessions!)

David Wang - Founder of Bamboo Bicycles Beijing, Max Feldstein-Nixon - Assistant, Candy Yang - Assistant


How to Design Electric Vehicles (EVs)

Sanjay Sarma, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Ryan Chin, Managing Director, City Science Initiative, Lennon Rodgers, Research Scientist, MIT International Design Center

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/15
Limited to 40 participants
Attendance: Participants welcome at individual sessions
Prereq: Permission of Instructor

If you are interested in designing and building electric vehicles (EVs), then this IAP class is for you.

This hands-on course brings together industry experts, MIT faculty, staff, and students to present the basic building blocks to EVs including: battery systems, electric motors, motor controllers, and the overall vehicle systems integration. Each session will delve into practical engineering issues through interactive presentations by instructors and guest speakers. There will also be working sessions conducted by student mentors. The course will address the following questions:

In addition to lectures, this year we will be offering three “hands-on” lab sessions in order for participants to apply lessons from the talks to practical in-class exercises that emphasize learning by doing and peer-to-peer collaboration.

The remaining sessions will focus on current market trends, cost challenges, competitive technologies, and future applications including urban mobility, EV infrastructure, energy storage for utilities, and the role of policy and incentives.

Sponsor(s): Mechanical Engineering, MIT-SUTD International Design Center
Contact: Ryan Chin, 617 253-6828, RCHIN@MIT.EDU


(1) Course Introduction and Batteries

Jan/19 Tue 09:00AM-12:00PM E15-341

This session will introduce the goals of the overall course; provide an overview of EV battery systems with a focus on Li-ion technology (history, cell chemistries and attributes, cell designs and components, performance metrics, cell dynamics and models, safety, battery management); and next generation battery chemistries.

Sanjay Sarma - Professor of Mechanical Engineering, Ryan Chin - Managing Director, City Science Initiative, Eric Carlson - Senior Fellow, Rick Chamberlain - Chief Technology Officer


(2) Controllers and Electric Motors

Jan/20 Wed 09:00AM-12:00PM e15-341

Led by guest speakers from Protean Electric, this session will focus on the design of controllers and electric motors. This session will also present a case study of building an electric motorcycle for the Isle of Man TT Zero race.

Guest Speakers:  Chris Hilton, CTO, Protean Electric

Lennon Rodgers - Research Scientist, MIT International Design Center


(3) Battery Pack Design

Jan/21 Thu 09:00AM-12:00PM E15-341

This session will focus on pack design with consideration of design requirements, the specification process and vehicle integration, packaging options from cell to module to pack, thermal management, current collection, safety, pack testing, and design for impact energy absorption and crashworthiness.

 

Guest Speakers:

Dale Robertson, Boston-Power, Inc.

Elham Sahraei, MIT Impact and Crashworthiness Laboratory

Eric Carlson - Senior Fellow


Vehicle Systems Lab

Jan/22 Fri 09:00AM-04:00PM N52-3rd floor

Lennon Rodgers - Research Scientist, MIT International Design Center


Battery Lab

Jan/25 Mon 09:00AM-12:00PM N52-3rd floor

The full day battery laboratory will be a more in-depth hands-on session of selected lecture topics. Key questions addressed will include:

Lennon Rodgers - Research Scientist, MIT International Design Center


(4) Powertrain Integration

Jan/26 Tue 09:00AM-12:00PM E15-341

This session will provide an automotive OEM perspective on overall vehicle integration for EVs.

 

Guest Speakers:  

OEM (1) Greg Hubbard, Senior Engineer for Chevy Bolt, General Motors (GM)

OEM (2) Ford (TBC)

OEM (3) Tesla (TBC)

Ryan Chin - Managing Director, City Science Initiative


(5) Applications and Markets

Jan/27 Wed 09:00AM-12:00PM E15-341

This session will cover trends and existing and future markets for traditional EVs, new urban vehicles, on-demand systems, and self-driving vehicles.

 

Guest Speaker: Zipcar or Car2go (TBC)

Ryan Chin - Managing Director, City Science Initiative, Craig Carlson - Consultant


(6) EV Infrastructure and MIT Student Cl

Jan/28 Thu 09:00AM-12:00PM E15-341

This session will cover EV infrastructure including electric charging, vehicle-to-grid, second life EV battery re-use, and new markets (e.g., home energy management systems). This session will also introduce the EV ecosystem of MIT student research projects and clubs including Formula SAE, Electric Vehicle Team, Solar Car, etc.

Praveen Subramani, NEST

Michael Lin, MIT Media Lab

Ivan Huang, MIT Campus EVs Deployment

Ryan Chin - Managing Director, City Science Initiative, Lennon Rodgers - Research Scientist, MIT International Design Center


Motor Lab

Jan/29 Fri 09:00AM-04:00PM N52-3rd floor

Lennon Rodgers - Research Scientist, MIT International Design Center


Intro to Modeling, Instrumentation and Control Using Skateboards and Scooters

Lennon Rodgers, Research Scientist

Jan/06 Wed 09:00AM-12:00PM N52 3rd floor
Jan/08 Fri 09:00AM-12:00PM N52 3rd floor
Jan/11 Mon 09:00AM-12:00PM N52 3rd floor
Jan/13 Wed 09:00AM-12:00PM N52 3rd floor
Jan/15 Fri 09:00AM-12:00PM N52 3rd floor
Jan/20 Wed 09:00AM-12:00PM N52 3rd floor

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/01
Limited to 20 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Calculus I, Physics I, Microsoft Excel

This class will use electric skateboards and scooters to introduce concepts such as modeling, instrumentation and control. Along the way we will explore mathematical concepts such as differential equations and linear algebra. We will create a basic model for the forces, power and energy consumption of the vehicles. Then the basic theory of PID speed controllers will be discussed and implemented on the scooters. Data will be collected while the vehicles are driven to validate the models and gain a deeper understanding of the theory and concepts. This class will help students gain an intuition for engineering concepts through a fun and immersive experience.

 

For more information and to register: www.making-learning.org

 

Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD Collaboration, MIT-SUTD International Design Center
Contact: Lennon Rodgers, N52 3rd floor, rodgers@mit.edu


The Art (and Engineering) of Bicycle Mechanics

Lennon Rodgers, Research Scientist

Jan/19 Tue 01:00PM-05:00PM N52 3rd floor
Jan/20 Wed 01:00PM-05:00PM N52 3rd floor
Jan/21 Thu 01:00PM-05:00PM N52 3rd floor

Enrollment: Limited: Advance sign-up required
Sign-up by 01/01
Limited to 15 participants
Attendance: Participants must attend all sessions
Prereq: Ability to ride a bicycle

Students will completely disassemble and reassemble a bicycle to learn about bicycle components, tools and mechanics. Related engineering concepts such as torque, speed, power, sprockets and mechanical advantage will be discussed and experienced.

For more information and to register: www.making-learning.org

 

Sponsor(s): MIT-SUTD Collaboration, MIT-SUTD International Design Center
Contact: Lennon Rodgers, N52 3rd floor, rodgers@mit.edu