Robotic device developed in MIT’s Touch Lab can help visually impaired people navigate around a virtual model of a real building.
A team of eight MIT students and their advisor brought their ingenuity and technical skills to villages in Nepal this year to try to solve a very basic practical problem--the need for clean drinking water at very low cost. Worldwide, more than 1.7 billion people lack access to clean drinking water, and waterborne diseases are a major cause of illness and death.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on May 22, 2002.
A woman and her sick child wait to be seen at the International Buddhist Society free clinic in Lumbini, the birthplace of Buddha.
Credits - Photo / Donna Coveney
A young boy drinks polluted water from the village pump. This tube well's water has microbial contamination.
Credits - Photo / Donna Coveney
A biosand filter to clean the water is tipped over into the muck where animals roam by a Jonbarsha village resident impatient to clean out the old water.
Credits - Photo / Donna Coveney
MIT student Jason Low carries a tray of casings for filters through the doorway of Hari Gobindh's pottery in a village near Kathmandu.
Credits - Photo / Donna Coveney
Master potter Hari Gobindh (left) of the village of Thimi near Kathmandu works with Susan Murcott and MIT student Jason Low to make a water filter of sawdust, rice husk, ash, and red clay.
Credits - Photo / Donna Coveney
MIT student Tommy Ngai gathers results from the filtration unit he made to remove arsenic from well water in Parasi.
Credits - Photo / Donna Coveney
Women in Mahilwari sing to show their gratitude for efforts to clean the water.
Credits - Photo / Donna Coveney
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