Twenty-five University students, staff members and high school students met with world-famous designer and engineer Burt Rutan Tuesday to discuss the details of their award-winning design of a portable pedal-powered generator that can be used to provide electricity at events and possibly for home equipment.
The design, created by members of the
Ecological Design Center and the Center for the Advancement of Sustainable Living, was one of approximately 16 project ideas submitted to the School of Architecture & Allied Arts in competition for a $5,000 A&AA project budget, A&AA Associate Dean for Administration Rob Thallon said. He added that the ideas were forwarded to Rutan to choose a winner.
Rutan said he chose the pedal-powered
generator because he wanted to pick something he could “add more value to.”
“I looked at it from the standpoint of how it might fit into the bigger picture,” Rutan s
aid. “How can I interface with it to have a lively discussion?”
Rutan came to the University on Monday and Tuesday as part A&AA’s Koehn Colloquium. He is best known for his team’s design of SpaceShipOne, the first privately built, manned spacecraft and winner of the $10 million Ansari X-Prize and TIME Magazine’s 2004 Invention of the Year. He also designed GlobalFlyer, the first plane to be flown around the world without refueling or stopping.
The Koehn Colloquium is sponsored by Michael and Stacy Koehn and brings in
scholars from areas outside the realm of architecture. Each year’s scholar gives one lecture and works with the project winners in a
three-hour design workshop.
“Given that Burt Rutan is a designer, we wanted to give him something he could actually design and not just sit by the fireside,”
Thallon said. “We thought the process would work best if he was interested in the project.”
Pedal-powered generator project coordinator Sebastian Collet said the idea was born during a brainstorming session at the end of February. He said the group forwarded a
21-page proposal to colloquium
organizers. Following the announcement that their project had won,
Collet said the designers organized a team composed of many different disciplines, including electricians, fabricators and designers.
Collet said the idea of a pedal-powered generator is not new, but he wanted to “take it to the next level.”
Coordinator Martha Bohm said she wanted the project to be beautiful and well-designed.
“We want to build a power-generating model to teach about power generation and power usage,” Bohm said. “I’m optimistic we’ll be able to build it.”
On Monday, Rutan said his main focus during Tuesday’s workshop would be to create well-established goals for the group.
“The first thing I’m going to ask them is what their goal is: Why are they doing this? What do they hope to achieve?” Rutan said. “I’m going to try to build a roadmap to get that done.”
Machinist and designer John Boosinger said he is happy to be part of this project and to be able to bring his skill and knowledge
designing research projects for the science department.
“It’s similar to a number of projects I design for,” Boosinger said. “This project has practical, educational use.”
During the workshop, Rutan suggested the group look at the larger picture, suggesting that the project could be used to help overweight people.
“If you can make a breakthrough in obesity when you were trying to make a breakthrough in pedal power, then you’ve done something,” Rutan said. “What are you going to achieve in the long term?”
While the three hours spent with Rutan was not quite as hands-on
as Collet had expected, he said it was a very valuable experience
that helped the team establish broader goals.
“Burt talked a lot,” Collet said.
“I thought we would get more
design time.”
He said the biggest thing he learned was not to be stuck on one idea but
to push the limits and think outside
the box.
“I think people overall came out with a better understanding of the project and how they can be involved,” Collet said. He said the group will move forward with the project in hopes of having a working model by the end of the term.
“We hope to finish the fabrication of the trailer,” Collet said. He also said he will establish a new group to take this project past the term and into the future.
Rutan said it takes projects like this one to push boundaries and t
o do what others say is unnecessary or is done solely for the benefit
of the rich. He added that progress takes forward thinking and a can-
do attitude.
“I don’t think you can teach innovation, but you can create an environment where innovation tends to thrive more than other environments,” Rutan said.

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