AID is a  non-profit secular charitable organization (registered  with the   US Federal Government   under   the category  501(C)(3).) It  is organized exclusively  for  charitable and educational   purposes. Its main objectives are to raise  awareness   about poverty and  related issues and to  raise  funds for the   development and welfare of  poor communities of India. This development and welfare is achieved through assisting, implementing,  and  supporting charitable projects focusing mainly on  literacy,  education, rural  development,  family planning, health care, social welfare, empowerment  of people, and environmental responsibility.  AID-Boston   is a chapter  of  AID,  registered  as a student organization  at MIT.  A  significant  fraction of the  active volunteers  and office   bearers  of AID-Boston  are   affiliated with MIT. Since  its inception AID-Boston has been  supporting  a number of very  successful  development and  welfare  projects in India. A large fraction of the funds raised by AID-Boston for such projects have been through music and dance concerts offered to the MIT community. We have also presented numerous renowned speakers   to the MIT community,   on subjects ranging  from  sustainable  development  to activism  through street theater. AID-Boston   has been actively promoting awareness  on development  issues through well  attended  IAP seminars and extremely popular Children's Melas (an event for little kids).

Pedal Power Project

Purpose : This is an exciting engineering project to demonstrate students at MIT a cheap way of obtaining power in a developing country such as India. This project would involve building of a simple power generating machine (we already have the blue prints) which generates electricity using a pedal system attached to a generator which charges a battery. MIT, being a place for innovation and technology, this project, we hope, would be welcomed by all engineering/science graduate students and would be a perfect project for those graduate students who always would like to work with tools. This machine would be placed in the lobby 10 of MIT corridor for a few days during which all students will be encouraged to pedal the cycle and generate power. This project will definitely create a lot of participation among MIT students.

Format and Details of the project:

Pedal Power is a cheap way of obtaining power in a developing country such as India. A single machine costs about $100, including a battery pack. This renewable source compares very favorably with approximately $10 paid by every family each month for kerosene and dry cells.  In terms of performance, initial versions generated 40 Watts. Current versions of the machine provide about an hour of 70 Watts energy for 15-20 minutes spent pedaling.  AID Boston volunteers, many of whom are also MIT engineers, are currently in the process of acquiring blueprints to the technology. Our objectives for doing so are -
  Put together a team that will revisit the blue prints and suggest design improvements on three fronts
 Increase power output, with an initial goal of 100Watts.
 Increase ease of manufacturing, and allow Pedal Power to be simply made in remote villages
 Decrease cost of materials
 Construct a prototype that can be used as a technology demonstrator.
This prototype will be used in AID presentations, as an indigenously developed, MIT refined solution with practical, high-impact applications. Additionally, we can place a prototype in high traffic areas such as Building 7 Lobby for public display. An initial prototype (pictured above) is already being used in India.