We are thrilled to announce that our bike-powered music project will receive funding from the Associated Students of Occidental College’s (ASOC) Renewable Energy and Sustainability Funds. We proposed our Movable Party project as an opportunity for students (from my MUSI112 Digital Music-Cultures class and self-selected student volunteers) at Oxy to work alongside community artists and engineers to construct a human-scale system of power and interactive robotics. Our proposal details the learning goals of project:

This project provides a set of unique learning contexts that focus on applied knowledge, collaboration, and community engagement. Student participants will work under the guidance of community artists, advocates, and professionals in a multidisciplinary project-based environment. Specifically, they will gain hands-on experience of fabricating a complex bicycle-powered generator and components of interactive robotics from raw materials, from design to finish. This experience is particularly valuable at a liberal arts college where engineering and design courses are not offered. In addition, this project provides an access point for Oxy students to engage with local communities while acting as arts and bicycle advocacy partners. This partnership should empower the students to make decisions that would yield a positive impact in the community, beyond campus life.

With the funds, we will purchase the components for building the pedal generator (hub motors, battery, power regulator, copper wire, etc), and the interactive part of the system (sensors and Arduino microcontrollers). Our plan is to gather all of materials this week and start hosting workshops on and off campus throughout the month of March. Fabrication workshops will take place on campus at the Occidental Bike Share/Bike Cage, and off-campus at The Knowhow Shop, a design and fabrication studio and co-op in Highland Park. The specific time and place of workshops will be announced on this website and through Oxy-related channels.

Besides the launch at Ciclavia on April 21, 2013, we are in the process of planning an on-campus launch to raise awareness for green energy and sustainability and introduce our system to the grater Oxy community.

Making this project educational is among our top priorities. We’re excited to work with Oxy to demonstrate the capacity of human-powered energy through creative practices.