Digital Dirt Bike

Digital Dirt Bike won the Bronze medal in the “Business & Industrial Products” section of the IDEA 2004 contest.

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In much of the developing world, because of the absence of reliable infrastructure for Internet, phones, or power, villagers are in cruel need for information about medical, agricultural, and educational problems. Digital Dirt Bike is a solar-powered information and communication center on wheels, created by US-based Whipsaw.

A local technician drives from village to village to deliver treatments for common plant, animal and human diseases; weather forecasts; supplemental school lessons; and information for farming and industry. The unit contains a notebook computer, printer, camera, satellite phone, a portable tent for impromptu meetings in open fields. The double lid has two solar panels, used to power and recharge the equipment.

Digital Dirt Bike is now successfully in use throughout Andra Pradesh, India.