MIT designers to build $12 computer

MIT designers want to build a low-cost computer for $12 to help developing countries. They plan to build it at one tenth the cost of Nicholas Negroponte’s “One Laptop Per Child” (OLPC) project.

MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte launched the OLPC in 2005 to provide $100 laptops for children in third-world countries. The price of the same laptop has risen to nearly $200. MIT Designer’s want to build a laptop cheaper than OLPC’s, topping out at $12. Derek Lomas, Jesse Austin-Breneman and his team of designers plan to develop it and display it at this month’s MIT International Development Design Summit. Lomas told the Boston Herald:

“We see this as a model that could increase economic opportunities for people in developing countries…If you just know how to type, that can be the difference between earning $1 an hour instead of $1 a day.”

One may wonder if it is even possible to create a computer at this price point, but it's important to note there is a $12 computer in India, made with a cheap keyboard, a Nintendo-like console and it can be connected to TVs to run games and simple programs. Lomas saw this device and wants to improve upon it with latest technologies and offer it to the U.S. market. He and his team want to rebuild old Apple II computers and redesign them to run latest programs and applications. The six-member team at the MIT Conference plan to connect the computer to the Web through cellphones and also add memory chips to store data and programs. The group is working with an Indian non-profit organization and plan to supply them with the first redesigned computer. The charity will use the device to train village “micro-loan” officers. The team also has members from Brazil, Ghana and India, who are planning to do market research for the new computers in their countries. Austin-Breneman, a 25-year-old MIT graduate and a mechanical engineer said:

“We think we can develop a really good educational tool that could give kids exposure to keyboards, typing and mouse usage at an early age.”

Once they develop a simple OS, there are thousands of computers that are thrown away daily, which can be recovered, redesigned and then distributed to third-world countries. Since most of the applications are available online, all they need is a basic device that connects to the Web. Some of the children who end up using them may turn out to be a MIT grad in the future. There is also a project in India, where the students want to build a $100 laptop.