Description
Noel Joyce is a wheelchair user and industrial designer currently teaching design and innovation at NYU. A couple years ago, he decided to get back into mountain biking on a handcycle. However, one of the barriers to entry for most people with disabilities who would like to be involved in sports like adaptive mountain biking is the cost of the equipment and the cost of maintenance.
As a result of first-hand experience with both, Joyce started Project Mjolnir, the world's first open-source adaptive mountain bike project. Project Mjolinr's goal is to break down the barriers of entry for anyone to get into the sport by creating a bike based on a modular platform that is infinitely changeable, adaptable, and can be built anywhere.
Joyce first started the project at NYU in January 2023, iterating on a previous design. The first of four bikes were developed and designed remotely and assembled at NYU in New York in April 2023. The second bike was built in Abu Dhabi in June 2023. And the final two built in Ireland and Shanghai in the subsequent months. Join Joyce to learn more about the project, the design process, and where it's going next.
Key Learnings
- Gain an understanding of how to develop an open-source project.
- Develop an understanding of how to manage a project in an educational setting on a global scale.
- Learn how to design with anticipation of different configurations.
- Learn how to consider and design for those with disabilities.