Events

Our project was completed during a Sustainable Product Development class in the mechanical engineering program at Oregon State University. Using a sustainable design methodology, our team of six design engineering students developed a product within the scope of improving graduate students’ process of getting to campus in the morning. In our market research, we found that Corvallis is a welcoming community to pedestrians and other human powered commuters, and that students are trending towards being more mindful of the way their choices impact the environment. This social trend is driving an economic trend of consumers buying more durable and long-lasting products, finding new ways to connect over technology, and tracking aspects of their commute. We found that there opportunity to reduce the carbon footprint and ease parking frustrations in commuting by creating a product that improves ease, safety, and comfort of human powered transportation, while maintaining high aesthetic value and a focus on sustainable design. After identifying our opportunity gap, we proceeded with concept generation through 5 different lenses and several different brainstorming methods to produce 66 different concepts. We narrowed down our concepts and ultimately developed our final chosen concept, a bio-inspired design, the beetle bicycle pannier. 

Our product--the beetle bicycle pannier--meets our value goals, and we believe it is a viable product to bring to market. We believe we have developed a market ready product in the beetle bicycle pannier. We think we considered many of the pain points that commuters face, as well as the pain points consumers have experience with current pannier systems. The Beetle Bicycle Pannier, sized to fit a standard backpack. With the customer pain points and other market research in mind, key features include its waterproofness, durability, security, and how it is installed and adjusted using only standard hex key wrenches that a bicycle owner would already have for other bicycle adjustments. It is made of primarily post-recycled materials, including polypropylene and aluminum and steel. We have designed the product so it can be competitively priced and is aesthetically pleasing. This pannier will also help contribute to the greater cultural shift of reducing personal carbon emissions.