An 8-hour sprint at the Autodesk Product Design Challenge, against about 30 teams. Autowalk is a foldable, fully mechanical three-wheeler for Delhi's home-to-metro trip: step on its two pressure plates in turn and a rack and pinion drives the wheels. It folds into a bag and goes on the metro with you. First runner-up.
PROJECT INFO
Team Shaurya Singh, Aditya Aggarwal, Anurag Warvadekar, all work shared · Timeline 8 hours, February 2024 · Tools Fusion 360
The brief
The Autodesk Product Design Challenge, organised by E-Cell DTU with Autodesk and Curiosity 3D: an 8-hour sprint to design a way to get from home to a transit hub. About 30 teams took part, from IITs across India and from industry.
What we found
We narrowed it to Delhi. Most people get from home to the metro by auto: they wait for one, and every trip adds another vehicle to the road. Anything that replaces the auto has to travel with you — through the station, onto the train and out the other end.
How might we help Delhi commuters get from home to the metro without waiting for an auto, and without adding another vehicle to the road?
The idea
Your steps, turned into motion. Autowalk is a three-wheeler with no motor and no battery: you step on two pressure plates in turn, and each step drives the wheels. It folds into a bag-like shape, so it comes with you on the metro and covers both ends of the trip.
How it came together
Narrowing. From any home-to-hub trip to one city and one leg: home to the Delhi Metro.
The drive. Each pressure plate pushes a rack down against a pinion on the wheel axle, turning the wheel, and a spring lifts the plate back for the next step. Fully mechanical: no fuel, no battery, no electrical parts. The only energy is the rider's.
The fold. A telescopic handle and a frame that folds the three-wheeler into a bag-like shape you carry like a suitcase.
Material. Steel alloy, modelled in Fusion 360. Not yet load-tested.
The pitch. Presented to the judges with the targets we set: a 25 km/h top speed, storage under a metro or bus seat, and an estimated price of ₹5,000–7,000.
What shipped
A Fusion 360 model and the pitch. No physical prototype has been built yet.
Outcome
First runner-up of about 30 teams at the Autodesk Product Design Challenge, against IIT students and working professionals from across India.
What I'd do differently
Build it. The next step is a physical model, to test the fold, the weight and the step drive with a real rider, and then make the product for real.
Credits
Team Shaurya Singh, Aditya Aggarwal, Anurag Warvadekar
Organised by E-Cell DTU, with Autodesk and Curiosity 3D