Recumbent Moon Buggy Trike can tackle commute on the moon

Recumbent Trike

Winner of the Best Design Award at the 2011 edition of NASA’s annual Great Moon buggy Race, the RISD Moon Buggy 2011 is one of the most sophisticated recumbent trikes that have surfaced in a few years now. The team, which secured third place in their debut appearance, last year, is the first design school with no engineers to enter the competition. This year the team entered not only the race portion of the competition but also put their entry down for the design competition and much to their delight, won.

Picture Gallery Recumbent Trike Human-powered Trike by Brian Cloyed

Starting with the aim of challenging the established notions of the role that design plays in the making of sophisticated engineering ventures, the team proved that application of the design process can offer solutions for engineering problems. The recumbent trike features an integrated freewheel differential that was brought into the drive assembly for simplicity and two repositioned disk brakes were positioned outside the differential to allow proper braking. Self-aligning bearing holders were press-fit into the same tube allowing perfect alignment while shielded drive sprocket was protected from excess dirt and grime inside the alignment tube. The fully suspended all-Wheel-drive trike could seat two-passengers with ease.

The competition, which is held at the Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, AL annually, calls for teams to conceptualize and create lightweight HPVs that can effectively travel across a rugged landscape that simulates the surface of the moon. The track comes complete with gravel pits and unexpected curves across the half mile long surface that is created in accordance to the difficulties that Apollo astronauts had to overcome using their lunar rovers during the space program.

RISD student Bryan Cloyd led the suspension and steering systems design in both the editions also donning the co-team lead cap in 2011, when RISD was awarded the best design trophy amongst entries from over 40 universities for designing a HPV capable of tackling engineering challenges faced during lunar travel in the competition held jointly by NASA and the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).