The Smithinator: Recumbent Vehicle Design and Entry for the 2020 ASME Human- Powered Vehicle Challenge; Evaluating Charlottesville’s Plans for an Eco-Friendlier Transportation System

This portfolio dives into the issue of sustainable transportation. The technical paper
describes my human powered vehicle (HPV) capstone team’s project to identify and build an
exceptional HPV to help accelerate the adoption of such eco-friendly vehicles for human
transportation purposes. The STS paper explores what is being done in Charlottesville to move
towards a greener transportation network.
The technical portion describes a holistic project where my team identified the need for
human powered vehicles, explored and developed potential designs, and manufactured parts of
the vehicle itself. We started off by researching the potential benefits of increasing the use of
human powered vehicles and then moved towards exploring potential designs. Then, we
conducted research to understand what would attract people into using HPVs. From this data, we
were able to develop designs and manufacture an HPV that would significantly satisfy and thus
attract more riders.
The STS portion explores the actions taking place in Charlottesville to increase the
adoption of sustainable transportation in the city. It identifies the participants from the city
government to grass-root level organizations. It consolidates the various groups’ agendas.
Finally, after exploring cases from cities around the world, the thesis suggests that the city
leaders and government officials can help the city move quicker toward an eco-friendlier
transportation network through cooperation and leadership.
The technical project provides valuable insight into developing sustainable technical
design through crowd-sourcing, technical analysis, design, and simulation, while the STS paper
highlights current efforts towards promoting sustainable transportation in Charlottesville and
provides organizational guidance to consolidate agendas to move the city toward a greener
future. The work as a whole encapsulates methods needed at both the ground and operational
level to further our society using technology.

School of Engineering and Applied Sciences
Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering
Technical Advisor: Natasha Smith
STS Advisor: Richard Jacques
Technical Team Members: Todd Baber,
Ethan Blundin,
Chloe Chang,
Thomas DeAngelis,
Michael Jeong,
Jeanluc Lapierre,
Brad Mahaffey,
Coke Matthews,
Jesse Patterson,
Henry Qi,
Kristin Schmidt,
Ross Bonnin,
Yasmin Khanan