Lab2

The product that interests me is the 'kickstart MoneyMaker Block Press'. With natural disasters on the rise in recent times, a huge number of people have lost their homes, means of earning and shelter and are living is the worst situations imaginable. These Block presses are currently being used in Africa for construction and building and business purposes. These block presses make cheap building blocks using soil and a small amount of cement which is durable to make permanent shelters. Developing countries like Pakistan, which has been struck really badly from massive floods a few months ago can use such design technologies to construct living and business buildings quickly and at low costs. Also, this block press can help develop as a small business for the locals in the flood effected areas which will help in two ways at the same time; re-building the infrastructure and serving as a means of earning for the people who's businesses got destroyed. The block press can be used to make building blocks of different sizes and strengths and different types of soils can be used to make the blocks. Also, the productivity is quite efficient for the product as 5-8 labourers can produce 400 to 800 blocks a day.
 * 1. Which product interests you the most, and why?**

I will be interested in researching further into Shelter and Energy for my group project as these are the two major problems that the developing and the underdeveloped countries are facing. With the high percentage of population growth and natural disasters, countries like Africa, SriLanka, Pakistan, Nepal and India are having a lot of difficulty in providing their poor population with proper shelter and the energy they need to survive and grow. These countries need affordable and simplistic designs to prosper towards betterment and I would like to research on their options.
 * 2. Which category would interest you to research further for your group project, and why?**