LONDON, December 3, 2014 /PRNewswire/ --
Two day hackathon at Google's UK headquarters will see participation from tech pioneers such as Ortis Deley from The Gadget Show and Adrian Bowyer from RepRapPro
RS Components (RS) and Allied Electronics (Allied), the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers, and international development charity, Practical Action, are joining forces to host Power Hack at Google's UK offices from Tuesday 9th December through Wednesday 10th December 2014. The unique two-day hackathon event will provide an opportunity for industry-leading designers and engineers to solve the critical challenge of getting affordable and easy-to-manufacture domestic electricity generators to people affected by poverty across the globe.
(Logo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141203/719924-a )
(Photo: http://photos.prnewswire.com/prnh/20141203/719924-b )
Three teams of world-class electronic and engineering designers will tackle the challenge using the newly updated suite of rapid prototyping tools from RS and Allied (DesignSpark Mechanical, DesignSpark PCB and RS Toolbox). Participants will include Ortis Deley, co-host of The Gadget Show, Adrian Bowyer, founder of the open source RepRapPro 3D Printing technology, Jude Pullen from Design Modelling, Matt Johnson, co-founder of Bare Conductive, Schneider Electric, TE Connectivity, Elektor and more.
The combination of RS and Allied's technical know-how in rapid prototyping and Practical Action's expertise and insight into the needs of communities in the developing world, means that this partnership could go some way to developing a solution for the critical challenge of energy poverty.
Ortis Deley, co-host of The Gadget Show, Channel 5, and long-time Practical Action supporter said: "Using innovative technology to solve problems of this nature is fantastic on a number of levels. I am personally very excited by the opportunity that Power Hack presents for aiding poorer areas across the world and to see what will result from it and wish all involved the very best."
RS and Allied's unique suite of tools puts the power to innovate back in the hands of engineers and enables getting from concept to prototype easier and faster than ever before. Power Hack participants will be able to quickly create concepts, design prototypes, and 3D Print those designs.
"Practical Action have given a real focal point for the Power Hack, which will help our teams of engineers get right to the heart of this critical global problem," said Mark Cundle, Head of Technical Marketing at RS Components. "It's going to be very interesting to see what the engineers create with our suite of rapid prototyping tools over the two days. Hopefully there will be some true innovation in the area of domestic electricity generation, which could make a real difference to people's lives around the world.
If the prototypes from the Power Hack challenge were to reach a single village and enable communities to teach others how to utilise the benefits resulting from electricity generation, then this is going to be a powerful innovation. We're really looking forward to seeing the end results."
Talking about the Power Hack, Neil Noble, Technical Adviser at Practical Action said: "We're very excited about the partnership with RS Components, Allied and DesignSpark and the potential solutions that will come out of the Hackathon. Designing practical, appropriate solutions that are effective and culturally suitable for the developing world is always a huge challenge, but we think it's one that the engineers will relish and we can't wait to see what they come up with."
How to follow
The Power Hack will be live-streamed on the DesignSpark website (http://bit.ly/1y3af4k) and viewers will be able to follow all of the challengers on DesignSpark's Facebook, Youtube and Twitter pages.
Viewers will also get access to exclusive video diaries from the challengers, providing them with fly-on-the-wall access to the whole design and build process and the personalities taking part.
DesignSpark Facebook: http://on.fb.me/1wb5iuQ
DesignSpark Twitter: http://bit.ly/1B53aGV
DesignSpark Youtube: http://bit.ly/1tukJYV
RS Components Twitter: http://bit.ly/1FHokbY
Notes to editors
Practical Action -http://bit.ly/12jVbGM
Practical Action uses technology to challenge poverty in developing countries. Their strength is in their approach. They find out what people are doing and help them to do it better. Through technology, Practical Action enable poor communities to build on their skills and knowledge to produce sustainable and practical solutions, thus transforming their lives forever and protecting the world around them.
By doing this each year Practical Action help around a million people break out of the cycle of poverty...for good.
DesignSpark - http://bit.ly/1CxI9q1
DesignSpark is an online engineering community brought to you by RS Components. DesignSpark is committed to supporting engineers by giving them the tools and resources they need to design amazing things. DesignSpark's unique suite of rapid prototyping tools helps designers and electronics engineers get from concept to prototype faster and easier than ever before.
About RS Components
RS Components and Allied Electronics are the trading brands of Electrocomponents plc, the global distributor for engineers. With operations in 32 countries, we offer around 500,000 products through the internet, catalogues and at trade counters to over one million customers, shipping more than 44,000 parcels a day. Our products, sourced from 2,500 leading suppliers, include semiconductors, interconnect, passives and electromechanical, automation and control, electrical, test and measurement, tools and consumables.
Electrocomponents is listed on the London Stock Exchange and in the last financial year ended 31 March 2014 had revenues of £1.27bn.
For more information, please visit the website at http://bit.ly/1HRfk81.
About Allied Electronics
Allied Electronics is a high service level, authorized distributor of industrial automation products, electronic components, and electromechanical products with 47 sales offices serving the United States, Mexico, and Canada. With more than three million parts online and more than 120,000 products featured in the Allied Catalog, engineers and purchasers often look to Allied for a broad range of product solutions from more than 300 world-class suppliers. Allied Electronics and RS Components are trading brands of Electrocomponents plc (LSE:ECM), the global distributor for engineers headquartered in Oxford, England.
For more information please visit http://bit.ly/12jVhhD
About The Gadget Show
The Gadget Show is a British television series which focuses on consumer technology. The show, which is broadcast on Channel 5, is currently presented by Jason Bradbury, Ortis Deley, Jon Bentley and Amy Williams. Originally a thirty-minute show, it was extended to forty-five minutes, then later to sixty minutes. Repeats have also aired on the digital channel 5*, syndicated broadcasts on Discovery Science and Dave and Channel 5's internet on-demand service Demand 5. In Australia, it is aired on The Lifestyle Channel.The Gadget Show has received many Guinness World Records.
Further information is available via these links:
Twitter: @RSComponents; @alliedelec; @designsparkRS
RS Components on Linkedin
Relevant Links:
DesignSpark
Practical Action
DesignSpark PCB
DesignSpark Mechanical
RS Toolbox
For moreinformation contact
Tracy Wood - tracy.wood@freestyleinteractive.co.uk / +44(0)7784-635391
Aakriti Kaushik, RS Components - aakriti.kaushik@rs-components.com / +44(0)1865-207-546
Janice Fenton, Publitek - janice.fenton@publitek.com / +44(0)1225-470-000
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