Washing Machine Sans Power

Thanks to the bollywood movie 3 idiots, grassroots innovation in India has been brought to the limelight. The HoneyBee Network has been a pretty successful attempt at aggregating such innovations in India.

One such innovation was the pedal powered washing machine by Remya Jose (who's also a Keralite  :) ),




As anyone who has tried washing clothes on their own, without the machine, would acknowledge - it is a pain and a sheer waste of time and energy that could perhaps be put to better use. For many who have the time and do not mind a 'workout'- washing by hand still remains a lucrative option. However, gauging by the attempts made at simplifying this chore, I guess no one would mind a quick and cheap alternative.

I also chanced upon another product called 'cyclean' though it had nothing to do with India, I came across the link through Rahul Brown's blog post.

The latest design I have come across was through BoingBoing and has inspired this blog post by its simplicity (though I cannot vouch for its effectiveness). Its called Swirl. Forgiving their attempts at stereotyping the developing world through their website, I kinda like concept. Its a marriage between the well known and elegantly simple Q-Drum (a jerry can which can be rolled on the ground) and a washing machine drum. The following is the result:

It actually tries to make washing clothes fun!
So, whats your wash flavor- electric, pedaled, rolled or kicked about?