RiziQi 2.0 was part of a master Strategic Product Design (Industrial Design Engineering) graduation project in which Deborah Sumter studied human powered energy as a means to improve an earlier developed concept called RiziQi (human powered bicycle). CFIA researcher André Leliveld supported this study with insights in RiziQi's potential socio-economic benefits beyond its primary target: providing a stable energy source.
This RiziQi concept was the end result from an assignment executed in 2013 for a cycling organization in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. The idea was to help the rural population of Tanzania fulfill their energy need and hence be more self-sufficient through the use of human power.
In the timeline of this graduation project the student the plan was to focus on reiterating the earlier idea behind the concept and use human energy to generate energy, meaning that interesting movements were studied and cycling was not necessarily the limit. However, during the project the angle and thematic focus of the research changed. Research in the domain of human powered energy let to the conclusion that making the RiziQi technology cheaper would negatively influence the efficiency greatly (meaning cycling for a long time, while getting back relatively a small amount of energy). Deborah therefore decided to open up her view to other ways of input to mechanical energy generation. She started exploring other alternatives, mainly in the 'heat department', and focused mainly on finding a way to improve energy generation during cooking activities.
To make her idea tangible to the families she worked with Deborah sought to make a new prototype that included the functions that she had in mind. She worked in the workshop of a local innovative incubator called AISE Twende and used accessible materials. Even though the goal was to charge a power bank, essential electronic components were missing, which made it only possible to charge a rechargeable battery and light a led with the newly developed prototype.
Back in the Netherlands Deborah developed an improved prototype, resulting in her MA thesis on "Alternative energy generation opportunities in Tanzania".