bavarikon4UDescription
The aim of the "One Laptop per Child" non-profit project is to facilitate access to education for all children worldwide with the help of a specially developed mobile folding computer. Swiss Yves Béhar (born 1967) was commissioned to design the so-called "100-dollar laptop" and submitted a draft designed to meet the needs of children in developing countries. The colourful, child-friendly design with rounded edges, a simple carrying handle and two "rabbit ears", which simultaneously function as a WLAN antenna and cover for a USB port but also serve to lock the flap, is striking. Thanks to the antenna, children can network with each other. A dual display allows for use in the dark and in daylight. The computer is robust and waterproof, its keyboard is protected by a rubber membrane. In addition, all the components are easily replaceable so even children can repair the laptop in just a few steps. A hand crank makes it possible to charge the highly energy-efficient device, 10 % of the usual power consumption of a standard computer, manually if necessary. The project was presented by MIT Professor Nicholas Negroponte at the World Economic Summit in Davos in 2005. A prototype of the first generation XO-1 model was presented in the same year.