Human Powered Vehicle

We are a multidisciplinary team of engineers from South Dakota Mines who take part in the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) Human Powered Vehicle (HPV) Competition every spring.

Our mission is to design and manufacture a unique, and innovative vehicle, powered solely by humans. Competition drives us to design our vehicle with respect to safety, sustainability, aerodynamics, ergonomics, and maneuverability. We believe that it is not enough to design the fastest vehicle, or even the most innovative vehicle; what matters is that the vehicle is something that people want to ride. To us, that means it must look good and be fun and intuitive to ride.

Our team chooses to design a vehicle that is centered on the human aspect; we choose to make a vehicle everyone would love to use. Practicality is another key consideration that we take into account. The final design must be easy to manufacture and use.

Our team consists of energetic, imaginative, young engineers who love to have fun and love to ride their bicycles. Our team spends as much time in the lab as we spend bonding and “hanging out”. The team is fairly small, and so it provides many opportunities for each of the members. The team consists of multidisciplinary members. These include mechanical, industrial, and metallurgical engineers. With such a variety of members who have different skill sets, we are able to focus on the different vehicle subsystems and specific components that make our vehicle stand out. Over the years we have competed against hundreds of teams and engineers from universities around the country.

The ASME Human Powered Vehicle Challenge is comprised of safety and design evaluations and a sprint and an endurance event. All of these aspects contain their own unique requirements and challenges. To meet these requirements the South Dakota Mines HPV team designs a one-of-a-kind vehicle that contains many one-of-a-kind components. The team provides students an opportunity to learn, design, manufacture, and ride a human powered vehicle. Students will also learn teaming and leadership skills needed in industry. We work closely with other teams on campus to share valuable information in the learning process. As a team we promote South Dakota Mines and engineering by taking part in campus and community activities.

Our main focus is in getting to the national competition held every year. The team has performed well in the past and strives to continue this tradition of performance. We also focus on our members as we build on our strengths and work to minimize weaknesses to develop a quality product and great team.

Team Facebook  |    Competition Website  |    Student Org Website