Andy and Steve live in New York and own a company called Pedal Power which builds pedal powered machines. The one you see above is called The Big Rig, and comes with a variety of options which will let you pedal and generate electricity, mill grains and cereals, pump water or any number of other tasks you’d typically use a power tool for.

The downside to their efforts is that each rig is handmade, and therefore costs a fair amount of money. The Big Rig for instance starts out at $2000, while its smaller cousin, the Pedal Genny, starts out at around $650 and goes upwards. The duo have now come up with a splendid idea, however, in that they’re going to release a set of ‘high quality, open-source build plans with dimensioned drawings and step-by-step instructions’.

They’ve just successfully raised some money via a Kickstarter project, and hopefully the plans will be finished and delivered in a few months time. This should give anyone with the necessary skills and materials the chance to produce their own tried and tested pedal machines for their own needs. We love the idea it’s going out as open source.

Take a look at the video to see what it can do.