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Welcome to USC RVDT!
The Recumbent Vehicle Design Team of the University of Southern California
USC Recumbent Vehicle Design Team
The USC Recumbent Vehicle Design Team consists of a diverse group of undergraduate and graduate students who are passionate about engineering, design, and manufacturing. Each year, our team creates an efficient and reliable human-powered vehicle with electric assist, adjustable to fit every member of the team. Our recumbent vehicle is designed to be used for everyday purposes - whether that be commuting to work or carrying groceries from the market - as well as racing national and international universities. You may even see members riding around campus gathering ride data, training for competition, or simply enjoying the views on their own creation!
After being designed and manufactured fully in-house, our vehicle is entered into the annual ASME Electric-Human Powered Vehicle Challenge (eHPVC). Our team presents our engineering process, including the research, designs, simulations, and performance data in a report and presentation to a panel of judges and design teams from other universities. Additionally, team members strategize the best approach using ride data to successfully perform in the drag race and 2.5-hour long endurance race on a course filled with obstacles. Scores from all the competitions are added up to determine the overall winners of the annual eHPVC. Check out USC RVDT’s legacy in our Awards page.
Coming off an award-winning performance at the 2025 eHPVC Competition in Dallas, Texas, the team is looking to build off one of its most successful years. The team has developed a design environment which is grounded in effective design and fabrication procedures but still allows for team members to display their creativity and pursue their own innovative design concepts.
We are actively looking for new members of all majors and would love to meet interested members at our weekly meetings, lab hours, or through our email (uscrvdt@gmail.com) and Instagram (@usc_rvdt).
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ASME Electric-Human Powered Vehicle Competition
HPVC is an intercollegiate engineering design competition hosted by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). Each year, ASME challenges engineering students across the country, and even internationally, to design and build a human-powered vehicle for sustainable and practical transportation. The objective of the competition has two built-in parts: it not only aims to provide an opportunity for engineering students to demonstrate application of sound engineering principles, it also seeks for those applications to be used in sustainable, environmentally responsible transportation solutions. In 2022, new rules allowed teams to use an electric motor to assist their vehicles, highlighting efficiency and reliability as key factors to success in the 2.5-hour long endurance race. Over 20+ universities have participated in the eHPVC event annually, bringing together large groups of the engineering community.
Hours and Locations
Fall 2025
Meetings in Biegler Hall of Engineering (BHE) 301:
TBD
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Lab Hours in Baum Family Maker Space:
TBD
USC RVDT Lab Area In the Baum Family Maker Space
Contact
Get in touch today!
3710 McClintock Ave, Los Angeles, California, 90089
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President: Elisa McCormick (egmccorm@usc.edu)
Vice President: Nolan Smith (nbsmith@usc.edu)
Social Chair: Sophia Li (lisophia@usc.edu)
Secretary: Alyssa Angsupanich (angsupan@usc.edu)
Technical Lead: Hongyu Zhao (hongyuz@usc.edu)
Funding: Warren Dao (wdao@usc.edu)