Behold! The open-source washing machine!
This was created by an art student in France, per an assignment that limited your materials to what you might find in the Sahara. The motor is on loan from a broken photocopier.
Starting with high school, every school should have monthly projects that attempt to solve real world problems with creativity and subject matter. Anyone want to help write a syllabus? (Via openMaterials)
Source: openmaterials.org