E-Club's wild ride

By Grant Guggisberg

Perhaps you’ve seen it on social media, or maybe you’re one of the lucky ones who’ve gotten to watch it be driven in person or take it for a spin yourself.

What started as an idea between friends about building a drivable couch to use as transportation to and from classes has morphed into a much larger ongoing project, easily the most visible work of K-State’s Electronic Design Club, or E-Club.

The original purple motorized couch was built by a group of seniors in early 2023 and was on display at Open House, eventually catching the attention of K-State Sports, which was producing a series of videos for social media featuring head men’s basketball coach Jerome Tang titled, “Hang with Tang.” The Q&A series features Tang answering questions and interacting with students on a purple couch that had up to that point, always been stationary.

“Halfway through the summer of ’23, Garrett (Peterson), our advisor, texted me and said ‘Tang wants to use the couch,’” said Ben Madrigal, graduate student in electrical and computer engineering and club member.

On the night before a meeting with K-State Athletics, the group was up most of the night, not uncommon for some of its members, quickly covering the original couch with purple fabric purchased from Walmart using a staple gun.

Needless to say, the newest model is far more refined.

The new couch sits higher and more comfortably, fully reclines and has a top speed that is estimated to be north of 30 miles per hour. It also features a six-speaker built-in sound system designed for a boat, which was donated to the club by Garmin.

The couch was purchased new and professionally reupholstered at a steep discount with purple fabric by Appleyard Upholstery, a small business in Manhattan, over the summer.

“It’s fantastic,” Madrigal said of the final product. “Much, much better than what we did originally to start this project.”

Of course, E-Club does more than just create motorized furniture.

The group started unofficially in 2008 as a way for students in the Mike Wiegers Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering to get together and work on design projects. It grew from there, becoming an official club on campus and getting equipment donated from various industry partners.

Gannon Bird, senior in electrical engineering and club president, said while the group is housed within the electrical and computer engineering department, it welcomes anyone who has an interest in this type of work.

“The main goals of the club are to help students fund projects that they are passionate about working on, and to provide a space for students to learn and help one another outside of the classroom,” Bird said. “The club also provides a lot of practical experience for students to see how the concepts we learn in class are applied to projects in real life.”