Derek Lomas, Jesse Austin-Breneman and other designers want to create a computer that Third World residents can buy for less than you probably spend on lunch.

“We see this as a model that could increase economic opportunities for people in developing countries,” said Lomas, part of a team that’s trying to develop a $12 computer at this month’s MIT International Development Design Summit. “If you just know how to type, that can be the difference between earning $1 an hour instead of $1 a day.”

MIT’s Nicholas Negroponte has been working since 2005 to provide $100 laptops to Third World kids, but Lomas and his colleagues want to knock the price down even further. They aim to build a stripped down computer-like device for about one-tenth of what Negroponte’s One Laptop Per Child project is creating.