Rapid Design through Virtual
and Physical Prototyping
Project 3
Engineering Outreach Activity
Cranes for Kids Journal
by Randi Dembski, Justen England, and Ryan Voss
Abstract for Meeting of the Minds
The goal of this activity is for children to learn about various mechanisms, such as pulleys and levers. By using the cranes to move tools and parts into place, children will explore how these mechanisms are used in construction and manufacturing. Children will use small overhead cranes to manipulate mechanisms to draw and construct simple structures. Each crane will have a different control mechanism for the children to use. By experimenting with the cranes, children will learn how different mechanisms work.
Idea Generation:
When we started project 3, we generated a list of fun and interesting concepts that would be used to teach engineering. Students ages 8-14 would be using our activity to hopefully learn something about engineering and science. The activity must:
engage the children in an engineering activity,
appeal to all types of children,
be safe, durable, and suitable for an indoor space,
employ principles of universal design, and
use supplies that can be purchased easily and cheaply.
The activity should be directed to four clients; CIT, the children, the faculty members who do outreach activities, the parents and teachers of the children. The project will be presented at the undergraduate research symposium, Meeting of the Minds.
First Presentation:
At a group meeting, we decided to build the overhead crane and have kids draw, paint, or build with it. This would hopefully teach them about the mechanisms used to control the crane and about the challenges that engineers face when working with machines. Our first design was going to be constructed of wood. The crane would be the size of a six foot table and large enough for 1 child to use at a time, or two children to work in a team. We planned for the overhead components to move in the x and y-directions, with the z-direction to be added later. We thought of several control mechanisms that could be used to steer the crane. The child will steer the crane in the x,y, and z directions in order to make or accomplish something. We would need to manufacture a crane (more if successful), a steering system, and an activity for the crane to do.
When we presented the idea, the general response was that our idea was good, but we had to work on cutting the cost, since wood would be expensive. Also, we should expand our idea so that several children could play with the toy at once.
First Testing Group:
On Thursday, April 11, 2002, the first group of testers used our overhead crane to pick up small metal nuts and washers. The testing went well, and the kids were amused with working the crane, but we know that we should improve several things. First, decrease the amount of friction in the system to stop the crane from shifting so much during use. Also, the testers also suggested that we make the activity to do with the crane more interesting or challenging. We will make these improvements for Take Our Daughters to Work Day on April 25, 2002.
Here are the testers and classmates using the crane.
Here are links to the rest of the class projects.
First Iteration:
Even though we would have liked to make the crane activity more challenging or interesting, our main focus for the next group of testers was to fix the steering mechanism of the crane. The first crane was too hard for one child to use alone.
For this change, we took off the spools used to retract and release the strings in the x and y-directions. For this steering, we used one arm that moved in a radial fashion with a slider to go along the radius of the arm. This allowed for easier use, but the mechanism is still challenging to control. We are keeping the same type of "fishing for nuts and washers" activity, but hopefully, the kids will be able to use it more easily, from there we will decide on the kind of activity we will make for them to use.
Second Testers:
On Thursday, 25 April, 2002, about 15 girls arrived for Take Our Daughters to Work Day. The girls were split into groups of 2 or 3 and sent to test the activities. The steering proved to be much more manageable. We decided that we would like the children to learn several things from the activity. We would like them to figure out how the steering mechanism works and how to use it to do our activity. The radial motion crane described above requires that the child think about how the machine works before he or she can successfully use it. We want them to learn how to use machines, and that you have to know how to use machines before you can do some things.
Our testers (and classmates) are pictured here.
One of the testers said that the activity was "hard." When asked if she thought if it was hard or challenging, she said "challenging." To me, this means that she was thinking about how to operate the crane while doing the activity.
Next time, for Moving 4th into Engineering, we'll have a maze to navigate the crane through. Maybe at the end of the maze the child could complete the task and win a small prize from the maze.
Second Iteration:
The maze. We constructed the maze out of cardboard. It wasn't very aesthetic, but it is functional with our maze. We glued the joints together so they wouldn't slip apart during use. It should be more durable and challenging for the next group of testers.
Third Testers:
Moving 4th Into Engineering, 27 April, 2002. Our testers today were more interested than the tests from last week. The maze that we created was more challenging than the skill crane design of last time. The testers responded to the concept of a maze with a start and finish better than they did with picking up random objects. The maze required navigation, and that the students know how the mechanisms of the crane work. While most students are used to the XY type controllers of video games, our crane moves in polar circular coordinates, which and less intuitive and require more skill.
Pictures of the third testers are here.
Plans for Final Design:
For our final crane project, we plan to make a duplicate of the crane we have. The two cranes will be placed side by side and operated by two different people. Under one crane will be a maze built with a series of arcs, which will be very easy to navigate. Under the second crane we will place a maze with several straight lines, which will be more difficult to complete. The participants will be asked to navigate the crane through each maze, picking up metal objects located in the maze. When both mazes are completed, the participant will be asked which maze was easier to use.
The maze of the series of arcs should be easier to use because the navigation is radial. From this, we hope that students will learn about crane engineering, circular coordinates, and spatial mechanics.
The final design of our project will also be neat and aesthetic.