THINGS WE DID

• Toy Concepts
• Newspaper Structure
• Role Mole
• Manufacturing Project
• Garfield's Six-Pack Holder
• Toy Transporter
• Outreach Activity Box For Engineering Education

TOY CONCEPTS

Assignment: Through this exercise we were to create three toy concepts for children that showed a physical principal.

My concepts were:

• Rocket Launcher
• Spinning Top
• The Energy Track

Learned that:

• it is hard to come up with original ideas that you are satisified with
• engineering itself is mainly taking what other people have done and building upon it adding your own ideas in where you see fit
• knowing how to present doesn't come naturally

NEWSPAPRE STRUCTURE

Assignment: The task of each team is to design a free standing structure made of newspaper, in which the entire team can stand upright together. The structure must enclose the team on all sides as well as above. It does not need to have a floor. The team must be able to enter and exit the intact structure. Each team will be allocated one roll of masking tape and 1/12 of the newspaper that I have collected.Each team will work in a separate place. By the end of this class, each team must give me construction drawings and instructions for their structure. The drawings, plus the unused newspaper and masking tape, must be sufficient to construct the structure as designed. All newspaper that has been used to construct prototypes, which cannot be returned to its original folded state, will be recycled immediately.

Learned that: when making directions on how to build something you need to be very, very specific about everything.

Assignment: The task of each team is to build the free standing structure designed by another team using their instructions, their remaining newspaper and tape. You may not talk to anyone who is not on your team.

Learned that:

• it's hard to build something exactly the way it was designed
• when building someone else's design you always tend to add some of your own ideas

Learned that:

• teamwork is one of the most important things when working in a group
• newspaper can be pretty sturdy
• you should never give up

ROLE MOLE

Assignment: Role Mole has a problem. He's always losing his glasses. He either forgets where he placed them or he forgets to bring them with him when he goes out. He needs something that will enable him to have his glasses on his body wherever he goes. He does not like those silly string attachments that go around the neck like a necklace. It makes him look like a librarian. He wants something chic.

My solution to this problem (which I'm modeling in the above pictures) was to take a visor which I attached hair bands on each side of the head (just about above each ear). The idea was that when Role Mole didn't feel like wearing his glasses he could place them so they rested on his ears and the brim of the visor and were secured by the hair bands.

Learned:

• turning an idea into a physical thing is harder than it seems
• materials can make (or break) an idea

MANUFACTURING PROJECT

Assignment: The class was broken into groups and each group was to do research on a different rapid prototyping method. Each group was to give a presentation on what they found out about their process and also create a web page containing all their information. My group and I worked on Shape Deposition Manufacturing.

Learned:

• when researching you need to explore all options to obtain the information you are looking for
• how to present as a group
• that the information you are looking for is not always out there to find

GARFIELD'S SIX-PACK HOLDER

Assignment: Garfield has been invited to a picnic. He was asked to bring six cans of soda. Garfield has a problem. He does not have anything to carry the six cans in. He does not want to miss the picnic because he heard that there will be lasagne there, but he cannot show up empty handed either. He needs your help. Here are some of Garfield's criteria:

The holder will be made out of cardboard. His owner, John, will provide you with the cardboard. Use as little cardboard as possible because the more money John saves, the more dessert he can buy for Garfield. Keep track of the amount of cardboard you use. This may mean making simple sketches with dimensions of the pieces used. Garfield does not like glue or tape. No glue or tape is allowed. Only cardboard. Garfield would like a classy, well-made holder too. There might be someone he wants to impress at the picnic. The holder should allow Garfield to have one free hand to hold Odie's leash. When Garfield and Odie are happy, they like to skip. Garfield does not want the cans too fall out if the holder is swung. Make certain that they are secure.

It is hard to see from the picture how this holder actually works so here is a description; There are tabs of cardboard that actually fit into the little hole on a can of soda, these tabs then go into a slit where they are secured.

Learned that:

• cardboard can be hard to work with and breaks easier when cut one way than the other
• ideas generally look better, and work better, in your head
• when creating an original idea you have to deal all the problems of creating and original idea

TOY TRANSPORTER

Assignment: This is Tabo. He is one very spoiled child. His parents treat him like a king. He has many toys. Whenever Tabo goes out, he likes to bring as many toys as he can to show them off to the other kids. Tabo is not as strong as the big boys though, so he wants something that he can transport his toys in, without having to carry them. Here's what Tabo wants:

Tabo is not only weak - he is lazy too, so he doesn't want to carry anything and doesn't want to pull too hard (so if you use wheels, be sure they are really smooth). The transporter should hold at least .03 cubic meters of toys. When Tabo is not playing, he would like to sit down and eat an ice cream cone. So, Tabo would like his toy transporter also to serve as a seat.

Tabo is 1 meter tall and weighs 20 kilos. Make sure the transporter you build is appropriate for his height and will support his weight when he sits on it.

You can use scavanged materials to build the transporter for Tabo, but remember that he's spoiled and he expects only the best.

Learned that:

• it is best to work with materials that you are familiar with
• it is sometimes hard to find the materials you want (especially when they have to be scavanged)
• you always need to test your design to make sure it meets all of the requirements

OUTREACH ACTIVITY BOX FOR ENGINEERING EDUCATION

Assignment: For your final project, you must design and build an activity box that someone could take into an elementary or junior high school classroom to teach the students something about engineering.

The activity should

• engage the students in an engineering activity,
• teach them something about what engineers do,
• appeal to all types of children (not just competitive children who like to blow things up),
• engage about 30 children simultaneously,
• be safe,
• durable, and suitable for an indoor classroom,
• employ principles of universal design, and
• be transportable in a compact car.

You have two primary clients:

• The faculty members who do outreach activities and
• The children in the classrooms

Secondary clients are the teachers in the schools - who like to have help with science and engineering activities for their students, but who would like their classrooms to be left in reasonable order and would like their students to be enthusiastic, but not hyper, when the activity is over. Tertiary clients are the various engineering fields, represented by the engineering societies, that would like to educate the general public about engineering and to interest children in engineering as a potential profession.The activity box can include ready-made things such as popsicle sticks or legos, but at least one part must be made on one of the rapid manufacturing technologies we have studied. Each team has a budget of $100.

For this project we needed to start at the very begining with a lot of brainstorming. Our group decided to create DANGER MAN (sometimes refered to as clayman). For this project we needed to present our ideas (formally and informally), write proposals, make a prototype, and then work on the final design. This took a lot of work and time. We also had a test child (Sonic) to gather more information on the pros and cons of our design. Pictures of Sonic playing with Danger Man.

Learned that:

• delegating tasks gets the job done more efficiently
• finding the right materials for the job takes a significant amount of time and research
• user testing opens doors in project perception
• you never really know how something works until you build a prototype and try it out
• you need to know when to give up on an idea and start all over again
• when writing direction for kids you need to be overly specific
• there's always something more to do

beam me back up