12/4/19: Rapid Prototyping (TED Ed)
Google Glass allows you to look at digital images overlaid over your real world vision, like a cellphone. It only took one day to prototype the design for the google glass. A projector, plexiglass and a coat-hanger (common everyday items) were all that was needed to build the most basic of prototype for the google glass. They took an idea from a movie “Minority Report”, and used it to solve their technical problems, which only took 45 minutes and some more common materials. Google succeeded at marketing the Google Glass not because they were effective, but also because they made their product appealing to the public through prototyping and testing, a lot of testing which came from basic objects the engineers found in the world around them. This video taught me that for this prototyping project, we shouldn’t worry about using complex materials, or having more time, since the people who developed Google Glass, a technologically complex appliance, were able to do so within a day, and they were able to use influences from simple things like movies they saw. It is also important to focus on the visual appeal/comfort of our design, since they said that was also important for their success in the long run. Also, this type of thinking by engineers to find new solutions to problems, “expansive thinking” is something that can be applied not just to technology, but also so many other fields.
12/9/19:Phone Holder Design Project
Today, after about a week of work, my partner Kenny Baek and I finished designing our cardboard phone holder. We made it a landscape phone stand that you slide your phone into, and that also has a speaker amplifier on the side. We traced the outline of the phone case three times and folded it to create the triangular base. We then traced the phone case outline, and then the phone outline, and used the space in between as a buffer to go over the phone once inserted. We also traced and cut out a semi circle to put under the phone holder, since it kept falling over, We used three trapezoids and a square to create our forwards-focused speaker cone, and finally, we laser printer and hot-glued the school seal onto the back of the holder. We cut all of the pieces out of cardboard wit hand tools, and we glued everything together with hot glue, with the exception of the speaker module, which we taped together. We also used sharpie to write on our own little funny ideas, like “JBL” on the speaker module. Below are our concept sketches, out draft measurements, and the different viewpoints of our final design.
12/11/19: Fourth Industrial Revolution (World Economic Forum)
The third revolution centered around computers and communications technology, and the ability to use computer engines to perform complex and high-power tasks. The fourth revolution is the next phase of that, which is bringing together digital, physical, and biological systems to change and improve humans ourselves. It is also studying the human body and brain, and analyzing the effects of different things. Goal to become as efficient and safe as possible as a human race in order to preserve the environment and ourselves. Questioning on how to share wealth when computers are taking jobs. Advancements in human learning as well. Curing previous incurable human ailments is part of this revolution. More freedom of thought has fueled this revolution. Redefinement of human ideals and philosophies.
I can use this knowledge of the fourth revolution in this course to understand that the technology we are learning in this course and in school in general can be applied to much larger topics, and that the way you think about technology and innovation shaped what you are capable of. The example of the young guy who didn’t go to college but still was able to improve the corn growing industry by watching Youtube videos gave me the inspiration that you should never limit yourself or your own achievements by thinking you aren’t qualified enough to work in a certain field yet. Finally, this video enlightened me on the fact that this revolution is based on making technology more efficient rather than necessarily new all the time, which means that I could and should build upon previous ideas when working on class projects.
Household Item Design Project
1/6/20
Defining the Problem + Brainstorming: Today we started to design our household item project, an item that should solve a problem in the household, be novel, or be well crafted and creative. We decided to design an over-the-door basketball hoop, which would make playing basketball easy and accessible to all, no matter their physical/mental ailments, or their lack of time in their schedule.
1/7/20
Brainstorming + Designing Sketches: Below are the sketches and measurements of all of the parts we will need for our project. design is an important part of the prototyping phase, and it was important to take this day to focus on the dynamics and measurements of our project.
1/9/20
Attaining Feedback + Brainstorming: Today we presented our project idea to the class, and we received creative criticism from the class and from Mr. Brodie. We were told, that among other things, our design needed to be more novel, and adaptable. Adding on to this, one specific suggestion we received from Jacob Lee was to add the feature that you can switch out the rim for a trash bin or laundry bin, which would add more practical purposes to our design.
Identifying Problem and Constraints: The challenge presented to Kenny and I was to design an object that would have a unique and marketable use for Lawrenceville life. The constraints of this challenge include the time constraint of us only having until the end of the term, the resources constraint of us only using what is available in the lab (or else we must order those parts ourself), and the additional resource/time constraint of us having to share the tools and materials in the lab with our other classmates.
1/13/20
Designing and Developing: Today we started to design the Rhino 3d sketch of our project design for the basketball hoop, making sure to follow the measurements we defined earlier. Our progress is shown below:
1/14/20
Designing and Developing: Today we continued to work on our 3d design prototyping, and we are less than a class period away from finishing up. We also discussed with Mr. Brodie that it would be best to start the actual physical building process next class period as well.
1/16/20
Developing + Prototyping: Today we started building our first physical prototype of our basketball hoop design project. We decided to build our prototype out of cardboard for ease of construction, management of waste, and just because we would be able to use cardboard for all the parts of our prototype, without the need for any supplement, except for the paper backboard square we used.
1/20/20
Testing + Improving: Today we finished up designing our initial prototype, and we tested the functionality of it by hanging it over a classroom door and practicing shooting shots with crumpled balls of paper, pencils, etc. We plan on working to identify and flaws in the current design, as well as trying to find any improvements/innovations we could add to the design in order to make it novel and unique to us.
1/21/20
Attaining Feedback + Designing: Today we decided to consider all of the suggestions we got from Mr. Brodie and the class on both our presentation and our prototype in order to design our final project. Today, we focused solely on the designing of the dimensions and materials that we would use in building our final project. We realized that it may not be possible to craft all of our parts in the tech room/GCAD lab, so we left the option open to order some parts on amazon.
1/23/20
Brainstorming + Planning: Today we spent the majority of our time looking for backup parts that we could order on amazon if we could not design them ourselves in the class. We consulted Mr. Brodie, and he told us that it would not be necessary to order any parts other that the laundry and trash bags that we would switch out with the actual net, and
1/28/20
Designing and Developing: Today we continued to develop the Rhino model for our backboard face, the sketch that we plan to have engraved onto the face of our backboard using the laser printer. This is a 2d sketch, so that only the surface will be engraved. We plan to be completed with this step in the process by next the end of the next class period.
1/30/20
Designing and Developing: Today we finished our backboard face 2d model, and we incorporated the Lawrenceville seal onto it, which we got from a file sent to us by Mr. Brodie. In addition to that, we also ordered a laundry bag from Amazon to use as the net that will hold dirty laundry shot into the basket.
2/3/20
Planning and Organization/Calculation of Costs:
*will be updated over time* In order to calculate all of the costs of the materials we used, we decided to take this class period to track all of the materials that we used and all of the cost that we knew:
PLA Plastic: $0.05 per cubic centimeter: https://www.toybuilderlabs.com/blogs/news/13055597-material-cost-for-printing
Plywood: $600 per cubic meter: https://www.fdmasia.com/index.php/bnf/item/524-plywood-prices-going-up
Copper: $9 per square foot: https://www.angieslist.com/articles/how-much-does-copper-roofing-cost.htm
Backboard: 24″x18″x(2×0.22)”= 0.003 cubic meters of plywood: $1.80 Rim Hooks: *about* (2×1.5×0.5)(x8)”= 197 cubic centimeters of PLA plastic: $9.85 Rim: ((36-25)π+(4×4))x(2×0.22)”= 0.0003 cubic meters of plywood: $0.18 Laundry Net: $4.69 Over-door Hooks: (2×8)”= 0.1 square inches of copper: $0.90 Masking tape roll (for construction): $5.64 Super glue (for construction): $4.89
Total cost per hoop: $27.95
Selling price: $35.00
Revenue: $7.05 = 25%
Developing:
Today we also etched our 2d model of the backboard face onto a draft piece of plywood in order to judge our design.
Final Design Project
For my final project, I plan on finishing up the basketball hoop design that Kenny and I started for our previous project. This is an individual project, however, so I will be finishing the hoop while Kenny works on a separate project.
2/4/20
Planning and Developing: The next step that I took today in the design process was designing the rim on Rhino to be laser cut twice-over out of plywood and attached to the backboard. I plan to cut out the wood twice so that the rim will be sturdy enough to support the weight of a full laundry bag at its maximum capacity. I also used guidelines to make sure the rim would be aligned and to scale with the backboard.
2/6/20
Designing: The next step in the process was to transfer the outlines of both the rim and the backboard onto a separate file in order to design the laser cutouts. I decided to use a puzzle layout to connect the rim and the backboard at a 90 degree angle, and I had to make sure the sections on the backboard puzzle were as inwards as twice the height of the rim plywood, or 0.44″
2/13/20
Brainstorming: This class period, I decided to lay out all of the pieces I knew I would have to cut out of wood, which included two copies of the rim, the backboard, and two hooks that I may possibly cut out of plywood. I created this file in order to figure out how to optimize my printing time and reduce waste.
2/17/20
Designing: Today I made my first model of the hook that I might use to connect the laundry bag/ net/ trash can to the rim of the hoop. I plan on 3d printing about eight of these, to balance out the distribution of the pull of the weight of the laundry or collected waste.
2/18/20
Designing+Collaboration/Feedback: Today I consulted Mr. Brodie about the design of my hooks, and he gave me tips on how to make the design more effective, which included trying to curve the edges. With the help of my previous partner Kenny and Mr. Brodie, we figured out how to curve the edges on 3d models.
2/20/20
Designing+Organization: During this class period, I took the time to go back and alter the sheet of laser cut objects, including centering the backboard model on a sheet, adding holes for the hooks on the rim, and removing the door hooks, because I am leaning towards bending them our of metal. I had also rounded out the curves on the hook design in a smoother way than how they were in the previous class period, but the computer crashed at the end of class, and it was unclear if Mr. Brodie was able to save the file or not.
Constraints and problem statement: No change to these as this is merely a continuation of the project Kenny and I embarked on in the past.
2/24/20:
Designing: Today I had to recreate the hook model, as, unfortunately, it was lost from the computer issue that occurred last class. Once I finished my re-design, I also rendered the 3d modeled hook that would be attached to the rim to hold up laundry or trash bags, for the purpose of being able to view the design and show it to Mr. Brodie since the 3d printer was being used already.
2/25/20: Final Day
Finalization+Designing+Reflection: Today was the final class period to work on the project, so I made sure to utilize this time diligently and effectively. Today I assembled a 3d model of my basketball hoop to see if the pieces would integrate together smoothly, which they did. Also, since we did not have enough time or resources to bend the door hooks out of metal, Mr. Brodie suggested that I just 3d model them into the design. I sandwiched the door hooks between the two panels of the backboard, and I would have made them out of copper if given the opportunity to.
