The first project that I chose was the NASA Crane engineering challenge. The purpose of this project was to attempt to create a crane from materials provided, but lift the most weight. We also took ratings on how efficient the design was, the look of the design, and the strength of the design. We first looked at the need of the project. NASA is wanting to, in the future, bring cranes to the moon to extract different materials. The problem would be getting it there. They need a crane that will be capable of lifting very heavy amounts, but at the same time not take that many materials so it can be easier transported.
The first thing me and my partner Matthew did was brainstormed ideas about what the design could be. We made a few rough sketches of cranes that we thought would work best and took the best ideas from each of the and put them together. The next step in the engineering design process was to start creating it. The materials we used were cardboard, 3 pencils, string, a paper clip. 5 cups to hold the weight, and duct tape. Throughout a few days, we successfully created our crane. Now it was time to test.
Our group was 3rd to go so we had time to see what was going wrong with other people’s cranes and we did not think our crane was going to have those problems. We were testing to see how many batteries we could lift. A problem we ran into midway while testing was that it was hard to turn the crank that we made out of a pencil. We lifted over 150 batteries but then our crank broke. We concluded that if we were to retest that we would make a stronger and more accessible crank. I like getting to do this project hands on, I liked that I got a good partner, and I liked how my crane was one of the best ones out of both classes.
If we were doing this project again, I would make the class focus on one project at a time instead of doing multiple things. The second thing I would change is, although I got a good partner, I think we should be able to pick our groups for once. Lastly, I would let the groups get a few more materials so they can see how good their crane design really is. Egg Drop Design Our egg drop design challenge was put out by the college UT Martin. This was a district wide competition. The rules were that you had to make a design that is light as can be and will protect an egg falling from 28 ? feet.
Also, the design had to be able to fit in a 5 inch by 5 inch box. This project was to see how efficient you can make a design and challenge students to think deeper about what they are making. This was to help students go through the engineering design process to help them decide what they can fix and how to record their data. My partner Wyatt and I, started to draw down some ideas. At first we were going to just make a box and essentially just put sponges and spring in it. Then we decided that we wanted to make a design that stood out and was different from the majority of the class.
To start, we thought about what else we could do rather than just a box. Finally, we decided that our design was going to start with a cube of popsicle sticks, then suspended in the middle of the cube by straws was a smaller device to protect the egg from ever hitting the ground. Our plan was that the straws would absorb the shock from the fall and the egg would not ever touch the ground. After we made the design, we made a mistake by making it too big, so we weren’t able to bring it to the competition, but we still were going to test it.
On impact to the ground the glue from the hot glue gun the we used to hold the pieces in place, broke off and caused the egg to hit the ground. We concluded that if we were going to try this again, we would make stronger connections with the pieces. I enjoyed having one of my friends in the project with me and being able to make a design that no one else did. I also enjoyed that, after the egg broke, that there was no mess to clean up after it because it was in a plastic bag. The first thing that I would change would be to let us focus on one project at a time.
The second thing would be to make other people think of different things than a box. The final change I would make would be to let us make changes and retest from the actual height. Bridge Design The bridge design contest, which was our most recent contest, we also put on by UT Martin. Because we started this project a little too late, we did not bring any bridges to the actual contest, but we still followed most of the guidelines that they came up with. The goal was to make a bridge that could hold the most weight but also it needed to be light.
The bridge had to span over 48 inches. My partners were Kat and Ema. At first, we started to think of designs to make a bridge. Our first design, after calculating how much wood it was going to take, came out to be a very large amount of wood that we could not use. Even though we trashed the idea, we kept the base idea that we had because it was pretty efficient. After around two more designs, we came up with a bridge that would not take that much wood and we believed that it would hold a good amount of weight.
The first thing we did was cut out all of our pieces that we needed to create the bridge, this took a long time to calculate and to cut the right size pieces. At the same time of us finishing cutting all our of pieces, a new rule came into play that we could create smaller bridges to span over 12 inches. We cut every piece we had into ? of the size. We began creating our design but due to the glue not being very good and a lack of time, we did not finish. We still tested our design and it ended up being one of the best bridges that was made in our class.
We decided that if we would have tried this again, we would use our time more wisely. I liked how we were able to make our own design, and how we could use a good amount of wood to create it. I also liked that we were not rushed to do this project. One thing that I would change is that we need to focus on one project at a time. This would allow us to make better designs. I would also change the type of glue that we used because it did not hold very well. The last thing that I would change is that I would like to pick my partners in the competition.