Creative Engineering
In the creative engineering project our groups had to find a problem in the world, research and do what we could to solve it. My group decided to research a problem that does not sound like much though when we researched it, it had turned out to be a huge problem. Our problem was "Shoes Coming Untied." Yes, it does not sound like much however when my team researched the problem we came up some severe problems.
-The U.S. has recorded that 2400 injuries have occurred due to a person's shoelace being caught in an escalator. The reason they did not pull their shoe out of the escalator is because the shoelace, as it was being pulled in, became so tight that their foot was stuck
-Farmer dragged into grain grinder due to caught shoelace
-Man gets shoelace caught in gas pedal causing him to accelerate and crash
-Man has shoelace caught on a rock while rock climbing and falls, causing him to break his legs and several other bones
We were shocked to see the amount of injuries caused by this problem. So we invented something using a 3-D model. Then we actually produced the product.
The "Knot Knob is designed to have a band/spring/magnet attached to the bottom so that the knob would lock over the shoelace to keep it from moving.
-The U.S. has recorded that 2400 injuries have occurred due to a person's shoelace being caught in an escalator. The reason they did not pull their shoe out of the escalator is because the shoelace, as it was being pulled in, became so tight that their foot was stuck
-Farmer dragged into grain grinder due to caught shoelace
-Man gets shoelace caught in gas pedal causing him to accelerate and crash
-Man has shoelace caught on a rock while rock climbing and falls, causing him to break his legs and several other bones
We were shocked to see the amount of injuries caused by this problem. So we invented something using a 3-D model. Then we actually produced the product.
The "Knot Knob is designed to have a band/spring/magnet attached to the bottom so that the knob would lock over the shoelace to keep it from moving.
All of our projects at STEM have incorporated something called the engineering design cycle.
1)Identify the need- Shoelaces coming untied
2)Research the problem- Found many fatal injuries due to this problem
3)Develop possible solutions- We tried different knots, materials and bindings
4)Pick the most promising- We decided to pick the binding solution
5)Construct a prototype- Used a 3 dimensional program to create our invention, then used a 3-D printer to make it
6)Test and evaluate prototype
7)Communicate the design- We would try to contact Adidas, Nike, Puma, etc.
8)Redesign
9)Repeat
(Sadly in our span of time, we were not able to complete all the steps in our project)
Reflection
I loved this project, it was nice for the teacher to let us find a problem and then let us solve it. Every group that I watched had great ideas, and ways to solve their problems. In this project I gained the skill to use a 3-D modeling program and the ability to research a problem in new ways to get the answers I want. I have mentioned before that no group is perfect, but this group was close. My group had the ability to take a problem no one thought about and turn it into a problem people should look out for. My group had fun completing the solution to this problem and I feel like we came up with the right solution to solve. Though we did lack the ability to stay on task the entire 2 hours per day, we were rushed to complete the power point at the end. We also had a hard time figuring out the 3-D modeling program too. I feel like my group could have done more with this project if given more time. We could have done our best to revise and rebuild or prototype to the point that we could bring to a large company and see what their thoughts were on it. Although, society does not seem to take kindly to young adults with large mouths and ideas that they could use on their own.
1)Identify the need- Shoelaces coming untied
2)Research the problem- Found many fatal injuries due to this problem
3)Develop possible solutions- We tried different knots, materials and bindings
4)Pick the most promising- We decided to pick the binding solution
5)Construct a prototype- Used a 3 dimensional program to create our invention, then used a 3-D printer to make it
6)Test and evaluate prototype
7)Communicate the design- We would try to contact Adidas, Nike, Puma, etc.
8)Redesign
9)Repeat
(Sadly in our span of time, we were not able to complete all the steps in our project)
Reflection
I loved this project, it was nice for the teacher to let us find a problem and then let us solve it. Every group that I watched had great ideas, and ways to solve their problems. In this project I gained the skill to use a 3-D modeling program and the ability to research a problem in new ways to get the answers I want. I have mentioned before that no group is perfect, but this group was close. My group had the ability to take a problem no one thought about and turn it into a problem people should look out for. My group had fun completing the solution to this problem and I feel like we came up with the right solution to solve. Though we did lack the ability to stay on task the entire 2 hours per day, we were rushed to complete the power point at the end. We also had a hard time figuring out the 3-D modeling program too. I feel like my group could have done more with this project if given more time. We could have done our best to revise and rebuild or prototype to the point that we could bring to a large company and see what their thoughts were on it. Although, society does not seem to take kindly to young adults with large mouths and ideas that they could use on their own.