As Project Collision shifted due to the Covid-19 virus from a collaborative school project to an individual home project, a big challenge that I faced was a lack of materials and not enough testing space.

To overcome this challenge, I used whatever material that I can find to make a parachute that fits my design. During this period, I think the appropriate mindset is that we cannot focus on being very precise on everything. The goal is to test and analyze, then make a decision.

Before this project, I used to think that all parachute works the same way, now I think different types of chute work better in different circumstances. For example, the bigger parachute can create more air resistance than smaller parachutes, but it loses some of its accuracies due to the amount of air resistance it creates.

Looking back on Collision, I learned that support your claim with evidence is very critical because it makes your claim more solid so it could convince people about your decisions on the design.

To show data means you did reliable tests and analyzed the results. One area where data supported my thinking was the average drop speed of my iteration 2; it helped me because it clearly showed how iteration 2 did better than iteration 1.

According to the MarketsandMarkets’s graph, it shows that there will be a significant growth rate in the APAC – consisted of China, Japan, South Korea, and the rest of the APAC market during 2018–2024, because these countries are expected to commercialize delivery robots developed by them. Because of the virus outbreak, we are forced to stay at our home. This means that we will have to build parachute and adjust it into a better iteration.

Team DJBT is going to design a parachute that can sufficiently reduce the vertical falling speed of a parcel that weighs around 400 grams to 3-5 meters per second. To make sure there will be no damage to the wares inside. And to be confident with the accuracy of the drop. We need to make sure that the package has to drop inside a radius of 30 centimeters, starting from the destination because this is the standard

My partner and I have been researching a question about how does the size of a parachute affects air resistance? The reason we are continuously digging deeper into this topic is that we need to renew our knowledge of making parachute and air resistance. Which means, the key to making a higher quality parachute is to make iterations and modifications.

Although I lack resources, I can still make something out of what had in front of me. The first version was made out of a canvas bag, with a radius of 44 centimeters. For the suspension line, I used some thin kite string to replace the fishing line. The first version of the parachute used 220 centimeters of kite string in total; 55 centimeters per strand. The second iteration I made had some changes to it. For example, I changed the material of the parachute to thin cloth from the canvas bag. And, due to an increase in the area of the chute; the suspension line increased to 1 meter, which means it used 4 meters of string altogether.

Picture on the left version 1:                                 Box dimension  :                                                                        Material: Canvas bag and kite string                length: 15.5 cm

diameter: 44 cm                                                            width: 24 cm

suspension line length: 55cm                                height: 7.5 cm

Picture on the right version 2 :

Material: Thin cloth and kite string

diameter: 44 cm

suspension line length: 1 m

X1= iteration testing drops Y1= corresponding drop’s maximum speed

X2= iteration 1 and 2’s average Y2=corresponding drop’s average speed

Conclusion:

Looking after my two iterations’ results, I think that the 88 cm diameter one is better. The data clearly show that the bigger (the independent variable – the diameter of parachute). The more air resistance it will create, and (the dependent variable–the longer it will stay in air).

Which means the velocity decreases, it also verified my research information in blog post 1. It says the size of the parachute affects the speed of falling by displacing more air; causing it to fall slowly. Giant parachute will displace or push against more air, which will slow down a falling object.

My testing shows an average of 4.802 meters per-second. And a range from 3.955 to 5.664 meters per second. The graph shows a gradual decrease on the speed of iteration 2 with every drop.

I think this is because each time I try to drop it from a higher place, so it would have a longer time to spread out the parachute mid-air. Falling from a more top place may risk the possibility of affecting the accuracy of the drop.

Apparently, wind is stronger in the higher altitude, so if we drop a package very high up air turbulences will affect the accuracy. But as for a bigger chute like mine it will dispatch more air, or push against more air. So then it will create a great amount of air resistance.

For Project Collision, I think it is most beneficial if we use a bigger parachute.

After modifying the variables that have been constrained by unusual circumstances, we are now on the stage of preparing for the experimental drop phase with a parachute. With new adjusted variables, we’ll need to revise our data procedures and edit our data table and reset some of the criteria we set before the process of building the parachute.

In case you forgot what the purpose of our delivery is, we are going to restate the use of Project Collision. We, DJBT is a delivery company that is focusing on small electronics from smartphones to tablets, we promise our customers that they will be able to receive their package within a radius of 30 centimeters inside the targeted destination. There won’t damage dealt with delivery from a 3.82 meter or above drop. Therefore, we will need to secure the air resistance the parachute is going to make is sufficient enough to slow down the falling speed, which will ensure a soft landing.

As part of the team contribution, my partner Harry and I have been researching how the size of the parachute affects the drag/air resistance of the falling object. If we were to follow the original project procedures, we are supposed to record down the parachute analysis. And put it into the data table, however, because of exceptional conditions. The team is forced to move on with the project more independently. This means we will have to modify the variables, evaluate new constraints to the project, and estimate new challenges all by our self. For me, I practically changed every base variable. First of all, I changed the height of the drop from 5 meters to 3.82 meters. Thus, I can only find one box at my house. I’ll have to deal with it, the dimensions of this box are much smaller than the one originally, we are going to use. Second of all, I changed the object we are going to put inside the box to represent small electronics, from books to plastic water bottle with measured amount inside that’ll weigh the box to approximately 400 grams. Third of all, which is the most critical part. I have decided that light and large enough canvas can be used to build the parachute, instead of plastic bags. The most challenging part of building this parachute for me is that I need to find something that can substitute for suspension lines. Although I am facing a lack of materials situation, I will find a way to solve this problem eventually.

Data procedure:

1. Bring a device that can record and the box with parachute on.
2. Set up the device where it can record the whole drop
3. Make sure no one is near the drop zone
4. Put the box on the cabinet near the staircase handle edge
5. Push the box down the cabinet
6. After the box landed stop the recording
7. Repeat the process a minimum of thrice before switching parachute size.

Dimensions of the box:

Length: 15.5 cm

height: 24 cm

width: 7.5 cm

My team and I DJBT are currently in the progress of completing step two in the process of designing the parachute for our delivery system. These are the criteria we want to accomplish on our final product; soft landing, which secures no damage to the delivery, also we decided that the accuracy of the product should be within a radius of 30 centimeters.

Here is a summary of step two in the process. After my partner and I completed our research question, which is what is the best size of the parachute and taken down a sufficient number of notes, how will the right-sized parachute affect the drag/air resistance? For phase two in Project Collision, is that we need to use our knowledge and the information we learned from our research question to put it into our thinking of the design of the parachute.

Using the formula, I learned from uidaho.edu, I calculated the radius circular parachute, and the most recent prediction, which is the best we had decided upon for the radius of the parachute, is 44 centimeters. According to the University of Leicester, one of the top 25 universities in the world, the more area contacting more air molecules, the more air resistance is formed. So, I did some calculations of the surface area on a circular parachute and rectangular parachute – which have the same length for one’s diameter and the other’s length. I compared the results, which clearly shows the difference, the circular chute’s surface area is much larger than the rectangular one. So, our initial design should be a circular parachute with a radius of 44 centimeters.

Data Procedure  

1. Set up the camera/Ipad VERTICALLY so it can see the entire drop area. (Align the bottom line of the landing zone with the bottom part of the camera) 

1. Make sure the landing zone is clear. 

1. Turn on the dropping-machine (turn on the main board first, then the controller) 

1. Put the box to the hanger 

1. Start recording before drop 

1. Drop the parachute when people say, “Chicken Nugget” (R button Up, D button Down) 

1. Stop recording once the parachute is dropped on the floor. 

1. Airdrop/upload the recording file to computer. 

1. Measure the radius from the mid-point (in cm) 

1. Insert video into LoggerPro. 

1. Record the data on a data table 

1. Repeat 3 times per variable 

Do you know there are 250 sets of autonomous Starship delivery robots already operating on the streets? (according to The Verge) The human delivery system is not as efficient as it could be. But a robot can be more productive and precise. People buy stuff online, but sometimes it doesn’t arrive on time, and the quality compared to the price is unworthy.
This is why humans created an autonomous robot delivery system. For example, a famous American online shopping company has developed an independent drone delivery system; which is called Prime Air. Their first successful drone delivery was on December 7, 2016. This proves that it is possible.

My team and I are going to design a product that can deliver small electronics from smartphones to iPad minis. We promise to our customers that there will be no damage to the order, so it needs to have a soft landing. And the dropping accuracy must be inside a radius of 30 centimeters. To have a precise drop and a soft landing. We need to decrease the velocity of the falling object to around 3-5 meters per second. So, our team DJBT came up with a solution; we are going to design a parachute my responsibility in the group is to research for the right size of parachute for a product that is approximately 400 grams.

The final chute must fulfill our criteria. I have been researching and taking notes down on the question of how the size of a parachute affects the air resistance of the free-falling object; this is the research question my partner and I have been investigating on for days. This are some of the notes I wrote down: because of air resistance, and more friction will be formed. The more area contacting air molecules; the more air resistance will be created. Also, according to the UCSB Science line; the size of the parachute affects the speed of falling by displacing more air; causing it to fall slowly. Giant parachute will displace or push against more air, which will slow down a falling object.

Before we design an appropriate parachute for our product. We need to know the maximum speed of a vertical free-falling object. And this is the purpose of Drop 0. We first recorded the whole process of the free-falling box; then, we put it in an app called Logger Pro. We analyzed the maximum vertical free-falling speed, then calculate all the other relevant collections of data – median;  average, and etc. Last we put it into our data table.

      Here is the data we collected on Drop 0:
Average speed: 4.7065 m/s
Terminal speed: 9.152181504 m/s
Slowest speed: 0 m/s
Bounces: 1
Time was taken to hit the ground: 0.768 sec
Time was taken for the box to settle: 0.901 sec
Accuracy: landed in a radius of 30 cm
Collision side: bottom side

Landed side: Left side

Later on, when we build out the parachute, we can compare the data to see if the speed decreased. The second step of this project is to put all of our research information together and design parachute that can decrease the velocity to3-5 meters per second.

Three things I did well during the process of creating my door decoration were cutting the parts into the right proportion and the right length, also calculating the the dimensions correctly. One thing I learned from this group project is that don’t waste too much time on making details perfect, the time to make details perfect is after you finish creating the general look of it. One thing I’d like to change is to stick the duck tape on the back side of our door decoration.

Underground Metropolis of Beijing

It was the noise of the underground electric generator, that had woken Zhao Xin from his dreadful nightmare. “What just happened, where is my daughter, is she feeling better now?” Zhao Xin exclaimed, gasping in horror. After a few minutes, he steeled himself and realized it was just another tortuously nightmare about the sickness of his daughter. He let out a huge relief. Since the week she got sick Zhao Xin had a dream continuously – it was also the week that the household to be lack of resource, every family member had sacrificed a few grams of their straw to clutch at– their few amounts of food, to sustain her life as long as possible.

Of course, they knew this is just a temperate plan to save her life. They need to find a doctor, but these days, doctors barely come out to work since they were already lucky enough to survive from the worldwide nuclear explosion – it was indeed unexpected, but what can you do about it. It was a glorious late November sunny day in the year 2050, and all the media were relentlessly reporting the exorbitant price sustainable nuclear energy robbing. No one knew where the gangster was hiding; citizens anticipate that nothing worse will ignite until the special correspondent’s camera suddenly glitched out, and the live transmission simultaneously terminated. It was as if the world for an instant became a bland void in the galaxy. At that moment, no one knew what happened. They just held their breath for 30 seconds in front of their television without even noticing. Before one’s senses could come back, a terrifying explosion burst through their houses and leaving nothing but only dead but not deadish corpse behind, the radiation was as if a reaper silently taking out life along his casually roam. For the lucky ones, they received the dreadful news, either early enough or just in time to give them time to react to what had happened: The operation failed, and the gangster made a lethal mistake in the elaborating of sustainable nuclear energy, which created a catastrophe that almost wiped out the whole human race. Only a few billion survived, the government forced us to live in the harsh underground condition.

Zhao Xin let out a huge relief. He slowly dragged his weary body off the bed and walked into the dim unlighted living room, he sat in the old couch then opened the old dusted T.V. That had not been used for years. It was surprisingly functional. It made him thought for a moment, when is the last time I watched this old crap? But before he could answer himself, the daily news media interrupted him through his thought. “Good morning! ladies and gentlemen, it’s the Ultimate Proxy News, today we bring you the official news from the government,” The journalist said, the tone a bit mournful. “According to the statistics from the government, we’re going to experience a phase of starvation next month, due to lack of resources.”

This information shocked Zhao Xin as if a concussion had just struck him hard enough to make him lose balance off his feet. “Not again!” shouted not aware that it was only 5 in the morning

“This is the second time in the week, my family is going to starve to death. And at last, I wouldn’t be able to see any of them ever again.” At that point, drops of tears were barely hanging on the rim of his eyes. He knew better; he knew that crying couldn’t solve anything. But he couldn’t restrain himself.

He just can’t.

The very next day was as usual as always. Until death reached over to him again. The tragedy was the loss of his mom. This dreadful news made him felt guilty. “Why! just why! Why can’t we get enough food!” Even though he knew the answer, he still shouted to the depth of his lungs. This middle-aged-young man stood int cremate factory not know what to do for a moment. The smell of dead rotten bodies made Zhao Xin recall the rancid vegetables, which made him felt anxious about the short life before they moved into the underground. The beautiful ranch splendid suddenly came back to him. He wished so desperately when would he get to see that spectacular sight again.

When Zhao Xin got back home with his wife, the weak and weary voice of his four years old sickened daughter called him, “Daddy, can you come over, please? I want to talk to you.” He rushed into her room, answering his daughter.

“Yes, sweetheart, do you have anything to say?” Zhao Xin said with a warm smile, which seemed to obligate.

“Daddy, when can we have pork again, I haven’t had one for eight months.”

“We will buy you some eventually.” knowing that it is not possible anymore, pork has run out for two weeks by now.

“Aww, I wish we were still living on our farm, if we had lived there now, we would have pork whenever we want. When can we raise a piggy again, huh?” This time Zhao Xin didn’t bother to answer her. Instead, he thought about the conversation for a minute.

She’s right; why can’t we grow our meat?

Later on, that day, the idea kept struggling in his brain, he pondered silently in the quarter circle science lab. The lab was small, but it is full of utility functions. There is concrete made a pentagon-shaped table in the middle of the room, and the apparatus are neatly lined up on the shelves on top of the sink along with the labeled substances, a giant periodic table is hanged beside the massive whiteboard. All the lights were dim since the government notices the consumption of the electricity is exceeding their prediction, they formulated an electricity consumption policy; No electricity shall be wasted on charging anyone’s electric device, it is necessary to reduce the utilization of electricity. From now on, the government will regulate the generator to decrease its standard transmission by 15% percent. And there will strict government-official inspections weekly-basis. If we caught anyone illegally exceeding the boundary of 31 watts per week, they would be severely punished and reprimanded. How do we grow it? Zhao Xin pondered carefully; then, he caught a glimpse of the animal cell picture on the wall left of him. Which promptly gave him a crazy idea.

Zhao Xin spent the whole night thinking about how to grow meat. He hadn’t slept for 8 hours, his head felt like an upside-down, his eyes were barely opening, red stripes covering his spread out in his eyes. But the hard work didn’t vain off, his effort finally paid off, when it was 17 sketches, Zhao Xin drew of the animal cell diagram. He took a deep breath, hoping this time the formula is correct. If he had calculated everything with an electronic device, it would have been much quicker, but in reality, it is always that harsh and indifferent. After Zhao Xin ran a check on the formulas and calculations, he concluded with such excitement, “Finally, it’s time; finally, I have a piece of visual evidence, this is the key to survive underground.” Before he even had his breakfast, he dashed out of the science lab, veered toward the threshold, and sprinted down the main street determined, no matter what happens.

Meanwhile, Zhao Xin arrived at a residential area near the grand city hall, and he strolled on the sidewalk, eyes scanning on the house number as he slowly murmured 1123, 1124,1125, 1126, 1127. Then he stopped at the apartment labeled 1128. He hesitated before pushing down the doorbell. After a moment of consideration and pondering, he finally found the courage to push down the doorbell, “I think this is it.” Zhao Xin talked to himself as the sequenced doorbell ringed relentlessly. Before the wave of ringing ended, the door abruptly opened. A man wearing a black supreme T-shirt and a pair of coffee color toned shorts appeared in front of him. Looking at the external features, this man looks like he is at least 48, but in reality, he is only 39 – one of the miracles which were lucky enough to survive from the devastating explosion. Neither of them said a word for five whole minutes. It was the sound of a child inside the house that broke the silence and made the visitor remembered what the purpose he came here was.

“Hey, Liu Ci Ren, long time no see, huh? Do you still remember me?” Zhao Xin asked hesitantly.

“Yeah, man, long time no see, do you want any help? Or let’s just come inside and talk, my family and I haven’t had any company for a long time, you know. It’s always good to have one, especially one as noble as you.

“Sure, why not.”

They walked into the apartment, all rooms are dim lightened and same for Liu Ci Ren’s apartment there were no windows, as he was getting familiar with the surroundings, he heard a hollow sound traveling in the air, even though the voice is fainting he still can identify it was a females voice, or to be more specific a young girl’s sobbing. It made him feel uncomfortable; the sobbing reminded him of his daughter. He cannot help but filing his eyelids with crystal-like tears. He purposely turned his head away from household members, pretending to look at the ornaments in the apartment, but he knew that all the furnish settings are the same for every household.

After a while, he finally can’t endure the brainwash sound of weeping; he held up the courage to question Liu Ci Ren, “What’s that sound? Where did it come from?” although the tone was a bit accusing.

He was caught off by surprise, but he still answered back, “It was the snivel of my daughter; she was struggling with sickness for two whole weeks.”

Zhao Xin hadn’t forgotten the pain his mom had brought to the family; this recall only made him more determined than ever. “What terrible news to hear, to be honest with you, my daughter has the same sickness as her.” Zhao Xin sighed. This commitment rendered the room to a dead silence; both of them sat in the lavish gray couch with a jet-black cushion that comforts their sour back. If Liu Ci Ren’s wife had not heard the cracker-like crunch sound, the visitor would have slept in the cozy couch. Because of the tiredness that had hoarded up last night since and the relaxation couch that hypnotized him, he couldn’t help but closing his eyes just as the only tiny crack on his eye that still received a vision. The silhouette of a woman sketched out on the harsh metallic floor. It looks like the women were coming toward them, as she turned around the corner, the tragic snivel became louder.

The brainwashing sound suddenly waked him; it was as if a bucket of ice water has just dunked all over him. The housewife gently carried the sobbing boy to the living room with full of mercy. She paced toward the two-person sofa, elegantly putting down the children in Liu Ci Ren’s arms. “Can you take care of him for a while, I’m going to cook dinner for all of us.” Before she left to go to the kitchen, she briefly introduced herself to Zhao Xin “Hi, nice to meet I’m Laura; I’m Liu Ci Ren’s wife. You must be the friend that Liu Ci Ren was missing.

“Yes, nice to meet you too, Mrs. Laura, I’m Zhao Xin.” He replied.

After the short conversation, she left and went to the kitchen. Then Zhao Xin realized this was probably the only and best opportunity he can explain his plan to him, so he straightened out his clothes and coughed intentionally. It caught Liu Ci Ren’s attention on purpose, and he turned his body around him so they can see each other’s faces. Perhaps it was because of the separation between their friendship for years, that made Zhao Xin felt extremely uneasy about this. Before he laid out his cards about what was the purpose, he visited him, he paused and decided to beat around the bush.

“Did you try to consult a doctor near your residential area?” Zhao Xin asked, even though he knew the answer – all the community and residential doctors were hired by the government to prevent the administrates from sickness.

“No, all the doctors near my neighborhood had been hired by the government.” Liu Ci Ren sighed.

“But we still have to find a way to cure her, right?”

“I know, but how, nobody is going to appear and solve the hunger suddenly, and gave us the cure?”

“Here, listen, I got a plan, but I don’t guarantee it’ll work,” Zhao Xin finally laid out his cards. He pulled out his latest draft of the animal cell and showed it to Liu Ci Ren. It was drawn on a piece of tissue paper, that had been rubbed and crumbled at least ten times and the wrinkles spread throughout the paper. “take a look at this, what do you think, I think this is the only option left for us. Are you going to help to conquest hunger?” Both of them carefully scanned the plan one more time. Then there was an eternity dead silence as if the time had paused.

What choice are they going to make? Sacrifice themselves or keep struggling?