An overview of my design process:

• Existing product

Before settling on the idea of a propeller car, I considered many others. One idea that I became interested in at the beginning was a windmill phone charger. However, it was beyond my ability to make it – the process was complicated. Thus, I took this propeller car as my product of showing energy conversion, which is changing electrical energy to kinetic energy. The overall process of building the car might be similar to the existing product above, but my car has a unique feature – it is made out of legos.

This product would be used to help middle and high school students to understand the concept of energy conversion by observing how this car converts one type of energy to another. This would be relatively safe for these students to use because they are more mature and careful than any audiences of younger age. However, the product still must be simple, understandable, and neat.

• Blueprint

After developing ideas about the basis of the product, I made a detailed blueprint, with labels of components and measurements to clarify the design. I highlighted in blue that the base of the car would be made out of lego to emphasize the creativity. I tried to make the blueprint as detailed as possible to save later troubles.

• Final product

This is how my final product turned out to be.

Success criteria

• The power of the motor is controllable by the switch     O
• The car can function (it moves forward)     X
• The product looks neat     O

Strengths

• The switch can coherently and effectively adjust the motor, turning it on and off. Also, the switch is located where it is easy to press.
• According to the feedbacks I received from my classmates, there were several complements that my product looked neat and well-organized, making it relatively appealing to see.

Weaknesses

• The car turned out to be unable to function. There are several reasons that led to this; the first and the most important reason is because the car is too heavy for this small propeller to move. The large tired wheels, which I chose to look more realistic, its material – lego, and the two batteries made the car heavy. To fix this I could have used plastic smaller wheels, used the single-battery, and used an another material to make the structure of the car, such as cardboard and foam board. Anther reason is because the wires are easily fallen off, hindering the electricity to move through the wires.

What I learned

• I learned about how energy conversion can be shown in multiple ways. Also, I personally learned how to assemble lego pieces to build a structure. Even though I struggled to use the legos, I felt proud when I succeed to move my blueprint design to an existing product. If I had more time I would: make my blueprint more detailed and accurate, use an another material to build, and build a lid on top of the car to hide the components inside.

Reflection

Strength

• Stable and strong

Since the main material used is lego, the car is stable and relatively strong: the shape doesn’t change unless an extreme force is exerted.

• Functioning elements

Even though the car itself is not functional, all the elements on top of it are functioning: the batter, switch, and motor. If the wires were fixed, these three components would be correspondingly functioning.

• Well-made base

The base, which is the bottom part, is well-made; it is efficient in material, with using only a few pieces.

• Recyclable materials

Needs Improvement

• Weak connection of wires

To connect the wires, a teacher helped me by using a soldering iron to instantly melt the metal edges. However, the connections were fragile; the wires snapped several times. I fixed it by asking the teacher to connect them once more, but it fell apart again.  To solve this problem, I could have come up with other ways and tools to connect the wires, but unfortunately, I didn’t have enough time.

• Making a lego-base

Creating the base of the car with legos took me a long time; I struggled especially with how to fix the wheels underneath the legos so that they are stable. Originally, I planned to attach the wheels directly to the lego, however, I realized that it wouldn’t move the wheels separately. Thus, I used the lego pieces to create a part where it could store the metal connector of the wheels inside. (where the red arrow is pointing in picture 2)

Feedbacks from classmates 

• It is a very cool idea.
• If the wires didn’t fall off, it would be pretty cool.
• Cool idea! Something to think about: If you had more time, what would you change?
• The product is super neat and cool! The original is also great maybe the proportions could have been more accurate.

Final Product 

Bottom-view

Process

The video attached on the bottom is about American revolution and contains major events? The American Revolution started with the French and Indian war and ended with the Treaty of Paris. In between, there were acts and battles such as the Stamp Act and the Battle of Lexington and Concord. The American revolution caused important impacts on the American history, making changes. If you are interested in the revolution watch our common craft video and learn more about what actually happened!