Give an overview of your design process, sharing the product, and your learning.

  • Making a candy machine was my initial thought, and I continued with the idea. Coming up with a plan and drawing a model was pretty straightforward, but I wanted to make the design more exciting and accessible, so I added a track. The track was the most challenging part of the model, and it still failed. It was a new experience to see how one item can be made in multiple ways. I struggled with finding the best material to make the track and got stuck for the first few classes on this problem. Suggestions from the design teachers made me realize how many other ways to make a candy machine track exist.
  • I chose a reasonably easy energy transformation because I was very appealed in making a candy machine. Many other peers made products and toys that included electric and solar energy. Even though my design didn’t have any, helping other people and learning from their designs gave me many inspirations as well.

Use the rubric and your success criteria to discuss the strengths and weaknesses of the product.

  • My prototype includes all parts planned and has successful components. The central concept is fully shown, and the design elements are connected to the safety hazards set before the construction of the prototype. However, there are many weaknesses in this design. First, the slide wasn’t working, so the plan didn’t meet the success criteria. Also, the middle puller’s measurements were wrong, causing it to be squished at the back and too loose in the front. Before adding the two clay balls to support and stabilize the opening in the middle. Also, due to the design failure, the candy machine doesn’t have a bottom cap.

Explain how and why your toy/device meets the design specifications.

  • The cap has a hole, and candy can be refilled through the opening; the container at the top and the track at the bottom have a plastic cover so children can see their candy falling down the path when using it.
  • The middle has a lever attached to a puller where the candy will be controlled so only one or two drops down every time. Due to time limitations, I didn’t make a lever, only the puller. The elastic band sticks out from the side and can be pulled out, so the puller in the middle moves in and out. But if there was more time, I would have attached the elastic band to a tube and made a lever, making it easier to control the puller.
  • Lastly, there is the track where the candy falls from. The trial’s design changed many times from the initial model to the final prototype but failed. The track couldn’t hold the candy because it was stuck onto the box the wrong way, with the groove facing the front when it should have faced upwards. The platform on the bottom that receives the candies was made from clay but didn’t succeed either. If there was more time, I would’ve remade the track and the holder at the bottom, but because of the limit on time, I left it as it is.

What are you most proud of? What was the most challenging?

  • I am most proud of successfully making the puller in the middle. It was the part I was most uncertain about, and I thought I would fail when I first started making it because my idea was vague. During the production, there were many problems, from joining the whole product together to fixing the length of the elastic band. Many measurements and ideas were changed and refined during the construction rather than before during the planning stage.
  • The most challenging was developing an idea of how to make the track and the puller. From initial to final, my idea of how to make the path changed four times. I first stuck to the idea of making it from a tube but then moved on to making it from a 3D slide model, but I finally ended up making it out of wire and clay.  But even though there were many challenges throughout the creation of my candy machine, it was a great learning opportunity, and I learned that initial plans and graphing are essential before making the prototype.