In this unit, we had to design a prototype that shows the solution to our partner’s food waste problem. The problem that my partner had was the Mochi with ice cream filling kept melting if she did not finish it quickly. 

Photo(s) of my MOCHI COOLER BOX.

 

My biggest obstacle was:

My biggest obstacle was since we weren’t at school, the materials I had at my home were useless because they did not help much. What this means is that my prototype needed fans on the side to keep my mochi cool, but because I did not have the materials to model that, I used plastic bottles instead. This leads to a challenge/obstacle because the bottle couldn’t be attached to the box. I suffered for a long time to find out what other ways I can do to attach them together or what should I use instead of plastic bottles to model the part of the fans. In the end, I still did not figure out how to solve this problem. If I have another chance at school that I need to create the same prototype using school materials, I think I can make a better one this my current prototype. 

Something I learned about myself during this project is:

Something I learned about myself during this project is that I sort of lose patience when I am frustrated. What this means is that while I was creating my mochi prototype, I found out the fans on the side can be attached to the main box because of some reason. Every time I used the double-sided tape to tape them together, it would always fall after half an hour. This made me so frustrated because I needed to take photos of it, but every time I touched it, it would fall and I needed to use another brand new piece of double-sided tape to tape them. While I was reflecting on this project and answering this question, I found out that this was something I haven’t noticed before when I was doing other projects and works. 

One piece of advice I’d give a future student doing this project would be:

One piece of advice I’d give a future student doing this project would be to choose a problem that has an easier way to create the prototype. What this means is that because of the impact of covid, this year, we had to stay home and create the prototype using what we have at home. This was a big challenge because there are materials that I need, but I don’t have them in my house. In the future, I believe the COVID will start to disappear and students will be able to be on campus while creating this project. IF the students are still at home while doing this project, then I recommend them to choose an easier design that contains creativity but fewer materials to create. Like me, I chose to have fans on both sides of my mochi box where I used plastic bottles instead of the fans. This led to un-attachable fans that needed to be carried with both hands holding the box and the bottle at the same time. 

Overall, I think my prototype was a success because:

Overall, I think my prototype was a success because even though the “fans” did not work and there were parts that made me really frustrated, if there is a box for mochi in real life and it was similar to what I have created, then I think it would really be helpful because we can eat the mochi in our own speed but the mochi won’t melt. If I can change one thing while making this prototype and it could be more successful, then it would be being on campus while creating/making this. This can help me get more peer and teacher feedback for my prototype to be better and also we could then have more partner time where we can ask each other more questions about our foods.