Concept Sketch:

This is the first idea for the Rube Goldberg machine that I sketched out, and I think it’s possible. I made this with the materials we had at hand in mind and took inspiration from other videos. It’s not very long, but I don’t think it needs to be as long as the point gets across! As long as it works. I may need to make several adjustments if it doesn’t work and we don’t have the materials, but we’ll wait for the trial run next class! It also depends on the light bulb’s power source, whether it’s a switch or a button because there will have to be different ways to turn it on. Also, the positioning of the bulb and the prism will undoubtedly need to be adjusted if the light is to go through without a hitch. Also, the materials I sketched shouldn’t be highly fragile (except for the marbles, maybe) and easy to come by, which should make the machine easy to build. So it’s mostly just building and rebuilding that will take the most time since I can’t just leave it sitting around. Speaking of which, I based this sketch on the space between two tables in the design center. If I can’t use that space to build the machine, the design will have to be altered again. This project is mainly based on improvising and creativity, so it’s hard to plan it out in advance.

This is an excellent video I took inspiration from for my design!

This poster is our last project in this semester’s enrichment, sci-fi and fantasy. Enjoy! And watch the movie!!

Here I am, posting another blog about my project in design…Oh! Sorry. Kankan here, again, and I’m here to tell you about another project I made in design! This time, Mr. Layman’s challenge really made our imagination spin wild and tested a lot of our design skills: from analyzing to planning to actually make stuff. Our project was to design a prototype that can detect smells. Now, this thing doesn’t exist yet, but if it does, I don’t know about it, but this was our challenge. The prototype didn’t have to actually work (if it did, then we would be famous!), but it still really challenge our creativity and designing skills. As you can see in the pictures above, my prototype resembles a compass with two big cardboard circles with the top that has letters on it, saying N, S, E, and W with a smaller cardboard circle sandwiched between it with black mesh holding it together and a popsicle stick punching straight through the middle. I used a combination of cardboard, hot glue and mesh to make this compass, plus a lot of lead. You might be thinking, but, Kankan, you didn’t tell us how it works yet! If you are thinking that, wait, I’m getting to it! My inspiration started when I thought about cardboard. Cardboard, if you cut it in half and look really closely at the center, it is made up of holes inside. I thought, if we could make this in real life, I could put sensors inside the holes to detect smell! With that in mind, I cut two big circles of cardboard and one smaller circle, and cut an identical hole that matches up in all of the circles, where the popsicle stick goes. And here is the part where I tell you how the compass works. If the compass worked, then the small circle between the two larger ones act as a vacuum, sucking in air to the sensors inside the holes of the cardboard. The sensors, after detecting a smell, rotates the popsicle stick so that the shadow that it creates, like a sundial, points to the direction that the smell is coming from. Now, before you say it, I will address some of the problems with my design. And before I say that, I just want to tell you that this project was a rush job. So don’t judge me! So, onto the problems. One, the compass only tells us where the smell is, but not what it is. Also, there may also be other smells in the air, so the compass may not know which smell to lead us too. But other then that, I think it’s good! This project was also enjoyable, though we didn’t have much time to do it, since we spent much of this semester on our other project, my last blog post. So thank you to Mr. Layman for being so helpful, and I hope that I have design next year, too!

Here I am, posting another blog about my other design project…Oh! Sorry. Hi guys, this is Kankan again! These pictures are featuring my hand-built prototype of our second design project: the smell detector. Now, such a thing doesn’t exist in the world at the present, but if it does, I don’t know about it, so Mr. Layman, naturally, gave us a challenge: build a prototype of a hand-held smell detector that can detect smells. Because this doesn’t exist, the prototype doesn’t have to work (If it did, we would be famous!). This project tested our imagination, crafting skills, and ability to use limited materials. As you can see in these pictures, I used a mix of cardboard, hot glue, and mesh. My design is not very “workable”, but I made it like I drew it on paper. My detector is kind of a compass, but instead of leaning towards north, it leads us to wherever the smell is coming from. Before you say it, I will address several problems. One, it only leads us towards the smell, but it doesn’t tell us what the smell is. Also, there may be other smells in the air. Plus, you might think, Kankan, you didn’t tell us how it works! If you are thinking that, wait, I’m getting to that! I got a great idea when I was planning my project. Cardboard, if you cut it into halves and look closely, cardboard is actually full of holes, like cubbies. So I thought if we could somehow put tiny sensors into the holes, then it could lead us to the smell! So I cut two identical circles, one the face of the compass, the one with the bubble letters with N, S, W, and E on them, and the other circle the back, sandwiching a smaller circle in between them, with black mesh holding it together and a popsicle stick punching straight through the center. And here’s the part where I tell you how this compass works. The small circle inside the bigger ones is the vacuum and inside the holes in the cardboard are tiny sensors. The circle sucks in air through the mesh and the smells in the air go to the sensors. The sensors identify where the smell is coming from and turns the popsicle stick, making its shadow point to the direction where the smell is coming from. The mesh helps keep debris and dirt out from the sensors, only letting the smell in. Cool, right? I mean, it’ll be even cooler if it worked… But that’s okay! This was kind of a rush job, but I think I made it pretty good. I learned how to accurately cut cardboard with a scalpel and also how to make the proportions of the circle’s match. This project was also really fun, and another thank you to Mr. Layman for being so helpful!

This is a photo of my old 3d grade class. This is really important to me because some of my most epic memories (embarrassing and funny!) were made there. I am the girl smiling in the first row, the second left. My BFF, or best friends forever (who I had to leave behind when I moved here!) is the girl also in the front row, the second right. Warning: this is a bit personal! My old crush is the boy in the third row, the immediate right, the one with curly golden hair, a funny expression, and glasses. Live back then was simpler…