Books finished:

Emotional Agility by Susan David. This book rationalizes all emotions and encourages us to embrace and accept our negative emotions instead of suppressing them or overthinking them.

Books currently reading:

Greek Myths by Olivia Coolidge. This book consists of many short stories within Greek mythology, both in the mortal and god realm.

Book with the greatest impact on me:

The book Emotional Agility really changed my mindset on how I approached my negative emotions. I used to be extremely pessimistic and feel guilty when I had negative thoughts, a cycle of mental health depreciation, reading this book provided me with a new perspective on these “wrong” emotions I was feeling at the time and made me overall a happier person. I’m grateful for this book.

Book with the most creative language:

The book Greek Myths included the most creative language, the language used in this book has a classic and formal tone, especially the dialogue. Olivia Coolidge wrote character dialogue similarly to dialogue in ancient Greek plays, immersing the reader into the book.

A great example of this would be a conversation between a mortal mother and a son, where the son questions his half-god heritage:

“Give me some proof,” he implored her, “with which I can answer this insult of Epaphos. It is a matter of life and death to me, for if I cannot, I shall die of shame.”

“I swear to you,” replied his mother solemnly, “by the bright orb of the sun itself that you are his son. If I swear falsely, may I never look on the sun again, but die before the next time he mounts the heavens. More than this I cannot do, but you, my child, can go to the eastern palace of Phebus Apollo — it lies not far away — and there speak with the god himself.”

Their style of conversation really intrigues me.

What most surprised you about your books so far:

Emotional Agility:

Drawing randomness aggressively on paper is actually one of the most effective and least costly ways of relieving stress and anger, I would have never thought to try it before reading this book.

Greek Myths:

Almost every god, even married ones, has several mortal offspring apart from their legal families. It does make an interesting story reading how these half-gods either fail miserably in life or eventually become gods, but I did not expect married gods to have so many illegitimate children.

Overview of Design Process, share final product, learning:

Final Product: 

My final product is a pull-back aircraft carrier that moves by converting elastic potential energy into kinetic energy. (Picture attached), on top of the carrier is a launcher that can be used to launch small paper airplanes forwards, also by converting elastic potential energy into kinetic energy. My final product focuses on displaying the conversion of elastic potential energy into kinetic energy while being a fun toy to interact with.

There is a major deficit in my final product, though. The pull-back elastic bands would periodically break due to the carrier’s large size, and sometimes it would shoot out of the carrier with great force. There was only one kind of elastic band available in the design center, so to improve this product further, I should purchase larger elastic bands to fit the product.

Overview of Design Process:

I have been through three major stages when designing my product. The first stage was brainstorming and research, where I developed ideas about possible toys I could make. I explored many options before choosing my final concept. The second stage was planning the components needed, creating a prototype, and receiving feedback from peers to improve my design. This stage was the stage I spent the most time on since I wanted my creating process to be smooth to leave little room for errors, which needed a specific and accurate plan to happen. The last stage was creating and refining my final product, where I assembled all necessary components with hot glue.

Success Criteria:

Success Criteria:

The final product needs to:

1. Clearly display conversion from elastic potential energy to kinetic energy.
2. Be mobile.
3. Be interactive.
4. Not break.

My final product achieves about 80% of my success criteria. It clearly displays conversion from elastic potential energy to kinetic energy, it is mobile, and the wheels are smooth. Users can interact with the slingshot and even create their own airplanes, but the elastic bands for the pull-back mechanic periodically break from strain, which is a significant downfall. 

Design Specifications:

Purpose:

A toy that shows energy conversion.

Achievement: The final product visually shows energy conversion through a slingshot and paper airplanes.

User:

Boys and girls ages 10-18, since the toy may be too childish for people over 18 and hazardous to children younger than 10, as there are tiny paper airplanes that can be a swallow hazard.

Achievement: From user feedback of ages 14-15 (about the median of 10-18), the final product is fun, interactive, and appropriate for their age group.

Reflection:

Proud:

I am proud to have created something fun and of considerable size in the design center. I had no experience before this, and it was a great learning opportunity about the design process at ISB.

Challenging:

Developing an idea of measurements was definitely the most challenging part of my design process, as I had no idea what 5 cm or 5 mm were before this project. It greatly impacted my planning speed since I was unsure of measurements.

Using the cutting knife. The cutting knives were a whole new experience for me, and I injured myself on multiple occasions. Cutting cardboard and foamboard was much more challenging than I thought. But with the support of my peers, I learned how to hold a knife properly, and I was able to cut out my components individually.

Reflect on Prototype:

Strengths:

• Simple, sturdy
• Resembles design well

Refinements:

• Need slingshot stabilization (Slingshot doesn’t function well, bends when pulled)
• Functions too quickly, does not show energy conversions clearly
• Lacks focus
• Masking tape rips off part of the cardboard skin, may need to change the material (Bad aesthetics)

Outline Feedback:

Feedback received:

Anonymous Peer 1: 

• Aesthetics need improvement
• The size of the prototype does not fit the axels
• Should change material, cardboard bends too easily, and slingshot doesn’t work properly
• Paper airplanes were fun tho

Anonymous Peer 2:

• I like that you used masking tape for the prototype to not waste hot glue
• Color the car body pls. Cardboard looks very scuffed.
• I think the ramp doesn’t do much

Anonymous Peer 3:

•  What energy conversion is this
• The gong sometimes not work

Changes made:

• Removed gong and ramp
• Changed cardboard to colored foam boards (Yellow)
• Adjusted 3D Print model for slingshot (Reduced height, so it’s easier to stabilize)
• Made more paper airplane variations

Photos:

My prototype

Readied launcher (Couldn’t upload video)

Launched Paper Airplane

Final Product

Thinking Practices

My first few visions of my carrier were mostly aesthetics-based. I planned for them to take the shape of an actual carrier and add decoration on top of them. Soon I realized that it would take more time than I had to create that, and I had no valid reason for focusing on aesthetics anyways, as this was to show energy conversion, so I moved on to my next idea.

My second version of the carrier was very energy-conversion-based. It consisted of many parts: a ramp, a gong, a carrier, and an automatic slingshot. The carrier was going to be pulled back (elastic potential to kinetic), slide down the ramp (gravitational potential to kinetic), hit the gong (kinetic to sound), and automatically launch a paper airplane (elastic potential to kinetic). It was full of energy conversions, and I settled on this design for a while until I created my prototype. I could not get the automatic slingshot to work. I could not get a gong, and my peers told me the conversions were hard to identify since so much was going on so fast.

At last, I settled on a simple design that focused on two conversions from elastic potential energy to kinetic energy. This refined design removed the ramp and gong parts from my previous one, and the shape of the carrier was a simple upside-down trapezoid. I was contemptuous of this design as I had no experience in the design center, and this simple design would give me more room for errors. It also displayed energy conversion more clearly as one conversion was repeated twice through the pull-back mechanic and slingshot.

Design Concept

Carrier Body Blueprint

Slingshot 3D Model

Materials Needed:

• Card, foam, or felt boards, preferably colored
• Four elastic bands (Common yellow type)
• Hot glue gun and glue sticks
• Cutting Knife and board
• 3D Printed slingshot (Sent)
• Two sets of wheels and axels (four wheels in total)
• Masking tape (To keep boards in place when hot glue drying, will not be in the final product)

Techniques Used:

• Refined YouTube tutorial for pull-back: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cb2j40Loaek
• Hot glue to connect all components.

Plan

Success Criteria:

The final product needs to:

1. Clearly display conversion from elastic potential energy to kinetic energy.
2. Be mobile.
3. Be interactive.
4. Not break.

Components (Plan):

Car body

1. Cut out all pieces of cardboard, dimensions as shown in the blueprint.
2. Arrange the cut out pieces into the shape in the blueprint, and cover the connecting edges with masking tape from the outside, excluding the centerpiece.
3. Hot glue one edge at a time, separate edges from the masking tape a little, and use the hot glue gun to glue the edges together. Remove the masking tape to test if the glue is dried. Wait for the glue to dry before moving to the next edge. 
4. Hot glue the centerpiece to joints from the top and bottom.

Wheel

1. Prepare four wheels and two axels, dimensions as shown in the blueprint.
2. Connect the wheels and the axels, hot glue ramps (glue blobs) right beside (but not onto) the wheels to keep them in place.
3. Test if the wheels are functioning.

Slingshot

1. Create a 3D model and print it out.
2. Attach elastic bands to it.

Arrangement (When all components are finished)

1. Hot glue the car body onto the axles, apply glue at the joints and make sure not to glue the wheels.
2. Use the pull-back car YouTube tutorial to create a pull-back mechanic. Instead of using elastic bands to connect the axle and front, connect both sides of the wheels instead.
3. Secure the slingshot on top of the carrier with hot glue, and test to see if it is secured.
4. Test the final product.

Purpose:

A toy that shows energy conversion.

Function:

The user can pull back the carrier and feel some force on the wheels. When the user releases the carrier, it moves forwards. A slingshot is attached to the carrier’s top, and the user can use it to launch pre-prepared or self-made paper airplanes.

Convert elastic potential energy to kinetic energy:
Pull-back mechanic with elastic bands.
Slingshot.

Aircraft Carrier: Empty cardboard box on wheels that can move forward when pulled back.

Launcher/Slingshot: Attached to the Aircraft Carrier, can launch small paper airplanes.

User:

Boys and girls ages 10-18, since the toy may be too childish for people over 18 and hazardous to children younger than 10, as there are tiny paper airplanes that can be a swallow hazard.

Inspiration:

During my brainstorming stage, I took inspiration from the toy cars in the Science classroom that I interacted with during experiments. I thought it would be an exciting project to reference and improve. I had fun playing with the toy cars, and it clearly showed the conversion of elastic potential energy to kinetic energy.

I did not want to design a car with a complex shape, as it would be too difficult to create, so I searched online for simple, rectangular-shaped vehicles.

My first find was a fire truck. It had a simple shape and recognizable features, but I could not think of another energy conversion I could add to a fire truck (one energy conversion was too simple).

Looking at the ladder attached to the top of the fire truck, I thought of those medieval trebuchets and ballistas that were on wheels and launched objects into the air.

Though they fit my needs, I didn’t want my toy to launch arrows and bombs. I then stumbled upon a picture of an aircraft carrier.
Paper airplanes were accessible, easy to make, and not dangerous if you didn’t try to swallow them. I settled on an aircraft carrier as my theme.

Creativity and Originality:

I will use a tutorial online for the pull-back mechanic with the elastic band. But I will alter the mechanic to fit my design better (I will use two elastic bands instead of one, and they will be placed on the wheels instead of the axles.)

For creativity, I have pre-made three types of paper airplanes to give the user more choices and variation.

I will not follow any guides on constructing the vehicle body and wheels. The designs will all be original.