During our first unit in Design, we were challenged with making a new utensil/tool to eat a specific food. My partner and I came up with various ideas to eat different foods. We eventually decided on 3. Our first idea was inspired by an experience I had during lunch. I was spinning up pasta and eating it when a large strand broke and fell on the floor. I spent the next 5 minutes cleaning up. The utensil was a pasta driller that had a button to “auto spin” the pasta. The second idea was made by my partner and refined by me. It was a cake cutter in the shape of a V. There were knives in the shape of a triangle that perfectly cut a piece of cake. An attachable ledge then slid into the bottom of the cake, helping you remove it. The final idea was the popcorn popper which was made by me and refined by my partner. I got the idea from Ms. Kim saying that she struggled with eating popcorn. We sort of gave up on this one since we didn’t know how it would work. The concept was a spoon that picked up popcorn kernels and popped them while on the spoon. Another unique idea that didn’t make our top three was a bone separator. This utensil allowed you to remove the bones of a fish before you ate it using crushing methods. Just like the popcorn popper, we didn’t see how this idea could be executed. 

We got a lot of feedback when we displayed our 3 ideas. Despite this, a lot of criticism was towards our drawings, and our “messy” handwriting. The two main pieces that I found quite useful were the fact that our pasta spinner might be messy, and if you could change the speed of the pasta spinner. I ended up using both suggestions in different ways. The messy complaint was countered by a grip instead of a handle in our final design. This made it so that your hands wouldn’t be “splashed” in pasta sauce. You could hold on to the tool through finger imprints. Changing the speed wasn’t directly approached. Instead, we decided to add other attachable utensils to the handle, with different speeds and functions. Specifically, chopsticks which moved slower, but could move from side to side with the help of another button. 

In the end, we decided on the pasta driller as we thought it had the most functions. The three designs we came up with for the pasta driller were quite similar. The first was our original design. It helped people with disabilities eat, and was a pretty good idea overall, our second was a self-spun version. It was a lot safer to use for kids, and a cheaper option. Our final one was a bit of a remix. Instead of an attachable fork, you would attach chopsticks. There were two buttons on this design. One for the auto spin, and another to move the chopsticks from side to side. I liked all three but since I spent the most time developing the auto spin function, I decided to go with option 1. It had a memorable, classic function that helped people with disabilities. The only downside was the safety hazard, with it being used, possibly as a weapon.   

Elevator Pitch: https://flipgrid.com/4053a6cc?av=1