Define a problem
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generate concepts
Brainstorming!
develop a solution
Construct and test prototype
evaluate a solution
There were 2 major issues we came across while designing our prototype. The fist issue that we had to address was popping the balloons. Originally we planned on using sharpened pencils as darts since they seemed like the most simple and accessible option. However, the pencils were difficult to throw because they were very light and didn't stay balanced very well and therefore were almost impossible to throw in a way that the point would make contact with the balloon. In addition the pencils didn't pop the balloons very well even when being thrown from a very short distance and the points broke every time the pencils hit the ground or any other hard surface, and having to sharpen the pencils after each time they were thrown was a bit impractical. Since we had to come up with another option, we decided to hot glue a push-pin to the end of an pencil that hadn't been sharpened. However we encountered most of the same issues with this model, and with mechanical pencils as well. The final model we ended up using was composed of 2 sewing pins duct taped around the end of a pencil that hadn't been sharpened. then we hot glued a pipe cleaner and wrapped it around the end to prevent injury from the sharp pins as well as we possibly could. (Model Pictured Below.) The other issue we encountered wasn't as major, but still effected our process for assembling the game. Since the title of the assignment was "Cardboard Arcade" we figured that there had to be some type of goal or prize for the game. We had to come up with a way to award prizes or a system of deciding what wins you what type of prize. Originally we planned on putting prizes inside the balloons but then we decided on putting a small colored ball (red, yellow, or blue) inside of each balloon, and whatever color ball fell out of the balloon determined what prize the person would receive. (Picture of Prize Chart Below).
present Solution
The goal of this project was to create a game to entertain people, made out of items you have at home. In order to accomplish this goal my partner and I came up with multiple ideas through brainstorming, then used a decision matrix to decide which idea we were going to construct. Then we created a sketch of what we wanted our finished product to look like and used it to guide us through constructing our prototype. As we constructed the prototype we came across issues, but used critical thinking skills and creativity to evaluate our solutions and produce a fully functional finished product. Overall this project gave us an introduction to working in groups and creativity as well as time management. This project was also a clear application of the design process we will have to use in engineering in the future and allowed us to use the notes we took in class and apply them to a problem, in order to form a functional solution.