June 4: Engineering Design Process

Today in Stem Skills we worked in groups to make a mode of "transportation" using Knex. To do this we used the engineering method.

Step One Define the Problem: The problem is pretty clear make something move from point A to point B

Step Two Brainstorm Solutions: A couple ideas came straight to mind, A car, something with wheels, A catapult. As soon as the thought of flinging something came up we knew that that is what we are doing.

Step Three Research Ideas: We began to look at the different ways to fling things around. The main ideas are a trebuchet, a catapult, or a ballista. As we looked in to the trebuchet we realized that it would be difficult to build as it has a lot of moving pieces. A catapult seemed like it could work but it did not seem as easy as a ballista as most of the pieces of a catapult are less connected then with a ballista. For a ballista we need to have some form of moving piece and a way to store up energy.

Step Four Plan: We started to draw out what was needed for a ballista we made a long track for a sliding piece to move along. The sliding piece is connected to a rubber band attached to the front of the ballista.

Step Five Make: Making the ballista was pretty easy once we had everything planned out we just needed to get things to connect in the right place. Eventually we were able to get it all set up.

Step Six Test: Everything went wrong when we started to test things out. The first issue was that the front of our ballista was snaping apart when we put any tension on it so we went back to the drawing board.

Step Seven Improve and Redesign: We looked at what went wrong and made a solution by placing a cross bar piece to lock the front in place.

Step Eight Repeat: After we implemented the changes we began the process again making changes until we ran out of time to.

I learned a lot while doing this. Spending a lot of time planning and not just building from the get go was helpful and was something I would not normally do. Doing everything in steps made it a lot easier to think about what to do next which is a lot better then just doing stuff when you feel like it. In the end we had a "Final" product which you can see to the right. If I had more time to work on it I would definitely work to make it more stable as it currently breaks while in use and flings its parts further then its ammo. It is up to you whether or not a ballista is a mode of transportation is another question but it does move something from point A to point B.

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