Instant Challenge - Ship the Chip (continued)

Today the rest of the envelopes of chips returned in the mail. Our chip was among the first to come back to the school. Because of this, my partner and I opened our envelope in front of our class.

After removing envelope

We carefully unwound the structure so as not to cause additional damage. Once all the covering was removed, we were happy to find that our chip did not break at all. We were among the few in the class who were successful with this Instant Challenge. 

After removing structure

Click here to access the link to our design brief! 

Instant Challenge - Ship the Chip

Today we participated in an Instant Challenge called "Ship the Chip". The objective of this challenge was to create a packaging for a Dorito/Pringle that would prevent the chip from cracking. We were given a time limit and material limit. After we created the packaging, we would mail the chip in the envelope. Before we began the actual construction, we created a free-hand sketch of our design. Our idea was that we would first support the chip using popsicle sticks, then we would use pipe cleaners to secure the popsicle sticks in place. The pipe cleaners would also cushion the structure from movement within the envelope.

Sketch of "Ship the Chip" structure

As mentioned above, we used pipe cleaners and miniature popsicle sticks to make our structure. We were given a budget of $100 (yes, of course, real cash). See the link to our Design Brief for the purchase list.

My partner starting the structure

It was very difficult to get the chip into our structure without having it crack completely. If you look closely, you will notice how we chose a chip that was relatively deformed. We were able to chose our chips, which was helpful; I figured that if the chip was folded over, it would be more immune to breakage. 

Me working on structure

Instant Challenge - Spaghetti and Marshmallow Tower

Final project

Today was a "Fun Friday" in honor of first quarter's end. We extended our class into our lunch period to have pizza and snacks. Once everyone had their fill, we participated in something known as an Instant Challenge. Our task was to use a certain number of spaghetti noodles and marshmallows to create the highest tower possible. The process was documented in my engineering notebook. A key subject I included in my notebook was a design brief. The briefing was made up of the client company, target consumer, designers, problem statement, design statement, and constraints. To model what the final product may look like, I sketched some designs of potential spaghetti-marshmallow towers. My strategy was to focus on height using the least amount of materials, but as the structure's complexity increased, I would add more materials for stability. Below shows my final project. It was one of the tallest in the class, and it was definitely the sturdiest. I look forward to our next Instant Challenge.