Nick's Engineering Blog: May 2013

In engineering class, we where tasked to build landing pods for our eggs. I must say i felt like an Engineer for NASA building a landing pod for Curiosity. Anyway The egg will be dropped from 20 feet and must survive. We where paired in twos and my partner was Chris.

The following are the achievements that we are claiming:
We won quite a few achievements because we are awesome.

Brainstorming:
-Create a sketch of one possible solution. Include labels.
-Create a sketch of another possible solution. Include labels.
-Create a sketch of a third possible solution. Include labels.

Material Prep:
-Generate a list of materials required for build day.
-Document a plan to ensure materials are brought in on block day.

Material Based Achievements:
-Your materials fit inside a printer paper box
-Your materials fit inside a shoe box

Material Weight:
-Your materials weigh less than 500 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 300 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 200 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 150 grams.
-Your materials weigh less than 100 grams.

Drop Accuracy:
-You hit the butcher paper!
-You hit inside the third ring!
-You hit inside the second ring!

Drop Times:
-Your solution takes more than 4 seconds to hit the target!
-Your solution takes more than 5 seconds to hit the target!

Egg Resilience:
-Your egg didn't break in any way!
-Your egg didn't break in any way!
-Your egg didn't break in any way!
-Your egg didn't break in any way!
-Your egg didn't break in any way!

Other Achievements:
-Help set up the Bullseye.

My client was Mrs. Gottlieb. When I asked her what her dream house was, she responded, "I would like it to be a Hobbit house." With this in mind I began to brainstorm. At first I intended to make the traditional Hobbit house as seen in Lord of the Rings. As I began to draw up the plans in my head, I suddenly had a storm of ideas and thoughts bombarding my thought process. I excluded the less compatible ideas that would not of worked. The designs I kept combined traditional designs for homes while still keeping the mystical aspect of living inside a mountain or hillside. With my mind set on what Mrs. Gottlieb dream house should look like, I began making of her model. You will see pictures of my model below but I will describe the house here. I wanted the house to extend out of the mountain or hillside a bit so that the house would look both more distinguished and also allow natural sunlight to flow through the house. I made the front door rounded because I liked the classic hobbit house's rounded front door. The house's front half is 2 stories and the back half is only one story. I wanted there to be a backyard with a pool and hot tub so instead of the house being completely immersed in the mountain or hillside, like the classic Hobbit house, the house is built in a large cave. All around the cave , there are lights that give off the same type and amount of sunlight during that time in the day. so when the sun is about to set or rise, the light in the cave is dimmed to the same color and shade that is out side. Of course you can turn on and off the lights as easy as you would turn on and off the light in your bedroom. Because of these special lights, plants, that usually grow outside (i.e. grass, bushes, trees, flowers etc.), can absorb the "sunlight" and produce photosynthesis. All in all, I believe I met the expectations of Mrs. Gottliebs initial dream house while harmoniously fusing the mystical aspect of a hobbit house and the modernized home.

Mrs Gottliebs thoughts: She thought it was great except for a few things. She said that she thought it would look better if the back of the house (the one story part) would be the half that would the sticking out of the mountain/hill. She aslo would like the house to be a bit more rounded in look. All in all though she said it was great.

Pictures of the design: