Ewok Escape Challenge Specifications

Sebastijan Skoko

9-21-14

Ewok Escape Challenge Specifications

Mr. Lieb

Part I

The problem facing the EDC's platform designed by Wicket.

The problem facing the EDC’s platform designed by Wicket, is that the cart on which the Ewoks are to escape from the danger of the storm troopers, is not evenly balanced. When the cart is placed on the wire, it tips to either side (likely whichever side has more weight). The metal structure on the bottom of the cart, made up mainly of a turnbuckle, wheels, and brackets, is not necessarily centered perfectly on each cart, causing one side to have more weight. The uneven weight distribution causes the cart to tip over. Also the wheels

Part II (By Harris)

How your product addresses that problem.

We had difficulty solving the problem of the Ewok escape. In the beginning we tried to hang a Chinese food box below the platform and prop the car up with wooden sticks. This idea may have worked but we couldn't secure the sticks to the box and get them to stay in place when the pressure of the car was put on them. Our solution is one involving two Chinese food boxes, pipe-cleaners, weights, styrofoam, and wooden sticks. One of our Chinese food boxes hangs below the cart by pipe-cleaners. On top of the cart we have a piece of thin foam with a Chinese food box on top. We decided on the styrofoam so the box doesn’t slide off. The box is where the Ewok will sit. We then have the two sticks going up from the foam with to another foam platform at the top. This creates a birds eye view of the surrounding danger the Ewok needs to avoid. The weight below the platform helps the cart balance.

Part III

Why your product works

Our product works because we put a lot of weight below the turnbuckle. In order to stabilize the cart on the wire, the amount of weight below the turnbuckle needs to be as much or more weight than is above it. The weight of the wooden plank is what tips over the turnbuckle alone. Because the wooden plank is slightly uneven, without force pulling down the turnbuckle and plank, it tips over. Putting the weight below the turnbuckle helps to even out the mass and pull all the force into the right direction, balancing the cart.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Center_of_mass

Part IV

The process your design team went through in arriving at the final product.

We started our process by simply laying two wooden dowels across the two cardboard tubes. This allowed us to easily slide the cart back and forth, however, Mr. Lieb told us what the bigger project was and we realized that our solution would do absolutely nothing. We then placed a chinese food box below the cart, attached by the turnbuckle, which Mr. Lieb also vetoed. Our next “master plan” was to attach a box below using a pipe cleaner as a tie, and use dowels in order to attach the box to the actual wood and prop up the entire structure, however we were not successful in attaching the sticks. Harris, my partner, then had the idea to take away the sticks, and lace the pipe cleaners with washers to add weight. The washers previously rested inside of the box, however they moved around and we were not able to keep them steady. This made the problem of uneven mass even greater, leading us to come up with the idea of lacing the pipe cleaners. We weighed the washers and put the same weight on each side. This prototype finally balanced the cart on the rope, legally.

    

Part V

Select two variables which are common to all 26 prototypes

A large variable in the 26 final prototypes was the amount of weight. The lighter prototypes were not able to balance quite as well, and if they did, they went slowly down the wire. The heavier prototypes pulled the weight down into the wire, balancing the cart well. As well, obviously given that they are heavier, they went down the wire more quickly.

Part VI

Physical specifications of your product

Directly on top of the wooden plank, we have a piece of foam. Resting on this foam, is a chinese food box, in which the Ewok would ride. Towards the bottom of the box, we have holes on each side, through which a pipe cleaner runs. This pipe cleaner ties to another pipe cleaner below the cart, which is laced with washers. The washer laced pipe cleaner is the connector between the main structure and the final balancing weight, another chinese food box. In the aforementioned foam piece, we stuck a dowel on each side, for height. At the top of these dowels, 24 inches above the car, another piece of foam stabilizes and holds together the two dowels. Although our cart did not make it down the entire wire, had it continued at the same rate, it would likely have taken 45 seconds. The wire was approximately 85 feet in length, thus the cart was moving at a rate of .52 ft per second. If our estimations are plausible, the care moved at about .35 miles per hour.

http://www.metric-conversions.org/speed/feet-per-second-to-miles-per-hour.htm

Part VII

Shortcomings of your product

Our product, although it was able to balance with ease on the simulation track, was not able to withstand the harsh winds, and wobbly wire that the real Endor environment contains. Our prototype, was not able to stay balanced after a slight push, nor were we able to balance it as well on the slightly less tense line. We needed to find a better way to balance our weight below, as the weight is subject to shift sides as we currently have it. Instead of draping the weight on two sides of one pipe cleaner which shifts its weight back and forth through the chinese food box, we should have used multiple in order to have as balanced a prototype as possible.

Mr. Lieb Motion Detector Issue

Sebastijan Skoko
8-28-14
Motion Detector Fix

             After a ten minute brainstorm session, we found ourselves with a spread of thirteen ideas, some more practical than others. We narrowed our possible fixes down to two, a pulley and just using a long pole to wave across the room, having received new knowledge that we were to construct a prototype using only our imaginations and the materials placed in the back of the room, such as pipe cleaners, twine, and a few long poles. We decided that the most reasonable option was to construct a pulley, seeing as Mr. Lieb is not training for a strong man competition any time soon, and a pole that would not go limp while reaching that far would be quite heavy. We used one of the long poles, some twine, and a circular plastic piece with a few punctures. We tied the twine around the pole and wrapped it around the plastic plate, leaving the majority of the twine as slack. The idea here is that the slack would travel all the way to Mr. Lieb's desk from the plate, mounted on the ceiling in the vicinity of the motion detector with the pole is suspended in the air. When the twine on the desk in tugged, the pole moves and the motion detector senses this happen, turning back on the lights. 

Seb_Ewok

Sebastijan Skoko      

9-9-14

  The  Ewok Escape Design Challenge 

The Ewoks live in a part of the universe of Star Wars where there are many trees. There are also many attacks on the Ewoks by the stormtroopers. In order to evade these attacks, we have to be able to balance a cart on a zipline from a height that simulates the trees, but not quite as high, down to the ground. The set up given is a line that goes from one pole and attaches to another. On this line, we are asked to ensure that the Ewok can safely get from one side to the other without the cart on which he is to ride flipping over. Lastly the Ewok is to be placed on the cart in a way that puts him out of harms way. In order to complete this challenge, you have to find a way to balance the cart. If you put the cart on the line by itself, it tips over. Also, on its way down away from the stormtroopers, it needs to be protected in a way that the stormtroopers are not able to see or attack them. We used two chinese take out boxes, a few pipe cleaners and weights. We tied three pipe cleaners around the cart in order to distribute the weight. We also tied a pipe cleaner to a chinese take out box hung below with weights inside, and the three around the cart. Lastly we placed another take out box on the top of the cart, where the Ewok would be able to go and be protected. In order to refine our design, I'd like to find a better way to prop the take out box on top so that it stays. Also, I'd like to find a way to split the four weights up in the box evenly so that the weight stays evenly distributed, such as making  four quadrants. The key issue with "The Ewok Escape Design Challenge" is balancing the cart on top of the wire in a way that it is still portable. On the third day of building we will make the same set up but will make the changes of a tighter structure up top and evenly distributed weight in the box.