The Ted Challenge Part I

1. TED stands for technology, entertainment, and design. It is about spreading ideas and showing new technology and lessons.
2. The purpose of the website is to educate people about about life. It is set up so you can narrow your searches by technology, entertainment, design, business, science, and global issues.
3. Entertainment and technology were most interesting to me because it educates me about new inventions and what people are interested in media.
4. The three talks that seemed most interesting about engineering were How to build Creative Confidence, Re-engineering mosquito to fight disease, and Biohacking-you can do it too. They all talked about design and  finding problems to solve through inventions.
5. How to build your creative Confidence- David Kelly

• Often creativity dies in childhood due to failure
• You have to take risks when being creative and keep trying
• You have to conquer your fear head on to come out successful

6. If I wanted to get into the field that David Kelly was in I would probably want to take his Stanford college course on product engineering. In his company he has a variety of background from workers to get different inputs on new ideas and inventions. I would probably major in engineering and get experience designing products.

Le Corbusier Minecraft

This project we had to create a structure that resembles a famous architect that we learned about in Minecraft. Our group chose the architect Le Corbusier for it. I created a boxy house with white blocks and random colored blocks here and there. I also added some windows as well as a skylight in my house. It was my first structure in Minecraft and I'm looking forward to create better, bigger structures. 

Minecraft

We just started using Minecraft in our class and here are some of my first screenshots.

Architect Notes

This week we learned about many architects and their creative styles. We learned about Frank Lloyd Wright, Le Corbusier and many others. I really enjoyed this week because it was very interesting and cool to see many famous building designs. Of the ten we learned about, my favorites were the Coop Himmelblau company, Frank Furness, and Etienne Louis Boullee. I liked these three because they had a very classical greek/roman feel and they created very huge and bold designs. 

This is a sketch by Boullee

These are my architect notes

Leadership

The other day we talked about leadership and what it means. We discussed how there are many forms of leadership and many kinds of leaders. They all have different methods, but similar goals. Also, we brainstormed ways to show leadership inside the class as well as outside of it.

Puzzle Cube Project

This project was to make a puzzle cube out of wooden blocks and to make a 3D model of it using CAD software. It was challenging using the software, but it helped me gain experience with the design process and getting familiar with 3D modeling. 

Cardboard Canoe Challenge

We got 11 achievements for the cardboard canoe challenge.

1. Define the Problem and Brainstorm: The problem is we need to float Ryan in a canoe across the pool. 1. We could make a leaf like shape 2. We could make the boat tall so no water is let in 3. We could make a cardboard submarine 4. There could be a hand-crank propeller 5. There could be a big double-sided paddle 6. We could make a raft shaped float 7. We could make a viking boat and make it 7 feet long 8. The boat could  be fold-able so we can transport it easily to the pool 9. We could cut a milk container to use it to get water out of our boat 10. We could cut holes in the boat to use paddles through

2. Criteria and Constraints: One implied criteria is that the boat must be completely covered with duct tape. Three implied constraints are that it has to fit through the door, it has to fit one person, and it has to be hydrodynamic. 

3 . Sketch Ideas

:

4. Prototype Ideas: 

5. Select an Approach: Our sketches were very round, but we thought it would touch to make a rounded bottom. With the prototype we weren't sure how we would secure a v-bottom so we decided to go with a flat bottom. 

6. Build it: 

7. The Earlier Bird gets the Achievement: We were the first team to finish our boat.

8. Videographer: 

9. Feedback: I think we had a good general design with our canoe. I would have made the canoe thicker because our sides didn't hold up when we went in the water. I think the fact that the shape wasn't very hydrodynamic made the boat sink easier and go slower. We definitely could have improved it by layering all of the sides with some more cardboard to help keep it's shaper or even added a frame to help stabilize our canoe. 

10. How low did you go?: Our canoe sat a few inches into the water. It was surprising how low it went because I thought it would have gone lower in the water. I think it had to do with the size of our boat and the shape. Density is determined my mass/volume. The pool is very big and the volume is low because of the closeness of particles in water. In our boat we had Ryan who weighs about 150lbs and the boat had more volume than the water so he was a few inches above the water. 

11. Make Your Own Achievement: Cannonball!- After the races have one of your group members perform a cannonball into their canoe.