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Design Exercises. Informatics 121 Oct 28, 2008. Design Exercise II. Each team should create a design for a bridge using a single set of Geomag magnetic sticks and balls. The bridge must span an 8 inch gap.
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Design Exercises Informatics 121 Oct 28, 2008
Design Exercise II • Each team should create a design for a bridge using a single set of Geomag magnetic sticks and balls. • The bridge must span an 8 inch gap. • The bridge must be able to suspend a large can of Play-Doh at an arbitrary spot on the bridge. • The cost of the bridge should be minimized. Each stick and each ball cost 1000 dollars.
Exercise II, cont’d. • On Tuesday, bring a description of your design to class. • This description must be text only. This is important. The description must be text only. • Another team will build the bridge according to this design, and will have 20 minutes to do so. • The design team and build team will not be able to communicate or clarify anything with each other. • The designers and builders of the lowest cost bridge that spans 8 inches and supports the can of Play-Doh will win.
Exercise II, cont’d. • Now it’s time to BUILD your bridge … • Again, NO communications between design team and build team ! • … 20 minutes …
Exercise II, cont’d • The cost structure of sticks and balls has changed • blue and green sticks cost 2000 dollars • yellow sticks still cost 1000 dollars, but no ball can have more than one yellow stick attached to it • red sticks still cost 1000 dollars, but no ball can have any red sticks attached to it • for each ball that violates these restrictions, a 5000 dollar "reinforcement" penalty will be incurred • The build team will need to improvise to address this change • You have 10 extra minutes
Reflection • As a builder • was the design understandable? • was the design complete? • was the design modifiable? • how much did you have to deviate from the original design? • what do you think of text as the representation for the design you built? • did you feel you were designing?
Reflection • As a designer: • what do you think of text as the representation for your design? • how much could you draw upon your existing knowledge of bridges? • how much did the limited amount of materials (e.g., number of sticks and balls) influence your design? • Designer: how did the caveat that “some things may change” influence your design and design process?