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Balls and Tubes: Fun and Engaging Exhibit That Teaches Airflow Concepts

This project review outlines the final presentation of Team Blackbox's exhibit design, which aims to provide a hands-on and educational experience about airflow. The exhibit features a maze of transparent tubes where users can control the path of colorful ping pong balls propelled by airflow. The presentation covers the concept design, system requirements, design challenges, and performance against requirements.

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Balls and Tubes: Fun and Engaging Exhibit That Teaches Airflow Concepts

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  1. Balls and Tubes: Project Review Team Blackbox Sreevishnu Byrakur Lung-San (Allen) Hsu Prasanna Velagapudi S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  2. Outline • Project Description • System Prototype • User Testing • Key Lessons S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  3. Project Description S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  4. Motivation “To design an exhibit that is fun, engaging, and educational, providing a hands-on and memorable experience” S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  5. System RequirementsFunctional Requirements • Education • Hands-on experience • Real-world concept illustration • Entertainment • Memorable experience • High level of engagement • Encouragement of social play S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  6. System RequirementsNon-functional Requirements • Physicality • Attractive, age-appropriate • Usability • Intuitive, responsive • Performance • Limited in power, heat, loudness, and brightness • Maintenance and Support • Well documented, Bounded mean time between failures (MTBF) S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  7. System RequirementsNon-functional Requirements • Operational • Integrated with surrounding exhibits, easily deployable, tolerant to ambient environment • Safety • Durable, childproof, robust, sanitary, environmentally-friendly • Legal • Licensed, code-compliant S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  8. System RequirementsTechnical Constraints • Time constraint • Duration of semester • Economic constraint • Budget of $500 S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  9. Concept Design “The exhibit shows the effects of airflow by rapidlypropelling colorfulping pong balls through a cyclicmaze of transparenttubes while allowing users to controltheir path” S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  10. Concept Design • Generation • Produce flow in a medium (air) • Containment • Channelize the generated flow (tubes) • Control • Allow user to control the flow (vents) • Visualization • Represent the flow visually (balls) S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  11. Design Challenges • Find control techniques that promote intuitive operation and hands-on experience • Qwerk board • Manual valves • Vents S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  12. Design Challenges • Vents are cheap, responsive, easy-to-install, and most importantly, reliable • Qwerk board • Manual valves • Vents S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  13. Design Challenges • Design flow generation to avoid heating issues • Multiple small blowers • Single powerful blower S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  14. Design Challenges • A larger blower can maintain pressure drops without becoming overloaded • Multiple small blowers • Single powerful blower S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  15. Design Challenges • Allow prolonged operation without manual intervention • Number of balls • Arrangement of tubes • Placement of vents S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  16. Design Challenges • Allow prolonged operation without manual intervention • Number of balls: • ~4-5 • Arrangement of tubes: • Sources & Drains scheme • Placement of vents • Boundary between sources and drains S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  17. System Prototype S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  18. Prototype Overview S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  19. Prototype Overview • Cabinet • Pressure Blower • Switching/Fusing • Load-bearing Frame • Lockable Side Access Panel S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  20. OUTPUT PORT OUTPUT PORT BLOWER SWITCH FRAME Prototype Overview S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  21. Prototype Overview Pipe “Tree” • Clear 1.5” Sch. 40 PVC Pipe • 1.5” Sch. 40 PVC Sanitary (Sewer) Fittings S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  22. Performance Against Requirements • Education • Few children or adults understood airflow • Entertainment • Physicality • Usability • Performance • Maintenance and Support • Operational • Safety • Legal S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  23. Performance Against Requirements • Education • Entertainment • When operational, users consistently stayed • Physicality • Usability • Performance • Maintenance and Support • Operational • Safety • Legal S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  24. Performance Against Requirements • Education • Entertainment • Physicality • Children pointed out and commented on the exhibit • Usability • Performance • Maintenance and Support • Operational • Safety • Legal S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  25. Performance Against Requirements • Education • Entertainment • Physicality • Usability • Exhibit was responsive, but non-intuitive • Performance • Maintenance and Support • Operational • Safety • Legal S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  26. Performance Against Requirements • Education • Entertainment • Physicality • Usability • Performance • System components matched or exceeded expectations • Maintenance and Support • Operational • Safety • Legal S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  27. Performance Against Requirements • Education • Entertainment • Physicality • Usability • Performance • Maintenance and Support • Ball jams made MTBF extremely low (~40s) • Operational • Safety • Legal S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  28. Performance Against Requirements • Education • Entertainment • Physicality • Usability • Performance • Maintenance and Support • Operational • Exhibit integrated well with surroundings, was tolerant of sand from neighboring exhibit • Safety • Legal S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  29. Performance Against Requirements • Education • Entertainment • Physicality • Usability • Performance • Maintenance and Support • Operational • Safety • Pipe tree required better mounting for long term use, individual components matched or exceeded expectations • Legal S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  30. Performance Against Requirements • Education • Entertainment • Physicality • Usability • Performance • Maintenance and Support • Operational • Safety • Legal • Electrical system was reasonably compliant with NEC electrical codes S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  31. Performance Against Requirements • Education • Entertainment • Physicality • Usability • Performance • Maintenance and Support • Operational • Safety • Legal S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  32. Performance Against Concept Design • Flow generator produced enough pressure to drive the balls through the tubes • Continuously operating the flow generator did not cause mechanical and thermal issues • Arrangement of tubes and vents allows cyclic and controllable interaction • Optimal number of ping-pong balls in the tubes • Minimized jams • Maximized interactivity S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  33. Performance Against Concept Design • Compromises in scope and robustness • Pipe tree mounting simplified • Cost constraint • Paint process abandoned • Time constraint • Maintenance-free operation downgraded to repair-free operation • Time constraint S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  34. Performance Against Budget • Budget: • $500 for exhibit • Actual cost/expenditures: • $505 • Unused prototyping items S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  35. User Testing S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  36. Test Plan • Quantitative Metrics • # of children who approached exhibit • Average time spent by children at exhibit • # of adults who approached exhibit • Average time spent by adults at exhibit • # of people who approached surrounding area • % of children who understood how to interact with exhibit • % of children who can be shown how to interact with exhibit • % of users who left because of technical problem S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  37. Quantitative Results • # of children who approached exhibit: • 170 • Average time spent by children at exhibit: • 35 seconds(with outliers at 5 and 10 minutes) • # of adults who approached exhibit: • 100 • Average time spent by adults at exhibit: • 20 seconds(with outliers at 3 and 10 minutes) Our favorite kid S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  38. Quantitative Results Our favorite kid S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  39. Quantitative Results • % of children who showed understanding by themselves: 16% • % of children who showed understanding after explanation: 18% S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  40. Quantitative Results • % of users who left because of technical problems: 61% S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  41. Qualitative Results • What did we find? • Older children were more likely to understand concept • Users cover one hole and watch, instead of interacting • Ball jams commonly caused users to leave • Many adults thought ball motion was caused by 'creating a vacuum' S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  42. Key Lessons S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  43. What Went Right • Controlling the balls proves to be challenging and engaging • One child played for more than 10 minutes • The exhibit is robust enough for direct and unexpected interactions, such as shaking and climbing S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  44. What Went Wrong • Ball jams caused users to leave • Interaction with the exhibit is not intuitive for some users • Controlling the balls is not trivial • Requires not only covering the vents but knowing when to release them • Group of children covered all of the vents • Users covered one vent and waited S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  45. What Went Wrong • Improvised solutions • Switched off blower to “reset” the system • Added informative signs • Demonstrated how to control the balls ourselves S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  46. Recommendations • Add instruction or visual clues to explain how the exhibit works • Small, closed loop demonstrating concept • Textual explanation for parents, older children S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  47. Recommendations • Solve the ball-jamming problem • Variation of blower output • Different pipe structure design • Avoid known bad joints • Verify that balls will drain toward blower when there is no flow S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  48. Air Flow Possible Jam Configurations S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  49. Air Flow Possible Jam Configurations S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

  50. Air Flow Possible Jam Configurations S07 16-850 Final Presentation, Team Blackbox

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