3.3.1 Marble Sorter
Design BriefClient Company: National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA)
Target Consumer: Society Designers: Sigal Felber, TJ Manning, Jacob Wellnitz Problem Statement: The NRPA has asked the design team to develop a solution to a problem in their parks. The association has placed dumpsters for recyclable material throughout the parks. They have a sorting facility; however, they need the device that will sort the recyclable material. Design Statement: Design, model, and test a device that will sort the recyclable material. Decision MatrixOur design matrix led us to select Solution 6 as the most optimal design. It was very similar to Solution 2, utilizing cups as collectors and a line follower to sort, but Solution 6 had one key difference. Solution 6 used a magnet to pull the metal marbles out of the line before they reached the line follower to maximize efficiency. These magnets were on the side of a gap in the railing, which had a low-grade incline so the wood and plastic marbles didn’t fall out accidentally. The magnet used will be placed at the top of the opening so there is less time for the marbles to gather speed. There will also not be any inclined or angled plates on the ramp so the only force that leads the marble to the magnet is magnetism. Overall, Solution 6 is more efficient than any other solution because of this innovation, it doesn’t require many materials or construction time, and is very realistic and feasible to create.
Final ProductReflectionWhile working on Design Problem 3.3.1, our team learned many things in addition to developing greater understanding of VEX pieces. To begin, we accomplished our objective of creating an automatic marble sorter by organizing what we needed to do by splitting up the work evenly past the brainstorming stage. We all thought of different ideas and then used a design matrix to choose one. After this, we branched off to finish the problem. Though our solution met the criteria from the design statement, if we could redesign it we would not use cups as our collector bins, but we would use something that didn’t allow for the possibility of the marbles falling out. This might mean just using cups with a trimmed lid, or a wall that is tapered inwards. Ideally, this way marbles would not fly out as the platform holding the cups rotates.
While completing the project, we also learned how to prioritize our work and divide it based on our strengths. Team members who were better at CAD would focus on that, and so on and so forth for sketching, coding, and building. By playing to our strengths while still helping other team members who were not as strong in these areas we were able to finish the project efficiently. We did this while also helping teach team members in areas where they were not as proficient. At times it was hard to come to a compromise of how we should continue in our design, but that was a minor problem. Ultimately, we completed the problem while gaining an understanding of how to combine our skills of coding, CAD, VEX, into a team-based project. |
Constraints
BrainstormingModifications To DesignConclusion Questions
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