C REATIVE C ARD P LACING M ACHINE presented by

P ROBLEM B ACKGROUND Business cards are today’s person-to-person marketing tool GDA Digital Media GDA Digital Media is seeking a new way of accepting business cards creative machine The idea is to build a creative machine that will highlight GDA’s receptive and “down-to-earth” approach to business.

“To design, build, and evaluate an innovative, multi- step machine that accepts business card and places it randomly in a defined area of the wall.” O UR M ISSION Our Approach In the presentation: Customers Wants, Constraints, Metrics Benchmarking Concept Generation, Evaluation and Refinement Prototype Testing Modifications Recommendations to the Customer Budget

C USTOMERS Lee Mikles GDA Visitors Kristen Raughle Mike Russell Kinko’s Marketing Manager Potential Customers Secretary Director of Creative Development Business Card Manufacturer

C USTOMER W ANTS, M ETRICS, & T ARGET V ALUES Display Creativity 1. Display Creativity No. of Employee Representations4 No. of Steps  7 No. of Steps That Involve the Card 5 No. of Moving Parts 7 No. of Dissimilar Actions/Steps  7 No. of Steps to Start the Machine1 No. of Hidden Steps 0 % of Card Visible After Attachment 100% % of Card Defaced 0% No. of Simultaneous Steps 2

Limited Machine Size 5. Limited Machine Size Machine Length/Width/Height3ft/2ft/3ft Business Card Compatibility 6. Business Card Compatibility Card size 2.5” x 3” - 3” x 3.5” Weight1 gram Thickness0.012in Simple Reloading 7. Simple Reloading Reloading time15 sec. Reliability 2. Reliability Percent complete cycles95% Limited Run Time 4. Limited Run Time Time to completion45 sec. Customers Represented 3. Customers Represented No. of customer representations2 C USTOMER W ANTS, M ETRICS, & T ARGET V ALUES

C ONSTRAINTS  Random Placement In Defined Area  Minimum Five Steps  No Profane, Indecent, Or Lewd Expressions  Cost Not To Exceed $250  No Human Intervention After Startup  Must Include GDA Logo And ‘Spike’ Image  Must Include A South Park Character  Card Must End Up Face Out

B ENCHMARKING System Benchmarks Labeling Machine, Auto Feed Copy Machine, Printing Press Functional Benchmarks Placement/Positioning:Robotic Arm Random Generation:Computer, Air Table Machine InitiationGlobal Bill Acceptor Rube Goldberg’sTheta Tau Wall AttachmentStaples, Tape

C ONCEPT G ENERATION 1. Held Brainstorm Sessions for the five main functions Placement/Positioning Dart GunFree Fall Robotic Arm, Dart Gun, Free Fall, X - Y Plotter Random Generation Air Table, Computer, Mechanical Devices - Roulette, Plinko Machine Initiation Pinball Plunger, Carrousel, Foosball Player Rube Goldberg’s Elevator, Conveyor Belt, Chutes, Foosball Wall Attachment PushpinsVelcroMagnets Adhesives, Pushpins, Velcro, Magnets, Staples 2. Evaluated brainstorms against our constraints to determine feasible concepts.

M ETRIC R EFINEMENT A ND V ALIDATION Lack of Engineering Specifications That Measure Creativity Presented Concepts to GDA Led to analysis of individual functions for specifics that make a design creative Based on Specifics Developed New Metrics Validated Existing Metrics

T HE S PECIFICS - M ETRIC D EVELOPMENT Some Feedback Highlights Robot Arm more favorable than Bulletin Board Metric: Metric: # of hidden steps Tape/glue more favorable than push pin/pin board Metrics: Metrics: % card defaced % card visible after attachment

T HE T OP C ONCEPTS Concept A Initiation: Card Placed in car and shot with pinball Placement: Robotic Arm Random Generation: Computer Attachment: Solenoid / Double Sided Tape Concept B Initiation: Card Placed in car and shot with pinball Placement: X - Y Plotter Random Generation: Computer Attachment: Solenoid / Double Sided Tape Concept C Initiation: Card Placed in car and shot with pinball Placement: Hinged Bulletin Board Random Generation: Air Table Attachment: Double Sided Tape

C ONCEPT S ELECTION Metric Highlights Concept A 2 steps to initiate machine Concept B 2 steps to initiate machine The X-Y plotter acts in a linear fashion duplicates an action Concept C 2 steps to initiate machine The Air table hides attachment of card Has 1 hidden step Hinged Bulletin Board doubles required Volume ~ 4’x 2.5’x 2.5’

C ONCEPT A Five Major Functions: Acceptance Acceptance - Two Steps Place card in car Pinball Plunger Rube Goldberg Highlights Rube Goldberg Highlights - 12 steps Car down a ramp Card in an elevator and on conveyor belt Foosball player and ball Hanging Kenny

Random Generation Computer Generated Number Basic Program Use 1 serial port and 1parallel port Placement of Card Card positioned with robotic arm 2 Degrees of Freedom Planar Motion Driven by two stepper motors Card held to arm via vacuum suctionAttachment Solenoid extends Vacuum turns off Tape adheres to wall C ONCEPT A CONT’D

P ROTOTYPE E VALUATION Top Metric Target Value Actual Value No. of Employee Representations44 No. of Steps  7>7 4 No. of Steps That Involve the Card 5 4 No. of Moving Parts 77 No. of Dissimilar Actions/Steps  7>7 2 No. of Steps to Start the Machine12 No. of Hidden Steps 00 % of Card Visible After Attachment 100%100% % of Card Defaced 0%0% No. of Simultaneous Steps 22

Robotics Holding Torque Run Time sec. Solenoid Activation100% Vacuum75% Rube Goldberg Completion - Initiation/Termination 80% Defacement of Card0% Acceptable Card Sizeswidth to 2.75” length to 3.5” Entire Machine % Complete Cycles Time to Completion sec. Reload Time30 sec. P ROTOTYPE T ESTING

M ODIFICATIONS Added ~900g Counterweight To Arm Moved Solenoid Off Arm Added Weight To Front of Car Changed Bearing Sleeve Material In Paddlewheel Added Guardrail To Conveyor Belt Added Ratchet Style Brake

R ECOMMENDATIONS  Pull plunger back to full extension  Ensure proper arm alignment  Replace batteries every 6 months  Always keep vacuum plugged in  Replace unused tape weekly

B UDGET spending limit $250. Our spending limit was set at $250. Robot Robot$ Rube Goldberg Supplies Rube Goldberg Supplies$27.36 Computer Computer$15.22 General Materials General Materials$40.40 $ Total: $ Many significant materials have been donated courtesy of UD EE Dept., BikeLine, GDA, and Dade Behring.

C ONCLUSIONS System will be installed at the GDA Wilmington office before April 30, 1999 Team 13 will receive feedback over the month of May, 1999