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?