Puzzle Cube Combinations
Introduction
Have you ever looked at a product that has been well-designed? Do you find yourself asking questions such as, “How did the designer think of that idea?” or “What is involved in the creation of that product?” The more you study and learn about design and how designers create items, you begin to learn certain skills and knowledge that you can only acquire through experience. Design challenges provide opportunities to apply skills and knowledge in unique and creative ways.
Taking an idea you have and transferring it from a concept to a sketch, to working drawings, to models, and then to a working prototype is exciting and fun. It also entails several steps. When you are a one-person design and build team, the task of effective communication is rather simple. However, what happens when you must communicate your ideas to others, or when the responsibility for building a team’s solution falls on someone else’s shoulders? This increases the level of responsibility significantly and requires the development of a complete set of design documentation in order to communicate effectively.
This project will provide you the opportunity to exercise your creativity and develop your sketching and modeling skills, as well as your ability to use the computer as an efficient communication tool.
Have you ever looked at a product that has been well-designed? Do you find yourself asking questions such as, “How did the designer think of that idea?” or “What is involved in the creation of that product?” The more you study and learn about design and how designers create items, you begin to learn certain skills and knowledge that you can only acquire through experience. Design challenges provide opportunities to apply skills and knowledge in unique and creative ways.
Taking an idea you have and transferring it from a concept to a sketch, to working drawings, to models, and then to a working prototype is exciting and fun. It also entails several steps. When you are a one-person design and build team, the task of effective communication is rather simple. However, what happens when you must communicate your ideas to others, or when the responsibility for building a team’s solution falls on someone else’s shoulders? This increases the level of responsibility significantly and requires the development of a complete set of design documentation in order to communicate effectively.
This project will provide you the opportunity to exercise your creativity and develop your sketching and modeling skills, as well as your ability to use the computer as an efficient communication tool.
Conclusion
1. Why is it important to model an idea before making a final prototype?
Because then mistakes in the design can be noticed and therefore prevented.
2. Which assembly constraint(s) did you use to constrain the parts of the puzzle to the assembly such that it did not move? Describe each of the constraint types used and explain the degrees of freedom that are removed when each is applied between two parts. You may wish to create a sketch to help explain your description.
3. Based on your experiences during the completion of the Puzzle Design Challenge, what is meant when someone says, “I used a design process to solve the problem at hand”? Explain your answer using the work that you completed for this project.
It means that they went through a process of brainstorming, picking the best solution, and designing/making it.
4. How does the gender of the puzzle solver affect solution time? Be specific and provide evidence to support your answer.
The gender of the puzzle solver doesn't affect the solution time. Various tests have proved this.
5. How does the age of the puzzle solver affect solution time?
a. Make a specific statement related to the rate of increase or decrease of solution time with respect to age. Provide evidence that supports your statement.
The older a person, the more likely they are to get/solve the problem in less time.
b. Write an equation using function notation that represents puzzle solution time in terms of age. Be sure to define your variables and identify units.
n=age n - 2 = solution time
c. Predict the solution time on the first attempt of a child who is 3 years of age. Show your work.
A child who is 3 years old would most likely either take days to solve it, or never solve it.
d. Predict the solution time on the first attempt of a person who is 95 years of age. Show your work.
A person who is 95 years old would most likely take less than 2 min. to solve the puzzle.
e. Do these predictions make sense? Why or why not?
The equation, doesn't work for people of around those ages.
f. What is a realistic domain for the function?
g. Collect additional data to verify your mathematical model.
1. Why is it important to model an idea before making a final prototype?
Because then mistakes in the design can be noticed and therefore prevented.
2. Which assembly constraint(s) did you use to constrain the parts of the puzzle to the assembly such that it did not move? Describe each of the constraint types used and explain the degrees of freedom that are removed when each is applied between two parts. You may wish to create a sketch to help explain your description.
3. Based on your experiences during the completion of the Puzzle Design Challenge, what is meant when someone says, “I used a design process to solve the problem at hand”? Explain your answer using the work that you completed for this project.
It means that they went through a process of brainstorming, picking the best solution, and designing/making it.
4. How does the gender of the puzzle solver affect solution time? Be specific and provide evidence to support your answer.
The gender of the puzzle solver doesn't affect the solution time. Various tests have proved this.
5. How does the age of the puzzle solver affect solution time?
a. Make a specific statement related to the rate of increase or decrease of solution time with respect to age. Provide evidence that supports your statement.
The older a person, the more likely they are to get/solve the problem in less time.
b. Write an equation using function notation that represents puzzle solution time in terms of age. Be sure to define your variables and identify units.
n=age n - 2 = solution time
c. Predict the solution time on the first attempt of a child who is 3 years of age. Show your work.
A child who is 3 years old would most likely either take days to solve it, or never solve it.
d. Predict the solution time on the first attempt of a person who is 95 years of age. Show your work.
A person who is 95 years old would most likely take less than 2 min. to solve the puzzle.
e. Do these predictions make sense? Why or why not?
The equation, doesn't work for people of around those ages.
f. What is a realistic domain for the function?
g. Collect additional data to verify your mathematical model.