User:Pas3ad/ENG100/Project 3

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Project Preference
''
 * Lego
 * Wireless
 * Beat Bearing''

Problem Statement
We are doing a research about LEGO Circuits Conceive and trying find how to have the research beginning point of this project.

Project Plan
Briefly describe your group's plan for the next 4 weeks, including major tasks that will be completed each week.

Week 1 Narrative
''On the first week I was working on the system requirements for LEGO Circuits Conceive. Here is a website for a group that started their research and they are continuing with different usage daily for it. Mashable, creator of this system, she started with very small idea on her mind and it started to get bigger and bigger until she built her own one and people started to like her work and wanted more of her products.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/341486/scitech/geeksandgaming/lego-style-circuits-make-for-mix-and-match-electronics-fun-for-kids

Here are some of the system requirements that I found that would be needed for this project:- We can use the LEGO to connect between circuits that are not connected also we can have the attached sensors on the Lego, so we are building a circuit, but instead of having so many wires and different connectors every where around the place then we would have the Lego on the main board with all of these different connectors to create different projects. I found that we need to find the correct way to have the wire or sensors without having any of it showing in the Lego. It needs to have a way where you can attach the wires, sensors or other and also be capable of putting another Lego on the top of it or next to it without having any issues with the sensors being on the top or the side. Here is what it can look like with as a diagram

http://makezineblog.files.wordpress.com/2012/06/bruce-lowell-lego-circuit-board.jpg

Also this could another way to have a set up

http://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MIT/863.05/people/wasshuber/lego1.jpg

Both of these two diagrams shows different ways to have a set up for LEGO Circuits. We need to work on a these different concepts that we can use to have the correct set up without having any issues with the wiring and the sensors. ''

Week 2 Narrative
''On this week I worked on revisiting system requirements and customer/market needs. I first started by looking online for this product and I did find a few demos that by big companies and some were just tying as a similar concept.

Here is a video for a big Company with the name Snap Circuits.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rB-Ws_qrHs8

They designed these products for kids to put together different pieces like wires, sensors, or buttons to run a motor or other.

Here is also a product that is similar, but was not designed by a company.

http://sailindaze.blogspot.com/2010/08/lego-keyboard-for-electronic-organ.html

This project is just a key board, but the main reason of the Legos is to pass a circuit through it.

The main problem about these products out there that are available is that it is vary expensive. The Cheapest is around $25 and it only can do up to 5 different circuits. Another problem that I found that you will not be able to just design your own design. It might not work because some of the pieces might not fit in the other way that you would like to do. Another main problem that I can tell which is putting it together it seems very hard and taking it off might be very hard for kids to work with. I looked around and found that these products can break easily too which means when you are putting it together you have to be very careful because it could break as you are attaching it. I looked on the reviews and people said that it is expensive for no reason because of the actual product should not be that expensive for what it does. Also the replacement pieces are very expensive too. Our main goal was to design the product to help the kids to put it together the way they would like to have their design without having any struggle putting the pieces together. Also we want to have a design where the kids can put the pieces together easily to snap easily on and off. Also we want to make our product cheap for everyone to buy and to enjoy for just a little of spending. I found that most of the market can not sell this product for cheaper than $30 and that is on special events

Here is how much it is being sold on amazon

http://www.amazon.com/Elenco-Snap-Circuits-SC-300-Physics/dp/B00CIXVIRQ/ref=sr_1_3/184-0758760-7272132?ie=UTF8&qid=1398737543&sr=8-3&keywords=snap+circuits+extreme+750

It is expensive for just this design no matter how many things you can build. I would not buy this for me because I know that I will not enjoy it after a couple of days.

I am going to look more on the negative feedback from the customers so we can try to avoid any problems that this product is facing. ''

Week 3 Narrative
''This week I am worked on the requirements that we would like the project to have:

1. To be safe (No sticking wires out of the Legos)

2. To be for ages from 7 years old and older

3. To run at least 10 different circuits with the same pieces used

4. To run most of the circuits designed using batteries

5. To be easy to put pieces together and to take them off easily

6. To have low electricity which would be around 30mA to not cause any serious injures

7. To have instruction for building some circuits

8. To have the ability to design different circuits

9. To extra pieces for replacements

10. To have a price range from $10-$50 depending on the project and what it does.

I also did a lot of research for different companies that design Lego Circuits and here is what I have found so far:

This is a big company will known for their for their design. The company's name is Snap Circuits and here is their website:

http://www.snap-circuits.com/phpstore/index.php

I have looked into their work and found that our project is very similar, but we are actually using real legos for the project, but the company has designed their own look for the circuits. So far after a few articles about different companies that had similar design, but there were no issues between any of the companies in this matter.

Also I have found this woman that has made her own design for different circuits. Her name is Mashable and she works for a company called LittleBits. It is more like she made these designs and a lot of kids love her work. Here is a news website that she was introduced to and also there is a video that explains what goal she had and achieved since she started her project.

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/341486/scitech/geeksandgaming/lego-style-circuits-make-for-mix-and-match-electronics-fun-for-kids

Also there are around students that are creating similar circuits like that around the whole world. I believe according to few websites that I have checked that there are not a company that uses lego for circuits, but the main problem could be coming from the Lego company because we can buy and sell their products after attaching few wires and motors. I am looking into this right now and I am trying to get to the point where there would not be any problem using their products for the project or otherwise we might have to 3D print all the pieces after drawing them.

I have also worked on organizing the CDIO report page. ''

Week 4 Narrative
''This week I have worked on Customer/market Needs: I did some research on different websites that sell product that are similar that our project and I wanted to know what is the customer's feedback on the product. Most of the comments were explaining that the product is great, so I looked for the few customers that had issues with the product or if they didn't like it. Here are some of the comments:

"My 7 year old Granddaughter only got to use this kit for a few moments before two major pieces, a switch and propeller motor failed. Since it is just powered by two AA batteries it would seem that the parts could be more electrically dependable. For the cost it was a big disappointment." The product required more power running on 5 or more cell batteries to have enough power (15V) running in the circuit.

"There was a problem with the motor. The motor circuit was opening depending on the rotor position. It would spin and then stopped. Great idea and very well intentioned; but it failed to function as planned. Got a refund. Fortunately, Santa had many more presents." "I gave this to my grandson for his 8th birthday. He really liked it a lot, but the second day he went to play with it. It didn't work." "We got this for our 9 year old son after seeing the 5-star rating and reading some reviews. But I cannot figure out why it is rated so highly. He played with it very briefly and was not captivated at. all. He loves building things out of legos, marble towers. knex, you name it, but this was just not an exciting toy. You copy the diagram for the set-up, and a little light bulb comes on (that's fun for about 2 minutes). The helicopter set-up seemed promising, but it would not work properly (at least we couldn't figure it out, and my husband has some electrical experience). I realize this review will not outweigh the hundreds of 5-star reviews, but this was a big let-down for us." The product should be tested for many times before it is sold.

"From the Amazon review this looks like a great toy, so I went to a local store to confirm that it would be suitable for our son. The box contains the following warning: "WARNING: This product contains chemicals, including lead, known to the State of California to cause birth defects and other reproductive harm. Wash hands after handling."" The product should be safe for different ages between 7 years old and older.

"I was really looking forward to my son opening this gift. He is nine and figured this out in 15 minutes not even looking at the directions. It is very good quality but not challenging enough for the ages advertised in my opinion. I would say not a goid product for a child past five years old." The product should be easy to understand it for ages 7 Year old to older ages.

"I REALLY wanted this to be a good product. The concept is fantastic. The parts are all very manageable by my 4 year old. Unfortunately three of the key parts don't work DOA. That is about half of the important components. A large number of projects cannot be performed without these pieces. Quite disappointed. I haven't contacted the vendor yet, but I'm hoping that they will replace the parts." The product pieces should be tested and make sure that they all work

"I purchased this for 9 year old nephew for Christmas. He opened on xmas day and wanted to play with it. To my suprise, the boax lacked anything about the contents. A co-worker's child received it for the holiday and the child loved. I do recall that child following some sort of manual to do projects with it. Disappointment Christmas present." Each product should come with all the pieces that comes with it which means that we have to make sure that each product has all of its pieces

"My 7 year old son loves snap circuits. He finds it relatively easy to put the projects together. He has experience building legos and there are lots of comparisons between the two toys. The guides and diagrams are clearly presented. There was minimal confusion finding parts as the color and name of the snap circuit in the guide book don't always match what is on the actual part word for word. I don't think snap circuits, jr. is educational on its own. When asked if he learned anything about electricity, my son replied "no." The guide tells you what to do but not why and how it works. That is up to parents to explain to their children. If you want your child to really learn about electricity and electronics there are some basics you can teach them while doing the projects together. For example, you can explain to them that in order to create electricity you need a power source and a resistor. If you have your power source connected to more than one resistor, the power will decrease. You can demonstrate this to your children. Battery power that does not go to a resistor is a short circuit. You can easily demonstrate this to your children while doing the projects. Encourage your children to swap parts and see what takes place. This should help them create a better understanding of how things work electrically. I wrote an in-depth review of snap circuits and included a glossary of terms that I thought would be useful to parents. Also included are suggestions for how to get the most out of this educational toy. You can read this review by visiting [...], an educational website that aims to engage young minds in active learning. On the home page you will see the snap circuits review.

Jennifer Krauss" The product should have main goals to teach everyone and know the understanding of circuits

I also have worked this week on the actual project. I spend about 4 and half hours just trying to have the project working and running as we wanted to be. The main problem was how to build the circuit using the Legos. The bigger problem was how to keep the resistor and the LED on the lego. putting the circuit together was very easy since we were using the conductive tape. I have tried so many different ways to solve for these problems, but I would end up with a broken Lego or have it done while the LED would have been not contacted with the conductive tape. I finally have designed my own look for the LED and I had it built, but there was a problem with the LED that both of the ends were touching each other meaning that it would not work. I had to work on how to run both ends of the LED without them touching. The hole that I was running the wires through was very small and I couldn't make it any bigger or it might break the Lego piece so I decided to try another design and it finally worked.

Here are some pictures of the Lego circuit that I have built:

These pictures shows what I have worked on during that week:

The first picture shows the main board

The second picture shows the how am I connected the main board to become one piece and what is supporting it to keep it balanced

The third picture shows how the resistor we have connected it to the main board

The forth picture shows the connector (a wire)

The fifth picture shows that the experiment worked and the LED lights up

The sixth and the seventh pictures shows that the circuits work with the resistor

The eight picture shows that the circuit works without the resistor

The ninth picture shows a complete circuit and it works

The tenth picture shows the LED light

The eleventh and the twelfth picture shows two different ways for connectors ( two different different types to run a wire)''