Final Result

After building our machine, it completed its trial runs and passed with flying colors. We then filmed it in action with an explanation of how it works. The video can be view here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DC6Lqh_4fCE

For our group I feel like we narrowed ourselves too much in the brainstorming process and prevented ourselves from fully fleshing out all of our ideas. We had to go back and change our original idea after we started to build due to a lack of materials and better options becoming available. We still used a conveyor belt in the end to transport out goods however we had to use vex parts to help us achieve this as our original idea of using rubber bands did not function properly.

One extra requirement that could be added to prevent this from happening to other groups in the future is to add time that is only for brainstorming. No building can happen during this time only thinking and fleshing out various ideas on how to accomplish the task at hand.

In the future students should be limited to the materials that were available at that time. Students may due research to figure out if a part would fit this requirement or if it is too modern. This would push students to be more creative and would make the project more authentic to the time period.

Technical Drawings

Harnessing the Power

Water Wheel

Lifting objects into the Loft

Transfer Mechanism

Design Brief

Design Brief

Define the Problem - We need to move hay bales and other objects into the loft for storage using the river that flows nearby.

Summarize the Problem - We only have so much space so we need to make use of all of it. However we cant lift things into the barn loft all by ourselves and need something to help us do that.

Target Consumer - People with barns or other high places where they need to put heavy things.

Problem Validity Check - Yes this is a valid problem that affects many people.

Criteria - Our machine must use water power and be able to move sufficient amounts of weight into the barn loft.

Constraints - We only have about a week on this project. We are also limited to the materials that we can find.

Getting Started

My group, Brady, Jayden, and I were assigned water power as our source of energy. This source of energy was usually harnessed by the use of a water wheel with was used to turn gears. The second part of our task is to use this power source to lift objects into the loft of a barn. We have a few different ideas and I am looking forward to building and seeing which ones actually pan out. As the project manager I am responsible for helping both group members and making sure the project meets all of the requirements.