As this was the group's first time discussing the toy idea, many broad design decisions were made. It was decided that the toy would be more interesting to a middle school student if made into a game. Adding objectives is one way to turn a toy into a game - cards can be included that instruct the player to aim for making the last gear spin at a certain rpm or to use the least number of gears possible. This will hold the attention of younger audiences for longer and hopefully help them to learn more efficiently.
The holes for the axels and gears are enclosed inside the toy's casing. Initially, the casing was envisioned simply as a square box:
Other ideas were brought up as well, including a thin rectangle...
Fun shapes that would appeal to kids...
And finally a spherical casing, which was decided upon as the best option.
Inspiration for this spherical design was drawn in part from the image below, a 3D-printed sphere made with moving gears:
The sphere will be made of two attaching hollow demispheres, and the motor, which attaches to the first gear, is inside. The sphere comes apart so the player has access to the motor and can change the power level.
The group also discussed how to install a display that shows the rpm of the final gear in the series. The face of this display would be on the face of the sphere, right next to the final gear (which would be set in place). Because none of the group members are electrical engineers, details on how to do this must be researched. Some initial research was done regarding what type of sensor could find the rpm of the final gear and display it if attached to a display.
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