Prototype #2

While manufacturing parts for the final product, the team made a more complete version of the toy. This included lower quality 3D prints for the mazes, acrylic walls for the cubes, and clear tape as fasteners.

Prototype 2 including three out of the four cubes during the manufacturing process.

The Space Maze (left) and the Skatepark Maze (right) in their first 3D print version.

Purpose of this Prototype:
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• test initial ideas of mazes with children

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• get a feel for the approximate size and weight of the toy

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• see how children interact with toy and what they like or dislike

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• find out early improvements we needed to add to the design

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• learn how the mazes fit together and if they are fun to play with

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Manufacturing Specifics:
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• acrylic walls laser cut in house

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• mazes 3D printed using LulzBot 3D printer in house

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• standard clear packing tape used as adhesive for all parts

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• one small plastic BB per each cube since all cubes were completely sealed

Testing with Children: Round 1

The team took Prototype 2 to Horizons K-8 School to have 3rd - 6th graders interact with it and give us a first round of feedback.

Comments from Children:

1. Each cube individually is easy to hold
2. All four together is fun to play with but kind of heavy
3. The most popular mazes were the space maze and the skatepark maze
4. One ball for all four mazes would be good enough
5. Make the toy without tape
6. Make it easier to get the ball onto the mazes

Team Reacts to Children Comments:

1. Good to know!
2. We could reduce the number of cubes or add handles.
3. Awesome! We are glad they enjoyed the mazes on the first try.
4. Perfect! We were planning on only one ball for the entire toy so this feedback was good to hear.
5. Tape will not be used on the final version. We will use metal fasteners.
6. We will chamfer the edges of the mazes to help make ramps onto the mazes for the balls. We will also make sure there is no space between the mazes and the walls where the ball might get stuck.

Manufacturing Prototype #3

Polycarbonate Walls 1/4" Thickness

• manufactured and bent to shape by Colorado Plastics
• last two holes added in house

Aluminum Interlocking Part

• standard 80/20 extruded part ordered online
• cut to size and tapped in house

Interlocking Component Caps

• Delrin bought from Professional Plastics
• caps CNC milled in house 

Wall Mazes

• 3D printed using LulzBot 3D printers

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3D Spiral Mazes

• printed using LulzBot 3D printers

Fasteners

• purchased online and follow standardized sizes

Cube Lids

• made using acrylic and laser cut in house
• tolerances were difficult so the lids were prototyped with acrylic

Mechanical Testing: Round 1

The team needs to ensure the toy is safe to enter the hospital setting. In order to do this, they created an in house version of the polycarbonate cubes and crushed them with an Instron. 

Here are the different stages of the cube compression test. The polycarbonate cube cracked at the first material failure stage, and then broke apart completely.

The cube withstood compression very well. It first fractured at around 1600 lbs., and then withstood more force, and ended up failing completely at around 1200 lbs.

These results were quite satisfying to the team, especially since no child could possibly apply 1600 lbs. of force without using a machine. This means the polycarbonate cubes are strong enough to be introduced into the hospital setting.

Testing with Children: Round 2

Now that the team had built a third prototype, they needed to test it with children again to gain feedback. The team brought the toy prototype to Horizon's K-8 School to once again have 3rd - 6th graders interact with the toy.

Comments from Children:

1. It's too heavy.
2. The toy should have more colors.
3. More 3D things would be cool for mazes.
4. The screws that mount the mazes are in the way.
5. The ball gets stuck a lot in between the two mazes.

How the Team will Improve the Toy:

1. Reduce the toy to two cubes to cut down weight and add aluminum handles that would help with the ergonomics of holding the toy and also allow the ball to travel from world to world.
2. The 3D printed parts can be dyed different colors and the backs of the mazes that face the clear polycarbonate can have designs that relate to the maze theme.
3. More 3D spirals will be added to the mazes to add complexity.
4. The mazes can be attached to the walls with only 2 screws instead of 4, thus decreasing weight and screws that hinder ball motion.
5. The part between the two mazes will be covered with a Middle Maze.This will keep the ball on the same plane at all times and will guide it back to a main maze if it falls into the middle maze.

These comments meant the team needed to troubleshoot and create one more toy that would fit all the desires of the children and also be given to the hospital...