The "Swing Thing" is this group's interpretation of a fantasy car.  It uses two arms, with clamp-like hands, to climb along a raised bar.  The idea came out of a brainstorming session that began with the idea of a robot that could swing on "monkey bars" similar to those on a playground.  After reconsidering, due to the need for a third rail that would run above the bars, the group decided to go for a machine that would swing along one bar.  The swinging motion has been a challenge due to the gravity-defying motion of the robot.  However, with the correct servo motors in place the group assured me of the plausibility of their success.

To add a tangible and more concrete dimension to our discussions on global warming we constructed small wind turbines. Wind power is a well known and low-cost renewable energy source. The turbines helped the students learn about the practical aspects of harvesting renewable energy. The students had to develop their own wind blade designs and test their blades on a nearby rooftop. The maximal power produced with the small turbines was 3.5 mW.

Students designing the blades for their wind turbines.



Building a low-tech structure to test the wind turbines inside.

Trying to use the energy generated from the wind turbine to power a water pump.

Heading to the roof of the parking garage to test our turbines.

And here is the winning turbine.

It recorded 2 volts on the multimeter. We were able to capture the reading at 1.5 v.

And of course, you can't do wind turbine testing with breaking a few of them!

NuVu is happy to announce the success of a recent collaboration with Gezhi High School in Shanghai.  Students from the Gezhi High School in Shanghai participated in the last round of studios with fantastic results! We were extremely happy to have them with us for the first studio session of the Summer.  

Gezhi High School is located in central Shanghai and it has a very strong international students program.  It is internationally reputed as a leader in education and has been the subject of a multitude of visits from prominent leaders in education around the world.  Gezhi is extremely significant in international education because of it's students' unparalleled performance on the PISA (Program for International Student Assessment.)  We look forward to more collaborations in the future!  

NuVu's students stepped it up for the second product review in the winter term. They presented products that can help with insomnia and Parkinson disease, developed a Hi-Tech cane, reinvented the waiting room for a doctor's office and invited the audience to play Health Games with the Kinect.

The slideshow above shows you some of the Highlights of the product reviews. 

Thanks to NuVu's esteemed Coaches Mahek, Andrew, Nir, Sean, Jakob, Derek, JR, Joshua, Saba and Saeed. The coaches guided the students throughout the whole process - from conception of the designs, to prototyping, testing and presenting the final prototype. The students accomplished all this in just under 2 weeks.

Space Vehicles+Mining and Flying Interactive Storybooks...two great studios to kick-off our first ever NuVu Studio in Bangalore, India!!!  It was a great day, and wonderful to set foot into our home away from home at Idiom Design's studio in Indiranagar, Bangalore.

The day began with magic with Ayush, one of our students, sharing some of his crisp card tricks.  We then launched straight into the studios.  Filling the day with inspiration, questions, reflection, research, and design, the students dove deep into their respective topics.

We have an exciting week ahead of us including some special guest lectures from leading space scientists, digital artists and storytellers, and roboticists! Stay tuned!

Fletcher Maynard Academy and NuVu Studio Celebrate Food Day with Healthy Breakfast Treats Cambridge, October 24, 2011

A group of 5th and 7th grade students from the Fletcher Maynard Academy experienced a special treat for Food Day (October 24). They visited our studio and were treated to some futuristic breakfast foods, including berry protein smoothies (with a whopping 30g protein per serving), berry dark chocolate popsicles, and breakfast popcorn with many different flavors, such as dried fruits and honey with nuts. With Food as the theme for our trimester, the 20 plus high school students attending our program this Fall spent the past two weeks creating healthy, tasty and on-the-go innovative breakfast foods for their young guests. When visiting students were asked about their favorites, popcorn and smoothies were front runners, but almost all of the samples had disappeared by the time the visit ended. Food Day, organized by the Center for Science in the Public Interest, seeks to bring together Americans from all walks of life to push for healthy, affordable food that is produced in a sustainable and humane way.







Here are some of the delicious breakfast creations our NuVu students prepared for the Fletcher Maynard Academy middle school kids: Berry Poplar breakfast on a stick Ingredients: Frozen Fruit (Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries), Oats, Pepitas, Sunflower Seeds, Pretzel Sticks, Coconut Oil, Chocolate
Suna edible smoothie Ingredients: Banana, Strawberries, Blueberries, Milk, Coconut Milk, Honey, Ice Cubes, Hemp Powder, Almond Meal, Sunflower Seeds


Lift Bar power bar Ingredients: Sunflower Seeds, Pumpkin Seeds, Frozen Fruits (Strawberries, Raspberries, Blueberries), Raw Oats, Freeze-dried Fruits (Strawberries, Blueberries), Mashed Bananas, 75% Pure Chocolate, Honey, Sunflower Butter


WHOLE Apple nutritious filled apple Ingredients: Green Apple, Peanut Butter, Strawberries, Blueberries, Raspberries, Raw Honey, Rolled Oats, Gelatin, Transglutaminase


Yolkaine healthy doughnut Ingredients: Eggs (white + yolk), Water, Blueberries, Almonds, Macadamia Nuts, Sunflower Seeds, Walnuts, Sugar


Fropple Pop - healthy popcorn Ingredients: Popcorn, Honey, Seeds, Nuts, Dried Fruit, Almonds

A little over a hundred years ago, before the Wright brothers invented the first airplane, flight was merely a far fetched dream for mankind. Airplanes went on to revolutionize the way we live our lives. Today, we decided to design and build our own airplanes at NuVu! Conforming with our semester-long theme of flight, and following the previous studio (where students built lighter-than-air vehicles), the students embarked upon building heavier-than-air radio controlled airplanes. The first step was an introduction to the basic formulas that govern heavier-than-air flight. Students learned about different methods of lift, propulsion, construction, and design. They started by making preliminary sketches of what they hoped their planes would look like, and calculated the theoretical expected air lift produced for each of their iterations. Students also utilized the software program XLFR5 to determine angles of attack, and airfoil designs that provided the most lift. The conceptual stage of the process was done, and the students were ready to start building! Using our newly minted CNC foam cutter, students started cutting out the wings of their airplanes. Dozens and dozens of foam wings were being cut. There were large wings, thin and long wings, tapered wings, old-school 'straight' wings, and many more. To determine whether the students' initial calculations were correct, the next step was to actually test the lift of each wing using a device called the Wing Tester. The Wing Tester is a small apparatus that blows wind at the wing at a specific speed, allowing the user to determine the amount of weight that the plane would carry at that speed. Students went back and tinkered with their wing and airfoil designs to maximize the amount of lift provided by their plane. They made the wings wider; they made them longer; they made them thinner; they changed the design of the airfoils; their imaginations ran wild. When each team was set on the design of their airplane, students started working on building the rest of the structure, planning the controls of the planes, and figuring out the electronics. While some students were constructing the planes' bodies, wings, and fuselages out of foam and balsa wood (a very light type of wood), others were wiring the servos, installing propellers, and soldering everything together. The initial designs were finally materializing into actual planes! By the studio's final day, the students were ready to show off their final products. One team built a glider with long, thin wings. Another team built a futuristic-looking airplane with tapered wings and a round body. A third team made a plane that could change the angle of its propellers, allowing it to both hover like a helicopter, and glide like an aircraft. Most planes were even too big to be flown indoors! No, they weren't full scales airplanes that can cross the atlantic. They were much cooler than that! [gallery link="file"]

It's the third day of the workshop, and students have already started testing out their ball "energy" harvesting robots. The faster they test, the more time they will have to tweak and redesign their Energy-bots. One of the more challenging aspects of the design process is figuring out how to pick up the balls and keep them inside the robot.

Even as an architect, I never understood the deeper understanding of materials...what exactly are they made of? What structures govern the elemental components? I am beginning to understand. Along with the NuVu students in the Nanotechnology Studio, I am also learning the basic elements and structures that make up most of the compounds and finishes that surround us. I never questioned such things before, but now in this studio, I feel my connection to the world of architecture and urban design, and the questions are even more relevant. Here are some images from our growing "Seed of Life" wall and student productions of Metatron's Cube, a geometrical figure composed of multiple evenly-spaced, overlapping circles which are arranged to form a flower-like pattern with a sixfold symmetry, similar to a hexagon, which brings forth the five platonic solids.



The students deconstructed the elemental components of the fire alarm on the wall in the studio. Here's an image showing the collective molecular, micro and macro properties of all the materials making up the fire alarm.

On Monday in the studio, we will start electroplating the copper structures the students made that resemble the five platonic solids derived from Metatron's Cube.

Here are more images of Metatron's Cube designed by the students using SketchUp.

"Breakfast on a Stick" One team at NuVu is creating healthy breakfast "popsicles" - breakfast-on-the-go-on-a-stick, made of frozen and freeze dried fruits, sunflower seeds, pepitas and almonds with a gelatin raspberry shell formed around the core using liquid nitrogen. They are also experimenting with ways to make the stick edible, so the entire piece will be consumable.


"Breakfast Popcorn" Another team is working on creating healthy breakfast popcorn using dried fruit and pumpkin seeds with the same crunchy goodness of regular popcorn. The first tasting samples were received with delightful "yum's."


"Power Apple" Another group of students is thinking of ways to cleverly infuse fruits with nutritious ingredients. Today, they tested a hollowed-out green apple filled with rolled oats, frozen berry fruits (strawberries, blueberries, raspberries), raw honey and peanut butter. They re-formed the apple using gelatin and an organic enzyme glue (transglutaminase).


"Rich Donuts" These test "donuts" were made by another student team out of egg whites. They will test filling them with various fruit and nut ingredients.