Design Problem and Solution

Problem: Across the globe there are thousands of endangered species that are endangered because of humans. One of these endangered fish is the Blue Fin Tuna and we wanted to create empathy for what these species  feel when being caught on a fishing line.

Solution: The resistor gives anyone the full experience of what this feels like for a Bluefin Tuna.

Detailed Solution: Our solution is a stopping bike that creates resistance when pedaling, just like when a fish is swimming in the ocean but suddenly gets caught on a fish line. The resistor gives the interactive experience of this.

Further Elaboration:

Main Story:  The way we are solving this problem is creating empathy for our viewers. We want everyone to walk away with the feeling that this is wrong and that there should be a difference. Humans are one of the big factors why Bluefin Tuna are endangered and we need to change that. The resistor gives the same experience to a person that the fish would experience, they are pedalling freely but suddenly stop.

Mechanics: There are a couple of different mechanics behind this. First, one mechanism that is used in the rope. The rope coils around the gear, and it coils because we made 5 3d printed rope holders which the rope can coil into. The rope is brought through a hole through the wood underneath the bike to another device. Underneath the bike is a  space where the rope is again coiled on secret hidden reel.

Development: In this studio we progressed very well. We made different iterations playing this idea of resistance. But we stayed very consistent throughout our entire project focusing on this one idea. We moved from hand made cardboard models to a full working iteratios out of parts of a bike and thick wood.

Challenges: We faced a couple of challenges across our way. One of our challenges we faced was how are we going to make pedals that someone could stand on. Another challenge we faced was how resistance would slow someone down or how to make someone stop pedaling. A challenge we still face is how to use the resistor without someone supporting, how to make some type of objects that someone could hold onto. Lastly, a huge challenge we faced was how the bike was going to spool the rope and how it would stay secure.

Iterations:

Iteration #1: In our first iteration we made out of hand cut cardboard just getting the idea of the box and the weights. This is hand cut box with a hand cut non working gear that has weights attached to it. This idea was just to get our thoughts physically made. It was not suppose to work or anything. We received the feedback of trying to create some type of mechanism where pedals could be made.

Iteration #2: Our second iteration was also handmade, a modified version of iteration #1. But it had pedals where someone could stand. Also the pedals would coil a rope. This version was hand made and was not designed to work but it had our idea of someone pedalling to coil something to resist them. The feedback we received in this was that

Iteration #3: This last iteration is when all of our ideas started to come together. We laser cutted and modelled a box where the pedals could stand on. We decided to solve our pedal problem by taking actual bike pedals and a crank. We took these part and hand sawed them from the bike. We started thinking of ideas that would spool the rope and we came up with this 3d printed piece that could be screwed into the bike to hold the rope. For securing the bike, we thought of different types of clamps that could securely hold the bike. Each part of the bike that needed to be secured had a different type of screws. The feedback we received here was how will the resistance work and then we started thinking about the idea of a hidden reel.

The resistor is a interactive experience that creates empathy  for endangered species like the Bluefin Tuna. The Bluefin Tuna often feel the experience of swimming freely in the ocean without trouble but suddenly gets taken from that moment to get caught on a fishing line. The way the resistor creates this experience is that we created stationary pedals that when someone pedals for a certain amount of time, a rope tightens and stops the pedaling just like a fish gets stopped from swimming.