In this Olin first-year class I completed two bio-inspired engineering design projects.

The first design challenge was to draw inspiration from jumping animals such as the click beetle and froghopper to create a "Hopper" that can jump substantially compared to its size. My hopper Springaroo is built to entertain by jumping and spinning, inspired by the form of a kangaroo's hind legs and the motion of a springtail's jump.

What I did for this project:

• researched hopping animals to find inspiration
• kept a sketchbook of my hopper design ideas
• fabricated prototypes and iteratively improved my designs
• learned how to CAD lasercutting layouts in Fusion360

The Play Project challenge was to work in a five-person team (Celvi, Sam, Anne, Efe, and myself) to design a bio-inspired play experience to engage and delight fourth graders, inspired by a distinctive behavior and corresponding motion of an animal.

What I did for this project:

• budgeted, tracked expenses, and made our materials purchases
• learned how to sew in order to fabricate game components
• prepared for several Design Reviews
• creatively designed an elephant trunk out of unconventional materials

Our final elephant trunks were made out of the following set of materials: varying length pieces of steel piano wire, soft rubber tubing, a set of 24 lasercut double-wall corrugated cardboard dics, a lot of masking tape and duct tape, elmer's glue, fishing line, cut up paper straws used as spacers, cut-up sheets of craft foam, a machine-sewn grey cotton sheath, and a piece of large wooden dowel for the handle.

A great amount of attention to detail was put into the design and construction of these elephant trunks. Each one required over 100 separate pieces of tape applied precisely and well-adhered in order to create the structural strength needed to hold up under the stress of fourth-graders' play. We are proud that our elephant trunk toys had a lot of maneuverability and that both the fourth-graders and our peers enjoyed playing with them.

"We take nature, an important source of inspiration and understanding, as a theme and develop bio-inspired ideas into functional prototypes. Our focus is on the general principles and methods that shape the practice of engineering design. Students gain experience in visualization, experimentation, estimation, fabrication, and presentation as they relate to designing. Students complete individual and team projects in a studio environment where we seek to develop a shared practice and understanding of engineering design."

      ~ Design Nature Course Website