Happy Meal Design Project
Define A Problem
Nathan and I started this project by agreeing that I would do most of the modeling since I had the desktop, and he would do most of the research since he had a laptop. We pretty much stuck to this, as I had modeled the body, jersey, arms, and legs, and he had modeled the bat and the hat. He got us very important information, such as we could not have any very small parts, because children could choke on them. We assigned each other things to do for this project so we could both be doing things.
Generate Concepts
McDonald's usually uses only one part in there toys, just so children wont choke on them, but there's no fun in just one piece. We designed a toy, so that McDonald's doesn't only have 1 piece, but 7. We designed a Jersey, Hat, Baseball, Body, 2 Arms, and Legs. These all fit in specific areas, so kids can solve it as a puzzle, or they can solve the puzzle with a directions list, in the bag.
If McDonald's were making this toy, they would surely include a McDonald's logo on the toy. McDonald's would have to get specific permission from Illumination Entertainment, the production company for Despicable Me, and Universal Studios.
Since our product is considered a child's toy since it will be made for children 12 years or younger, and it has small parts, it will need to have a label for choking hazards, as some small children will still be teething, or just curious. It will also need a label on the bag or the actual toy stating that it is a toy made specifically for children.
These are our brainstorming ideas for the minion (on the left), and for the accessory's (on the right).
I'm sorry for the bad quality photo, but this is our annotated sketch for out Baseball Minion that my partner and I made.
Develop A Solution
In this picture, you can see in the middle there is the body, and then all of the parts around it are different parts of the puzzle/figurine.
These are our dimension'd legs, and arms of the figurine. The arms are only an extruded circle, with filleted edges, because the minion is supposed to be easy to assemble. The legs have a little post on the inside of them, that allow them to attach to the minion body's bottom that has a small hole on it.
This is our bat, that is fully dimension'd. We came up with this design, because it is not so skinny that a child can easily choke on it, and it also doesn't have any sharp or rough edges.
Construct and Test Prototype (sort of)
Mother: "Wow! How did you know to do all of this stuff? Very impressive! Great job, I know you guys worked hard all day!"
Father:" It's cool! I think the arms should be able to move a bit more, but I think overall it's a nice product."
Father:" It's cool! I think the arms should be able to move a bit more, but I think overall it's a nice product."
Evaluate Solution
I would've liked to make the arms movable, but since the toy was a child's product, I didn't want to make them confused as to which side to put in. I also would've liked to make a baseball to put in the other arm, but I thought that would've been too small for the child.
I think the entire project was a great final project. It was really a mix of all of our knowledge that we learned throughout the year, and it all fit in perfectly. Throughout the project, I noticed myself using different methods that I hadn't used since the beginning/mid section of the year, such as revolving, lofting, etc. I think our Inventor skill level was perfect for this, because it wasn't too hard, but it wasn't too easy. Our teamwork was great on this project. We worked together all class on Thursday and Friday, and we met up on Monday, and worked for about 5 hours. I think over all this was a great project, and it was pretty fun.
Present A Solution.
Dear Ms. Ziglejeva,
Thank you so much for being such a great teacher throughout this entire first semester. You were so kind and understanding, and you helped us when we really needed it, but you really let us figure out our problems on our own, which made us understand the material more. I absolutely loved this class, and I am so excited to continue this class during these next three years. Thank you so much!
Sincerely, James Mathias.
Thank you so much for being such a great teacher throughout this entire first semester. You were so kind and understanding, and you helped us when we really needed it, but you really let us figure out our problems on our own, which made us understand the material more. I absolutely loved this class, and I am so excited to continue this class during these next three years. Thank you so much!
Sincerely, James Mathias.