Name: Rosie’s Daily Activity
Project Idea:
- My project idea revolves around the character Rosie that I created previously. I wanted to tell a story using the mechanism that makes a stick go up and down (cam A). I decided to use the box as a way to express the storyline so it is decorated with views outside of the window and I used a green fuzzy fabric to cover the other sides so it looks like a grassy outdoor field. I thought the natural brown of the wood made everything look cohesive as well. After watching the story I think the user will understand why Rosie ends up jumping on top of the windows instead of the windows being on the top where she can’t reach.
Script/Storytelling:
Hi everyone, I am your narrator. We are going to dive into the story of Rosie’s daily activity
Rosie is a 6 year old 3 layered marshmallow with a flower head. In the mornings she watches her parents go to work.
You could describe her as a restless little marshmallow. With no one home and nowhere to go, she liked bounced around her quiet room.
The window was tall — too tall — but Rosie loved watching the flowers sway and the trees dance in the wind.
So, she jumped.
Boing!
Nothing.
Boing!
A glimpse of the trees!
Boing!
A glimpse of birds and flowers!
After a couple jumps, her tiny legs wobbled. She flopped onto the floor like jelly, breathing hard.
But soon, she smiled.
And jumped again!
Up and down, up and down — all day long — chasing bits of the world she couldn’t reach…yet.
Photos:
Video:
toydesign_p3_video.mp4
For the video I only included a short clip of how it works/looks at the end. But I understand I could have used the toy itself to tell my story, it was just that my toy is more like the aftermath of the story since Rosie has conquered the windows and in the story she had to keep jumping to see.
As for the prototypes, the homework we had last week was like my prototype because it is the same mechanism, but since the sizing on the previous one was wrong I had to start over and redo it and then I added some pieces (such as the window) and used my turnaround for the top section, I also spent a lot of time making the visuals for the video. I used fabric to cover the sides because it looked like grass and it looked a lot neater compared to if I just painted it.
Final Reflection:
- This project made my brain ache at first because I had to make sure all the pieces I laser cut fit together nicely. I think my favorite part was the decoration part though because I was able to make all of the cute touches of the scenarios that I mentioned in the video. I learned a lot throughout the process such as how mechanisms work (they are so cool when they are smooth) and I noticed how every little detail mattered because when I was assembling all the pieces, the inner most piece that pushes the stick up was slightly too high and the mechanism kept getting stuck. Since I didn’t want to waste anymore wood I ended up just filing it until it would smoothly pass through the without needing so much force. I also felt like the pieces looked weird when I first laser cut it but you really do need to put every piece together first to see if it actually worked. I couldn’t just test one part of the mechanism and know where it went wrong. If I had more time I would add more fun pieces for Rosie so that the character was more interesting. Also on the bottom of Rosie, I didn’t have enough support so sometimes it would lean to one side. I would definitely try to add more support to the front and two sides (I added only one in the back thinking it was enough but it wasn’t).