2011 Extreme Redesign Winners

College Engineering

1st Place: Prone Stander

Jeremy Prince
Cookeville, TN
Tennessee Tech University

Currently a local elementary school bought a commercial prone stander for a child with cerebral palsy. The prone stander is an assisted stander used to build muscle definition in the child's leg. The redesign is to improve adjust-ability and functionality. Children that have cp are all different shapes and sizes, and most children do not fit in a generic small, medium or large stander. With this redesign, I ran a matlab code for pin locations and a structural analysis for material selection. I have now fabricated and implemented this prone stander in the local elementary school.

2nd Place: Digitally Manufactured Quadrotor

Christopher Kennedy
Daytona Beach, FL
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Quadrotors, also known as quadrocopters, quadcopters or quadrotor helicopters, are vertical-take-off-and-landing (VTOL) aircraft propelled by four fixed-pitch rotors. Flight is controlled by varying the relative speed of each rotor. Although quadrotors have been known for nearly one-hundred years, they remained a novelty until the recent surge of interest in unmanned and autonomous vehicle systems. With the availability of small, sophisticated sensors and electronics, quadrotors are now being developed for a wide range of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance missions from military support to search and rescue to wildlife surveys. Current quadrotors are generally inelegant devices made from crossed aluminum or plastic tubing. Such designs typically provide no shroud or fairing for the rotor blade, making the designs dangerous and vulnerable to impact. Molded and composite quadrotors do exist, but the designs are not easily adapted to a new mission or payload. The digitally manufactured quadrotor is safe, easily modified, and damage tolerant. The four ducts are interchangeable, making for easy repair and assembly. The design flexibility offered by digital manufacturing is critically important in small unmanned aerial vehicles, where each mission is likely to have a unique payload and unique mission requirements.

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3rd Place: Desk2go

David Di Giuseppe & Arash Nouraee
Toronto, ON, Canada
Ryerson University

There is an inherent problem with the concept of a laptop. It is unsafe to use on your lap. Current laptop design with heat management on the bottom often gets blocked and causes the laptop to overheat which may cause health issues and poor performance. The desk2go aims at solving this problem. With desk2go, your laptop case becomes a collapsible, portable desk. Its safe platform provides a rigid, desk-like surface which prevents the laptop from overheating while allowing you to use it comfortably, virtually anywhere. The adjustable platform makes it easy to use the laptop in situations where the absence of a desk would make it uncomfortable and inconvenient; such as sitting on the couch, sitting down on the floor and even while lying down in bed.

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Art & Architecture

1st Place: Flip 'n Slip

Dov Feinmesser & Aaron Hendershott
Toronto, ON, Canada
Ryerson University

Young children's chairs are typically designed with the same intent in mind as chairs for adults: they are intended for sitting and little else. Given young children's endless capacity for imagination and their abundant energy however, young children often use items, such as chairs, in unintended ways. As such, current children's chairs have a multitude of weaknesses, from a limited range of uses to their potential danger to young children who use them in unintended ways, such as with the legs facing upwards. These weaknesses are the inspiration for the "Flip n' Slip": a multi-functional children's "chair" that can be configured in many different ways. Every way the child flips it presents a new and fun use. On one side it serves as a chair (that can rock back and forth) or lounger and on the other as a slide. When turned on its sides, it becomes a table surface. The "Flip n' Slip" is designed for safety. It is molded as a single piece, supports no sharp edges and has grooves at contact points to reduce surface contact and slippage. The flip n slip promotes creative play in a way that is both safe and fun.

2nd Place: Generative Light Fixture

Christopher Johnson
Somerville, MA
Boston Architectural College

The decorative light pendant is a generative design prototype for the mass customization of interior lighting. The design of the pendant is almost entirely based off an algorithm which defines the size of each perforation individually depending on their distance from an object (for example, the distance from the ceiling, floor and walls may vary for each location i.e stairwells, coves, dining etc.). Each of these variables are then individually calculated for emitting the exact optimal illumination to the surrounding objects/surfaces. The end result is an incredibly functional and aesthetically justified light fixture that is uniquely generated by its predetermined location and use.

The design is generated in Rhino using Grasshopper. The algorithm is generated within the program using a series of attractor points (which control the size of each opening), a surface and a sub-surface (which are both aesthetically customizable by the client).

This redesign of the atypical decorative light pedant would generate almost no inventory, eliminate 3rd party manufacturing, and display a cohesive design variation within a series.

The fixture submitted is an example of the initial stylistic client based design for a simple down light.

3rd Place: Frozen Moment

Chao Gao
Scarborough, ON, Canada
Ontario College of Art & Design

Imagine liquid poured out of a giant distorted wine glass, two streams freeze as they touch the ground and form two solid pieces. This moment is captured and becomes my armchair concept. Two streams become the front supports of the armchair. The 3D model is a quarter size replica of the real chair. For furniture production, the quarter size models are constructed before the full size ones to study the form, analyze the structure and are used to communicate with the client. The models are usually made of wood or intended material depending on the design. If the design has organic forms or complex shapes, the construction process can be time consuming. For this piece in particular, because of the complexity of form, it is a big challenge to make it with conventional materials and process. Wood carving, casting, model making all take time and the resulting products are not very accurate. Therefore, the best way to produce it is to use 3D printing technology. This would save time for making the model, producing accurate result, and consequently delivering a great presentation.

Middle / High School Engineering

1st Place: Doorstop

Elliot Wilm
Westmont, IL
Hinsdale Central

Whenever anyone would carry something into my house, it would be a difficult process, because the door would keep closing on you. My dad ended up putting on a big, clunky, industrial door stop on the bottom that flipped out. My family would indirectly mark up the door with their shoes, because it is difficult to control your foot in order to push the door stop down. It also stuck out from the door causing a friend to trip. This could cause a liability issue if someone trips in your house on a hot day when you have the door open. My solution was to hide the door stop within the door and have it come out the bottom so it would not only look nice, but prevent accidents. It is controlled by your hand, like a dead bolt that most likely already exists on your door, ensuring control and an appearance that is pleasing. While using a piston and cam system, I created a track for a rod to slide up and down when turning the knob. This is a design that is meant for a good functional purpose that is extremely useful in many instances while making your door into a masterpiece.

2nd Place: U-watch

Arthur Dabrowski
London, Ontario, Canada
John Paul Secondary School

The U-watch is primarily a wrist watch that uses the new ipod nano 2010 as it's central time piece. The U-watch will allow anyone who owns the ipod nano 2010 to use the nano not only as a music player or digital display clock in their pocket or belt but now on their wrist. The U-watch adds style, increased and improved functionality of the ipod and ease of use of its functions. The U-watch allows the user to still listen to music, scroll using the touch screen and access all of the ipod's applications but now from a user friendly and secure location. The U-watch is designed not only for the classic jogger or runner but now for the everyday employee or citizen. The U-watch is the future and that future is on your wrist.

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3rd Place: Universal Socket

Mason Stillman
Gillette, WY
Campbell County High School

Socket wrenches were a great invention. They provided a much easier way to work with nuts and bolts, but let's face it; socket wrenches right now are a pain to use. Switching the sizes of the attachment you need every five seconds is a real chore. Well, with the universal socket, that problem is a thing of the past. The universal socket self-adjusts to the size that you need, no matter what. So now, instead of wasting your time trying to find the right socket size, you can work on your projects and get them done faster. The universal socket uses a spring locking system to adjust to just the right size for whatever you're working on. The farther you push, the smaller the socket sizes get. When you reach the right size, it stops. The universal socket would be available in different drive sizes to accommodate all socket sizes. The universal socket design that I have sent you is the 1/2" drive model. Other models would include 1/4", 3/8", 1/2", and 3/4" drives.

Building or Bridge Redesign

1st Place: Eco-Friendly Bird's Nest Stadium

Jeevan Farias
Morris Hills High School
Rockaway, NJ

The Beijing National Stadium from the 2008 Olympics is beautiful and extremely complex in its architecture. Its shopping center, lighting, and numerous facilities consume immense amounts of electricity. For the 2011 Dimension Extreme Redesign Challenge, I modified the stadium to decrease energy consumed from nonrenewable sources. I designed and implemented six vertical-axis wind turbines to generate clean energy . I also created two hydroelectric turbines and added an elliptical rain gutter on the roof which will funnel the water towards the turbines. After the rain water passes over the turbines, it is directed back into the stadium for use in the irrigation system. The turbines can produce electricity for the stadium and supply the excess power to the national grid. This will reduce the carbon emission the stadium emits and can potentially create revenue. The metal strips that encase the stadium will now serve as a barrier as well as decoration, because the turbines will be built in between the strips and the building. The addition of turbines will also create jobs in construction, installation, and maintenance. 3D printing has helped me to find a passion and realize a vision. I hope that someday the Beijing National Stadium will become energy efficient and serve as a model for the rest of the world.

Puzzle or Game Design

1st Place: Puzzle Sphere

Kyle Wilkinson
Terre Haute, IN
Terre Haute South

This is a 3x3x3 Rubik's cube made into a 3.2in diameter sphere. I have named this new Rubik's cube the "Puzzle Sphere". I've chosen this name because once solved, the sphere can be opened, to reveal a hidden chamber. The hidden chamber can be used to hide things within its 2.5in diameter semi-spherical chamber. I made this because I love Rubik's cubes. I've never found a purpose for them beyond stimulating the brain and entertaining those around you. So, I decided to add another purpose, to make it like a cryptex in that it can hide things. It can't be as secure as a cryptex because many people already know how to solve a 3x3x3 cube and it's not hard to learn how. This is the only weakness of the "Puzzle Sphere" that at this time I can come up with. To open the sphere, you must first solve the puzzle like a normal Rubik's cube. You then, secondly, rotate the top half counterclockwise. And then, thirdly, you can pull the halves apart. This reveals the hidden chamber to either place your item to hide, or to remove the all ready hidden item. You may have to let it soak for an extra 6 hours after opening it for the first time and it is wise to clean out all the support that can be washed out before putting it back in to soak.

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