Land an Egg on Mars! Design and Print a Landing Seat for an Egg Drop.

I am a Technology Education teacher at Carle Place Middle and High School. This egg drop activity is a great way to introduce middle school students to Tinkercad and the world of 3D printing. Have students use AutoDesk Tinkercad to design a protective contraption for an egg. Students will engage in critical thinking and problem-solving as they design and refine their egg seat contraption. They will consider various factors that affect the outcome such as shape and structural integrity. Students will understand various limitations for 3D printing. Students will tinker with the Sim lab feature of Tinkercad and will simulate their egg drop within the 3D environment. Question the students as to how this relates to the real world and ask the students to give examples. (Examples: the shipping industry, drone dropping mailing packages, military dropping rations, etc.)

Design Challenges:

~The egg must be able to be removed from the apparatus to check for injuries

~The apparatus must only consist of the 3D print, rubber bands, hot glue and strings from a parachute (parachute optional)

1. 3D printer
2. AutoDesk tinkercad
3. Hot glue, rubber bands, string, optional parachute supplies

Use the egg character under the "creatures & characters" tab. Inform students to not change the size of the egg because they are designing their egg contraption at full scale and changing the egg size would not print an accurate model.

To change the size of the objects click on the white square to show the dimensions. Change the length, width or height by editing the size. To change the workspace measurements from mm to inches click on the settings tab in the bottom right. Learning objective: Dimensions on an engineering drawing are crucial in communicating the design intent for manufacturing precise and accurate information.

By holding the 3D box in the corner students can view their 3D object. However, in order to line up all the elements properly they should toggle to the orthographic views (Top, Front, Side) by clicking on each side of the 3D box. Use the arrow keyboard keys to move objects accurately. Learning Objective: Orthographic projection drawings are used in engineering, architecture, industrial design, and manufacturing. It is crucial for individuals working in these fields to understand how orthographic drawing types are used for communication, design analysis, and fabrication.

Learning Objective: In 3D design Boolean refers to two or more shapes influencing each other. Boolean functions can carve out or subtract from another object. These functions may also be used to describe a union or intersection of shapes.

Learning objective: The X, Y, and Z axes are used in math, physics, and computer graphics. These concepts make a coordinate system in three-dimensional space. Robotics, Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, 3D printing, CNC machining, and motion control systems all involve navigating the X, Y, and Z axes.

Learning objectives: Discuss with students ways in which this experiment will not be accurate to real results

~Environmental factors: real world tests include unpredictable interactions

~Tinker cad limitations: simulations may not fully capture real world dynamics such as speed, the input that drives the simulation may not be accurate.

~Missing parts: Contraption will be missing additional elements (rubber bands, hot glue)

Students may not gather much useful information from this simulation but they will get a kick out of it. Some might even "crack up":)

Complete the project with rubber bands, hot glue and an optional parachute.

Egg Drop Ideas:

~Drop from the school bleachers

~Drop from a drone

~Shoot it up with a model rocket and watch it fall and touchdown on earth like NASA's Perseverance Rover!