Designing an Egg Mover: Brainstorming and Constraints

[jegues]

Egg Mover - Design ideas!?

We've been assigned a design project and I'm just looking for some thoughts, comments, opinions and ideas. I'd like to get few different perspectives on the design problem.

I've attached a picture that depicts what the system looks like.

Homework Statement

Design, build and demonstrate a device that will pick up, move and place an egg. To start the test, the egg will be placed on a spot 2.4m from a 2 by 6 that is on edge. Your device is to pick up the egg and move the egg over the 2 by 6 placing it (unbroken) on a spot 2.4m on the other side of the 2 by 6.


2. Contraints

1. Your device cannot be within 20mm of the egg at the beginning of the test

2. No trained pets or other biological assistants are allowed.

3. Nothing may be touching the 2 by 6. (You may have a ramp but it can't rest on the 2 by 6)

4. You can interact with your device only once to START the device and only ONE person can interact.

5. You may not use electricity, fire, smoke, or internal combustion engines.

6. The egg must pass over the 2 by 6, not around it.

7. Upon completion of the demonstration, the egg must be left on the target, free of any constraint that might prevent it from moving (nothing can be touching the egg or the target)

8. No part of your device can be within 20mm of the egg or target (bucket) at the end of the test.



Again, I'm not looking for ANSWERS, just ideas. Usually discussing these types of things with others offers a better perspective on things.

 

[LCKurtz]

Cool problem. I'm thinking a power source of water pressure. A nice high tank of water. You can fill in the details

I hope you will post a link in this thread where we can see all the devices that are created.

 

[Borek]

Crane.

 

[magwas]

Two liquids, one with a slightly higher density than egg, and one with a slightly lower one.

 

[Bartleby50]

windup crane steered by punched tape

 

[magwas]

Power source for mechanical solution: stirling engine using the temperature difference between operator's body and ambient. The start constraint calls for some mechanical energy storage though.
Or go solar.

Unfortunately electricity is excluded, using a nearby commercial radio station as power source would be also cool.
Radioactivity is within the design constraints though.

 

[magwas]

Contain the egg in some impact resistant casing, shoot it to the target by pressurized air and remove casing. Simple:)

Provide the egg with appropriate environment, wait until it hatches, learns to fly, and attract it to the target with some food:)

 

[jegues]

Thanks for all the ideas guys! Meet with my team again today here's a rough sketch of what we came up with. (See figure attached).

A simply 2 pulley system which receives its power by dropping a weight to start the system.

The pulley winds the string which is attached to a spoon and passes the egg over the wooden wall.

Once the egg has passed over the wall, it rolls down another (not too steep) track and cushions its impact against a cotton wall.

This cotton wall has a floor which is at a different slope than that transport ramp and will slowly slide the egg onto the target position located in the center of the inverse bucket.

What do you guys think? Any design critiques/improvement/suggestions/comments? Can anyone see any "potential problem" areas in our design? Are their any ways we can make it even simplier/better/easier to build?

EDIT: The one design problem that comes to mind for me personally, is how exactly are we going to keep the pulley elevated above the wall?

Thanks again guys!

 

[Lancelot59]

That seems like a fairly effective design.

However you run the risk of it falling off the track unless it has some boundaries that weren't in the picture. Plus, you need to keep the scoop a full 2 cm off of the egg at the start, so you need a scoop that can not only reliably pick up the egg, but also release it at the top.

The pick up is simple enough, and making a scoop is simple enough. What I see being tricky there is the release. You need to find a way to both stop the scoop and tip it over.

 

[magwas]

The speed of the egg in different intervals of the track should be carefully designed.
The release mechanism could be something which is pushed down by the egg's mass, but goes up when it is rolled away.

 

[Lancelot59]

The speed of the egg in different intervals of the track should be carefully designed.
The release mechanism could be something which is pushed down by the egg's mass, but goes up when it is rolled away.

How do you mean pushed down?

 

[magwas]

How do you mean pushed down?

For example it is suspended from springs. When the egg on that part, its mass makes the part to move down to the ground, but when the egg leaves it, it will be pulled up by the springs.

 

[jegues]

Thanks for the comments!

The release mechanism is something we'll have to figure out, magwas ideas seem to hard to actually implement. I'm sure there's a simplier way.

 

[Lancelot59]

Since your scoop will likely be a curved shape, have a string attached to the front of the scoop and tie it off to the ground or something. When it gets to the top the string goes taut, and scoop tilts forward releasing the egg.

Whatever you do go for as many support points as you can reasonably do. I made the mistake of only putting two on my trebuchet sling and it cost us that challenge.