>> ♪ We've got two days to get this straight ♪ We got a challenge just won't wait our eyes are on the prize ♪ Two engineers just set the date ♪ We got this client can't be late oh, no, it's go time ♪ Build it, test, fix it debug now and kick it ♪ Got to get it off the ground yeah ♪ Stick around and you'll see what teamwork's supposed to mean ♪ It's so key Design Squad Design Squad!

♪ >> All right, Design Squads, we're going to kick it up notch this week.

Come on over here and check out today's client.

>> Hi, I'm Michael Parkhurst, and I'm a professional soccer player for the New England Revolution.

( cheering ) I was the 2005 Major League Soccer rookie of the year.

I'm a defender.

My job is to stop the attack of the opposing team, intercept, and clear the ball up field, so passing is an important part of my game, and the only way to get better is to practice, practice, practice.

And that's where you come in, Design Squads.

Here's today's challenge.

I want each of you to build an automatic soccer ball kicking machine to help me practice passing.

Here are the specs.

The machines must continually shoot balls at me with speed and accuracy.

I'll field-test the two machines at a Revolution practice.

May the best machine win.

Good luck, squads.

>> Awesome!

>> Impressive, huh?

Michael wants a machine that's going to help him practice passing, so you need to focus on making sure that your machines kick balls with speed and accuracy.

Each member of the winning team gets 100 points.

Do you guys have any questions?

>> Oh, my gosh.

>> This is so cool.

>> What's our shopping situation?

>> You guys can use everything in the shop, just like usual, and for anything else you guys need, two members of each team will be able to go shopping.

It'll definitely give you guys a competitive advantage to be able to automatically feed balls into the kicking machine, so you should definitely design around that.

>> So if you don't have any other questions, are you guys ready to start brainstorming?

>> Let's kick some balls, yeah.

>> All right.

>> Let's get this brainstorm going.

>> My initial idea, as soon as I saw the Revolution guys, was a wheel here and a wheel here.

So when these wheels spin outward, it pulls the ball in and shoots it out.

>> The way that baseball feeders work is actually just two wheels spinning at a high speed.

>> Some pitching machines, for, like, baseballs, for example, they have just one arm that has a cup on it.

It's the slingshot effect.

It launches the ball forward.

>> I mean, there's a lot of things kind of like a catapult.

You can have like the automatic football things.

You pretty much take it back, and it's kind of like a big lever arm with, you know, a high-coil spring on it.

>> Yeah, that's just like a... >> Like a pinball launcher.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah, that's kind of like it.

>> I always picture, like, a medal rod and, like, a shoe on the end.

You can get something to go from this position to this position.

>> These little gears would push up against this lip here, and then it would hit the shoe.

>> So it's a kicker.

>> It's a kicker.

>> Yeah.

>> All right, so we have our shooter, our thrower, and our kicker.

>> Roller/wheel, pinball, or kicker-- it's one of those three.

>> I'd suggest we look at what we have first.

>> So are we definitely on this one?

>> So look for motors and wheels, or we're looking for everything?

>> Just look for everything.

>> All in the shop.

>> All right, so let's do that.

>> Grab the equipment in the shop before Red Team gets in.

>> Turning wheels right now.

>> What?

>> What else?

>> We only need two.

>> If a motor is two expensive for our budget, we could always use our drills.

>> The drills wouldn't actually spin fast enough.

>> I have no idea what this is.

>> I think that's for your car windshield wiper.

>> So this is a motor.

>> Do you want to take that just in case?

>> Yeah, it's a motor.

>> Yeah, let's just take that just in case.

>> I mean, we haven't said that we've chosen one, but we've gotten all materials for one.

>> Do you want to do pros and cons of the ideas, or do you want to just call it?

>> I know what I like.

>> I know what I like also, but... >> I don't want to straddle two ideas the whole day, because that's what I always end up doing.

>> So the roller is our team's plan A then.

>> Had a two-wheel design, just like what it'd be for a baseball feeder.

But I think we're really going to need to take our spin on this-- no pun intended.

>> The two wheels right here, and it's going... it's turning in opposite directions.

And then there will be, like, the hopper in the back.

>> You can either change the direction probably like almost like a tripod setup.

So if you wanted to aim it high or aim it low, we could change the direction of that.

>> We want to be able to also shoot left, right, you know, and all sides, as well as moving up and down.

>> Let's pick an idea and go with it.

>> You got it.

>> Is this the most voted design?

>> I guess so, yeah.

Everyone agrees on it.

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah, all right.

>> Okay, good.

>> Yeah, they have Tom; they can't possibly win.

>> Oh.

>> Yes!

>> Wow, we're trash-talking already.

>> Guys, when I peeked my head into the Blue room, I saw that they had the big wheels that I saw earlier today in the shop.

So it's possible they could be doing a very similar design to ours, even though ours will be better.

>> I'm kind of nervous because the Blue Team has a very, very similar design to us.

So it comes down to the smallest details, like whose works a little bit better than the other's.

Ah, it's going to be so close I think.

It makes me kind of nervous.

>> Kim and I are going to go shopping.

>> Yeah.

>> If you guys can start to try to make the... >> ...the structure of it?

Yeah.

>> ...the structure of it, see if you can make something so that you can angle it a little bit.

>> So you have these two, and they have to be spaced out evenly.

>> Soccer ball goes right in the middle.

These are spinning.

>> Oh.

>> And it just... whoosh!

>> Shopping list: two motors.

>> Two monster motors.

>> Phat tires.

>> I can already see this coming along, and I'm psyched about it.

>> Krishana and I will go.

>> Yep, I'm ready to go to the store, guys.

>> All right, what are we looking for?

>> Turntable bearings.

>> I think we should go with big.

>> I think we should go with small.

>> Both.

>> Let's go with both.

We have chicken wire.

It's five bucks.

We'll get two.

>> Nice.

>> I think that's the last thing we can do, the frame.

>> No, the frame is the first thing we should do.

>> No, because we don't know how big.

>> No, we do know how big.

We just have to go by the ball.

3,000 RPM we used for our dragsters we can use here.

We don't want to take out the soccer player's leg.

We want to impress them, not kill them.

And we should also build a frame around it so it's supported on both sides of the wheels.

>> Put, like, tires.

>> Tires.

>> It's just about ten inches or so.

>> Hey.

>> Hi, Kim.

>> Are we going to be fine with the wheels we have, or do you want us to get other wheels?

>> What kind of wheels do we want?

>> Ten-inch diameter with... tires that we can take the air out of.

>> Ten-inch diameters that... with tires that we can take the air out of.

>> We can't take the air out of those ones?

>> No, we can't.

>> They want us to get these, ten-inch ones we can deflate.

>> All right.

>> Axles for the tires.

That one works.

>> Yeah.

>> We just need to get some sort of tubing to put the balls in.

>> Right.

Now, where are we going to get tubing?

>> Dude, tubes.

>> No!

They're all ours.

>> This is what we've been looking for.

This is tubular.

Put them in the cart.

>> We can use anything in the shop.

Anything in the shop is ours to use.

Do you want to hold this motor for me?

>> Yeah-- I'm scared.

>> No, I mean, like, hold the motor.

>> I am scared.

I'm scared.

>> I told you to hold it.

>> I did hold it.

>> See the spark?

>> Yeah, I can see it.

I can see it.

I can feel it too.

>> Hold it tight.

>> I'm holding it tight.

>> Oh, yeah, see?

No.

What was he thinking?

He wasn't thinking.

>> No, but see, when you didn't hold that... We're testing, because what we're going to be doing is we're going to be mounting these wheels on these motors and having them spin, and that will be propelling four... >> I think two will suffice.

>> ...four batteries.

>> We're using all four?

>> Yes, because we want the ball to go as fast as possible.

>> If speed is what they're looking for, Red Team should wire their batteries in series.

That means the positive terminal of one battery connects to the negative terminal of another.

The more batteries connected in series, the higher the voltage.

And a higher voltage will make the motors go faster.

So to hit maximum speed, Red Team should wire all four of their batteries in series.

>> It's going to be about 161 feet per second.

>> 109 miles an hour?

Is that a little too fast?

>> We're going to be killing him.

>> We can just set up the basic structure.

>> Oh, you guys, we're so happy to see you.

>> We're back.

>> We got stuff.

>> Yay, chicken wire.

We basically built the actual frame for everything.

>> The part that's with Tom right now is going to be attached right here on the three hinges, and it's going to be able to fold up and downward.

>> You're going to put the rotating bed here.

>> Yeah.

It's the top piece.

You center it; it's going to lay down like that.

All right, we're ready to fly.

>> I'm working on the structure for the base of the shooter.

So I built a little triangle structure.

I'm going to build another one.

So this is the board for the shooter.

The shooter is going to be mounted on here.

>> Nice.

>> So we now have horizontal movement.

This piece of wood is going to be right here, and everything else, which is the motors and the wheels and basically the rest of our design, is going to be mounted on this piece of wood or a piece of wood similar to this, and it's going to turn-- and we'll put a little handle-- back and forth so that you can the direction that the shot is being fired at.

So right now I'm working on the vertical movement of the shooter, so I'm going to try and use hinges and put the shooter on here, and then we can move it up and down.

>> I like it.

Why don't you like it?

>> We have no way to make this movement stay.

>> No, no, no, no, no.

Why don't you attach angle line here-- like, one coming out of here, one coming out of here-- and every time you move the angle... because there's already holes in it, you just have to put a bolt through it, and do that for both sides.

>> We have to figure out the angle that this thing actually moves at.

Hey, it worked.

Yay.

>> I want to get the tires in position so we can start nailing everything down.

>> We're basically just building a table and drilling a hole right here.

>> That's about 11 inches from the battery.

>> This is what Noah and I have designed basically, was motor, motor, wheel, wheel.

>> Wow.

>> The motor can be mounted right on top of this piece of wood and then have the axle go right through here and hose- clamp it tight.

So that's our makeshift coupling basically.

>> A coupling is used to join two shafts together.

But because Red Team's axle and motor shaft don't line up perfectly, they need a coupling that will bend easily and rotate the axle.

That rubber hose should do the trick.

>> And when the motor runs, this will spin, thus propelling the soccer ball toward the player.

>> The pipes that you cut for me, these, will go in here, and there will be a tack weld to prevent this from moving, and then the axle will go in here.

That'll also be welded.

>> All right, here we have our two axles.

Now, instead of welding them right here, we're going to braze them.

Brazing is a lot like soldering, except it uses higher temperature, and it's a lot stronger.

And before we get to brazing, we have to clean both pieces so the braze actually sticks.

This flex that I'm putting on will protect our rod and our tube from being contaminated as we heat it.

It looks a lot easier on TV.

>> Like, I don't... at this point, like, I don't see, like, the actually pieces of it coming together.

>> We really need to get this done because... yeah, we just... we have nothing completed yet.

>> Where's the bearing?

Yeah, I'm feeling a lot of pressure about the time, because we don't have a lot done, and I just super-glued my fingers together.

>> Time's up.

Wrap it up, Design Squads.

>> I brazed the bearing on the wheel, and I also brazed our axle to the wheel so that now the axle and the wheel are one.

So what we're going to do, I'm just going to cut the axle so that... the chuck only goes to about right here, so I'm going to cut the axle so that it fits into the chuck and so that the drill can lay down.

>> It's like a sandwich: nut, washer, wheel, waster, nut.

Okay, and then... did we put it on the right way?

>> That's pretty good.

>> It doesn't shoot fast enough.

>> Guys, we're going to try launching a ball.

>> You ready?

>> It's not getting enough contact.

>> Move the drills closer.

>> Yeah, that's what I mean.

>> Well, you don't have to cut the whole thing in half.

Just drill two more big... two more holes.

Then put another piece of plywood over it, and then drill a hole in that.

I would just drill two more holes.

>> We have to do this now, like, no time to waste to talk about it.

>> Why do we have to move both of the holes?

Why don't we just move one?

>> I'm not arguing against you, I'm just saying let's... if you're gong to do it, do it now.

Let's just go, right now.

Move, move, move.

>> I don't get what you're saying though.

>> Remember the idea that we had from before where we would cut it down the center and just kind of piece it back together again?

>> Yeah.

>> What about that?

>> Work, do it.

( cheering ) ( cheering ) >> Yeah!

>> Yes!

Good work.

Good work.

>> All right, what else do we got to do?

>> We need a different way to... >> ...stop or control the flow of our balls.

I'm going to go cut this into a few shapes just for testing purposes.

>> Hello, Blue Team.

>> How's it going?

>> What were you guys talking about?

>> What's happening?

>> For our hopper, we wanted to hook up a motor so, as it's spinning, it'll go... ball goes, stop, a ball goes, and now another one's stopped.

>> If we just have one notch inside a circle, that would release one ball every rotation.

So it would slow down a lot more.

>> That's cool.

>> That will hog the ball.

>> That will hog the ball, exactly.

>> We're going to use this motor right here to control the gate to open and close and let one ball out at a time.

>> You know what?

I could actually place this right at the head of the whole unit.

>> Sure, as long as you can get it done, like, as fast as possible, because we... >> That's done then, isn't it?

Isn't that ready?

It's done.

>> Yeah, it's pretty much done.

This is going to mounted right up on top over here.

And it'll just be half a circle.

And by the time the half comes up, the ball will be able to just travel down.

Then, after about less than half a second or so, it'd shoot the other one.

>> So this is the motor that will spin our stopper.

What's the next move?

>> From this direction, it looks like it's a cannon.

>> Put a ball in.

>> For Blue Team's gate to work, it must slide along the ball until it rolls into the notch.

But if the gate isn't slippery enough, the ball will jam, like this.

>> It just stopped.

Why'd it stop?

>> It's trying to push the balls up.

>> Get the ball.

Get the ball.

>> Get the ball.

It's in the tube.

>> Go.

>> That's not working either.

>> And we'll just throw some balls through it now, impress the other team.

>> All right, get the motor.

Get the motor.

>> No, no, no.

It worked fine, but... >> I know, because the wood... >> No... >> All right we can't test today.

>> It was bound to break anyway.

>> It's like in the middle of nowhere.

>> Krishana, we got ten minutes before we have to test our machine.

>> We have to figure out how we're going to mount this.

>> Ah, ah, ah, it worked.

Aw.

>> It stopped.

>> On that wedge.

>> Dude, cut that off.

>> If we lubed it, it would slide a little bit better.

Sun screen.

Not only is this lubed up, but it's not going to get a sunburn.

>> Ooh, like butter.

One ball.

Oh, no.

Ah.

>> What if we used a different motor?

Let's just mount this, because this is our last effort.

We don't have any time for anything else.

>> Hang on one second.

>> Are you prepared... >> No, hang on, okay?

Jeez.

>> It's not working.

>> You guys about ready to go?

>> Ish.

>> Ish?

>> Well, time's up.

You guys got to start packing up.

We're going to move it over to the field, okay?

>> Guys, you have a drill that's about to... >> Hey, Design Squads.

>> Hey.

>> Hey.

We brought your client, Mike, from the New England Revolution.

>> Hey, Mike.

>> Nice to meet you.

>> Come over and check out Blue Team's machine.

>> Yeah.

>> My, my.

>> I think you're really going to like it.

We have here our soccer ball driller, if you get the pun.

>> We tried to get our machine low to the ground.

>> And it can swivel left and right, up and down as well.

>> All right.

Well, give it a shot.

>> So are you guys ready to test it out?

>> Yeah.

>> You might want to come up.

>> That's all right.

You figure it out, Blue Team.

We'll wait.

( applause ) The Red Team's loving it right now.

>> Ah!

>> That's how you stop it.

>> Okay, now we'll do it without the hopper now.

>> We don't need to trash-talk.

We'll just, you know, let that machine do the talking for us.

>> The trash-talking is increasing here.

All right, it looks like they got it going here.

They got it cranking now.

>> Hey, come on, you're supposed to run!

>> Not too high.

We don't want to kill him.

>> All right.

You got it working after all.

>> Very good work.

>> You guys got some steep competition.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> This is our high-velocity soccer ball shooter.

Using two wheels at a very fast speed, push the ball between them and fires it out.

Also, it can be changed for speed, depending on the voltage that you choose.

>> Wow.

>> And then we have this unit here that... right now it's a little bit fast, but it can be tweaked a little bit so that it can have a continuous flow of balls, or you can just take it off altogether and just have one ball at a time and somebody feeding it to you.

>> You can also change the horizontal and vertical position to give the defender some variation.

>> Wow, it looks great.

It looks like you guys spent a lot of time on it.

>> We did.

( laughter ) >> Let's do it.

>> You might want to back up a little bit.

>> Oh, no.

>> Probably to about this line right here.

>> Don't listen to him.

>> Ready?

>> With the hopper.

>> That's all right.

Wow.

( Red Team gasping ) ( laughter and applause ) >> I guess it's accurate.

>> You killed a professional soccer player!

>> He's not dead.

>> Points off!

Points off!

>> Let me know when you're going to put it on full throttle.

Wow.

>> Back up!

That was our machine.

>> That was awesome.

It was great.

>> All right, why don't we huddle up and talk about which team deserves the 100 points?

>> Okay.

>> How about the Blue Team?

What did you think of their machine?

>> I think after they got over their, you know, initial problems and they got the ball rolling, it worked out pretty well.

They had the ball coming up a little higher than the Red Team.

But if we were concentrating on passing, then, you know, I kind of like the ball a little lower.

>> What did you think about the Red Team?

>> I liked how they got out of the gates quick.

Unlike the Blue Team, they had minor, minor difficulties, and once they got it rolling, it seemed consistent.

They were all coming to me rather than, you know, making me run all over the place.

You know, if I'm working on my own, that's what I'd like, even though it was a little hard.

( laughter ) Maybe they just forgot to tell me to back up.

Unfortunately, only one can win though, right?

>> That's right.

>> Got the news.

>> Well, it was a really tough decision.

Congratulations on building two great machines.

I know you guys worked hard, and it paid off.

They were great.

But in the end, I had to go with the Red Team.

>> Yeah!

>> I felt like their accuracy was a little better, and they got it going from the get-go.

So I'm sorry, Blue.

You guys did great.

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org >> Ah!

>>kay, okay.

@ >> Oh!

>> So after seven challenges, Natasha is kicking it in the lead with 580 points.

All right, Deanne, here's a new challenge: describe the Design Squad Web site in ten seconds.

Go.

>> There are games, photos, new challenges, videos, quizzes, scoring updates.

>> Time's up.

>> Ugh!

Just go to pbskidsgo.org.