Design Squad
Kid Engineer: Locker Hammock
Clip | 3m 29sVideo has Closed Captions
See how these kid engineers design and prototype a way to store things in their lockers!
See how this team of kid engineers design and prototype new ways to store things in their school lockers!
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
Design Squad
Kid Engineer: Locker Hammock
Clip | 3m 29sVideo has Closed Captions
See how this team of kid engineers design and prototype new ways to store things in their school lockers!
Problems playing video? | Closed Captioning Feedback
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GIRL: School life can be busy and chaotic, and your locker can be your only sanctuary-- your home away from home.
The problem with most lockers is there's no place to put your small things, like pens, your rulers, your erasers, and even your phone.
There's only a hook and a shelf, so everyone finds themselves burrowing through the mess of their lockers just to find a pen, causing a huge avalanche.
I'm Bibianna.
I'm Annabella.
I'm Angela.
I'm Maddie, and we call ourselves... BABAM!
- We came up with the idea of a hammock in your locker to hold all of your small stuff.
- But we would have to get, like, really good ropes to hold on to it because this design we were thinking maybe we would be able to hold books.
So we decided to try something else, and we picked clamps.
So we were thinking of maybe metal or plastic clamps, and we thought that the clamps would be attached to the hammock, and the hammock and clamps would be attached to wooden boards.
We didn't really like the idea because we would still have to have these huge wooden boards, and kids would have to put them in their lockers.
Our ideas for tape and glue didn't really work out.
We didn't even test them because wee knew they wouldn't be strong enough, so our teacher suggested these magnets, and she suggested that we put hooks on the back of them and we could just hook them on and put them on the side of the locker.
- And also, there would be, like, no wooden boards and there'd be more space to put in all your stuff, and it's more portable and it's more easier to adjust.
MADDIE: So this is our version one.
So these rings would be on a hook like this with a magnet, and it would magnetize on the side.
We were thinking about it, and we weren't sure how deep, how much stuff this would hold, but we're hoping that it'll be okay.
BIBIANNA: And this is our second product, and then we used much smaller rings apart, and then, you know, like, this fabric is more deeper down than the first product, and then we are going to use, like, circle ring over here, and this hook can hook on it, and the firm magnets you can, like, stick on the locker.
We tested these out and they weren't really strong enough and they didn't hold anything, so we decided to use these super rare earth magnets that were supposed to be really strong and even more expensive.
And it hooks on to this.
- For the final version of our locker hammock, we used the rare earth magnet hangers that hold firmly to the locker wall and metal hoops that stick to the magnet hangers.
And then we even added little spring clamps so you can adjust the hangers or change the hammock bag.
I'm really happy with how my locker hammock turned out.
I use it every day.
This locker hammock design has worked so well that we're going to manufacture it in different colors and designs and sell it to our friends.
The great thing about innovation and invention is when you fail, or when a prototype doesn't work, then what happens is you can take the things that went wrong with it and it motivates you to improve them and make them better.
BABAM!
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