(whirring) (beeping) My name is Micah, and I go to a school called NuVu Studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where we work on design and engineering projects.

Every two weeks we take on a different design challenge.

This session we're working to redesign the lunch table.

A lot of places like ours don't have enough room to both work and eat in the same space.

And that's why we're trying to make a lunch table that can spread out during lunchtime, but can be stored away when it's time to work.

We worked in groups of two, and came up with different table designs, including a folding box table, an accordion-style table, and a virtual picnic table.

To visualize our concept in 3D, we are building a scale model.

3D refers to objects with length, width, and height, while 2D objects are flat and only have two of these measurements.

In the beginning, we draw about a million sketches.

We try to get as much on the paper as we can.

When you're drawing in 2D, it can help you to imagine the project before you actually build it, so that you know all the parts you need, and you know how much space it will take up, and you can have an idea of each individual part before you put it all together in a more complicated way.

STUDENT: We wanted to design a table that had a lot of storage, but was compact enough so that it didn't take up too much space.

So with this you're able to have a small design and swing out into a bigger table.

STUDENT: We got our inspiration from a Jacob's ladder and an accordion.

We're looking to create a picnic experience for an indoor setting.

MICAH: So we've been basing our designs off of tents and umbrellas and collapsible poles, just to try to draw from the best designs that already exist.

There you go.

MICAH: At NuVu we have a laser cutter to cut the wood for our models, but at home it's easy to do it yourself with some scissors, some cardboard, and some tape.

Our table is a table that can change sizes, so it can either seat two people, four people, or six people.

It does that by raising rings, sort of like an umbrella, so that they go up and down to change the size.

3D modeling is really helping us, because it's very hard to explain, but when you see it in 3D, it's much easier to see what we're talking about and then make it.

Sometimes when we build a 3D model, it shows us that there are problems with our design.

That's when we go back to 2D and change our sketches, and then we make a new 3D model to see if that one works.

STUDENT: We realized that there wasn't going to be enough support on the table.

If we didn't put something right here, the table would kind of just sink in.

MICAH: Each time you go from 2D to 3D and back to 2D, you learn a lot.

Every time you do that, you'll see your mistakes, and you can improve upon them and make sure they don't happen again.

At the end of the class, we had a fully realized, functioning scale model of our design concept.

I'm hoping that we can build a full-scale model of this table so that we can use it for lunch here and maybe all over the world.