>> ♪ We've got two days to get this straight ♪ We got a challenge just won't wait our eyes are on the prize ♪ An engineer 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!

♪ >> Ugh!

>> That looks good.

Can I have one?

>> This is great.

But you know, this is kind of... it's kind of missing something.

I think our client would probably agree.

Roll it.

>> We got them right here, hot dogs!

Nothing but the best!

Don't be shy.

Come and buy at the Dog Pound here.

Welcome to the Lowell Spinners baseball club.

I'm the Dog Man, the world famous.

( barking ) ( laughter ) I'm so famous I have my own baseball card.

I'll give you an autograph.

I sign more autographs than the ballplayers.

>> Hi, I'm Jaycee Dawn, and I'm standing here with the Dog Man.

How are you tonight?

>> Here you go, pal.

We have golden retrievers.

That's with mustard.

One with ketchup, a bloodhound.

And then we even have Seeing-Eye dogs for the umpires.

We got another one coming up.

I have everything that a hot-dog lover would like.

But there's one thing I don't have.

>> Needs onions, raw onions.

Do you have raw onions?

>> This is where you come in, Design Squads.

I want you to build me a chopped-onion dispenser.

It has to be safe, fast, efficient, battery or hand operated.

And most of all, I don't want my dog crying, so I don't need the juice.

I need just the onions.

I will use the winning onion dispenser right here at the world-famous Dog Pound at LeLacheur Park.

Design Squads, good luck, and don't blow it.

( barking ) ( applause ) >> Oh, my god.

>> I hate onions.

>> I do too.

>> You guys set?

What do you think?

There's this look of horror on Deysi's face.

>> Aw, man.

>> All right, let's review the specs.

You need to build an onion dispenser for the hot dogs, crank operated or battery operated.

Now, most importantly, he doesn't want any juice coming out, just the onions themselves, okay?

Any questions?

Nick.

>> Do we have to build anything to chop the onions?

>> No, the onions are prechopped.

It's only a dispenser.

Everything you need is in your workspaces.

So what are you going to do when you get in there?

>> Go start building.

>> Build.

( laughter ) >> We have to look at the materials.

>> So what are you going to do when you get into your workspaces?

>> Check the stuff out.

>> Check stuff out-- thank you, Leah.

Go start brainstorming.

>> Oh, wow.

>> Onions.

>> You can already smell it, yeah.

>> What if, like, the onions are sitting on the mesh thing?

>> Meat grinder.

>> Meat grinder.

>> This is all stainless steel, so it should be safe.

>> Let's see that corkscrew thing.

>> Rechargeable batteries.

Whoa.

>> Let's open it up.

>> No, no.

>> Come on, Deysi.

Deysi, Deysi.

>> Get away from me.

>> We want to have a controlled amount.

We don't want someone to, like, take their hot dog and, like, open the hatch, and then all of a sudden there's a huge pile of onions on the ground.

>> We got our holding tank.

And then, yeah, get the little screw thing.

Here's the crank.

And right about here it's open.

So a person puts the hot dog here, turns the crank.

Onions that are in here, pulled down by gravity, spin through here, fall down on the hot dog.

>> I really like that design.

Do you want to get some onions out and test the tube and the screw?

>> Yeah.

>> You just go like this, and then you have some onion just falling out.

So you just want them falling on your hot dog.

All we'd have to do is drill a hole or something and make a hopper.

You would definitely want it hand operated, because I think batteries wouldn't be sensitive enough, because, you know, some people want a lot of onions, some people don't want much at all.

>> If we can avoid motors, by all means, that's the best option.

>> No electronics, my friend.

>> This challenge seems very basic.

>> Simple.

>> Yeah, very simple.

It's not something that requires two days of building.

Get a couple... >> Wait.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves, because if we start saying that, that's when we start messing up.

>> Should we put it in the tube and see what it looks like?

>> Now you rotate it.

Is it getting stuck?

>> It's all staying there.

It's not moving.

>> That's a big issue.

>> We can simply use some kind of machine that you push it.

This is a handle.

The onions come to here, through this tube.

We put the onion here.

You push it.

Piece of pie.

>> So we have our onions.

>> How's it working?

>> I mean, it's not... it's not great.

>> Could you pass me the meat grinder?

>> Yes.

>> Yeah, so look, they have... >> They have ridges.

>> ...ridges in there.

>> It looks like it's grabbing a lot more.

It's not getting stuck in such a smooth tubing as this.

>> Because this is so smooth that you can see the onions are just basically spinning around.

The ridges, like, do some sort of, like, catching with it, so it pushes them forward.

What if we experimented in making the tube out of another material, maybe, like, make it out of the mess or something?

>> Ooh.

>> And then it self-drains.

Do you want to cut, like, a rectangle and then just bend it into a V?

That's perfect.

>> Ah!

>> Oh, wow.

>> Hooray!

>> It's getting a lot of them.

>> The triangular shape is not efficient, because it gets caught in the little ridge.

>> Yeah, I think it would probably end up being more of a U.

>> So then we have our mesh thing.

Onion juice collects in here.

>> I got it.

>> And then the onions are all in here.

>> What are you guys making?

>> You would have your hot dog, and you just go ( imitating mechanical clicking ), and it'd have onions on it.

>> So you've got a plug in there with a bar, so you're like... >> Right.

>> Okay.

I like that bolt action idea.

>> Yeah.

>> That's nice and simple and hand operated.

Trejonda and Jason, what are you guys working on?

>> We were thinking the hopper should do some sort of drying process.

>> Oh, drying.

>> Yeah.

What did you think I said?

>> I thought you said drawing.

>> So the onions would travel down a mesh path by gravity.

>> So the onions are coming in to here, and what happens is there's going to be an opening on there.

>> What I want you guys to be really careful of on this is communicating a lot with Nick and Tomas and being very, very clear of what the interface is going to be like.

Where does your hopper connect to their tube, and how?

A major point of failure in a lot of engineer designs-- and especially what happens on Design Squad-- is that you guys section out and work on the separate modules and get them done nicely, but there's no clear interface between them, and that's where it's really going to be key to make sure that things work.

>> You can throw a button on there, and then if you just put, like, a motor there in place of that... >> Cool.

>> So you don't even have to go through, like, the horrible, horrible pain of turning this.

Because who wants that?

I don't have time for that?

I need my onions on my hot dog now.

>> We have huge batteries.

Why not?

>> Purple Team is going automatic.

The hopper will guide onions down into the auger.

Batteries will power a motor that turns the auger to dispense the onions.

So the longer you run the motor, the more onions you'll get.

A stainless steel enclosure supports the motor and keeps the onions clean.

And a pan on the bottom will collect the juice and the overflow of onions.

>> We need to get a motor set up.

>> I think this might be the speed we want.

>> I'm trying to make a framework for our mesh.

It's going to go inside the hopper where the onions are going to slide over.

And then we can easily adjust the angle.

The onions are not moving.

>> The angle has to be up more.

>> No, that's not good.

Our idea generally works with smoother surfaces, but this is a mesh.

There's insane amounts of friction, and we're just learning that.

>> We need to come up with a new design.

I wasn't sure if it was you or the onions.

>> So right here, there's going to be the button that's going to activate our whole auger bit.

When the button's not pressed, we actually don't have a complete circuit.

But as soon as you press down on it, you complete the circuit.

Electricity runs all the way through there, back into the motor, and the battery and all that runs.

As soon as you let it go, it's off.

So I just need to solder on these wires.

>> I think that look pretty good.

>> It'll get the job done.

>> Ah, it's so cool.

>> Dewey did a very nice job on the motor.

>> This motor's pretty powerful.

You can feel it.

Can we try some onions in there, see what it looks like?

>> Ready?

It's working.

>> Yeah.

>> I have a new idea for the hopper.

All right, the front is here, so our hopper comes down.

And I'm assuming all of this is polycarbonate.

So we're seeing onions everywhere.

>> Green Team's design is manual.

An onion hopper will be connected to the plunger mechanism.

Onions will be gravity-fed through a slot, filling a section of the plunger tube.

When the plunger pulls forward, it dispenses all of the onions in the tube onto the hot dog.

The stainless-steel enclosure will have stops on the back that limit the forward and backward travel of the plunger.

And a drawer underneath will catch any juice that drains from the hopper.

>> Aw, that's much better.

Yeah, I like that.

Perfect.

>> It's working great, guys.

>> So it stops right there.

And from here, you can have the full amount of onions coming into our hole.

And then after, push it forward, and it pushes all the onions out onto the hot dog-- just goes back and forth.

Would you guys like to see my invention?

Open it.

And the onions are going to fall in.

And then, when you close it...

It seems to work.

>> Seems to work, yes.

That doesn't take a lot of force to push it down.

>> Let's go make the box.

The other two don't really know what they're doing, kind of afraid to ask, might get Jason's nagging-- can't deal with that.

>> Should have made this out of cardboard.

>> It's all right.

>> It's causing us problems right now, so it's not all right.

>> Why?

>> Because we can't figure it out.

I'm ready to kill someone.

>> I am cutting out the little groove that... as the auger spins, that's bringing all the onions down.

It will go around thusly.

And then the onion, the raw onions will fall right onto the hot dog.

( laughter ) >> All right.

>> High fives.

>> Have you washed your hands?

>> No.

Oh, no, no.

>> You didn't wash your hands.

>> You don't get a high five.

>> Wait, elbow.

>> No high five for you.

>> No, get away from... no, no!

>> Time's up, Design Squads.

That's it for day one.

>> Time's up.

Time's up.

>> Stop.

>> Someone's going to get hurt.

>> Dewey did look a little overwhelmed with all the estrogen floating around.

>> Uh, yeah, I'm the only guy on the team.

They're throwing some elements at me that I'm not sure what's going on.

So yeah, I keep getting surprised-- in a good way, though.

>> But we're not going to let him, you know, just lean on us because he's in the lead.

>> Yeah, I guess...

I guess now I am in the lead, aren't I?

I'd be lying if I said it didn't... like, with only a couple of challenges left, that I didn't have a chance.

>> You know, he has to... he has to pull his weight.

So yeah.

>> I feel like we're not a team in this challenge.

I feel like we're all kind of, like, independent about it.

And we shouldn't be, because we're in teams for a reason, right?

So like... >> I don't see anything wrong with the way we worked, especially since you're standing right next to me, can't really knock you.

>> Oh, how nice of you.

So you just don't want to hurt my feelings.

You just are scared.

>> Stop trying to provoke stuff for no reason.

>> I feel like you're afraid.

>> You're always sassy.

>> No, I just want to know.

>> You're always sassy.

>> So tell me.

>> I hope we can get the bottom to extend out further.

Then we can flip that up on the side.

>> Oh, and maybe that should be, like, a collecting tray?

>> And that's the beginning of a collecting tray, yeah.

>> We take a piece of sheet metal.

>> Yes!

>> We fold it twice so you get three sides.

>> We've got, like, 30 degrees to go.

>> I don't think we can do it any farther with the finger brake, unless your sheer brute force is able to do it, Dewey.

>> Very nice.

>> All right, that's fine.

Hey, Dewey, check it out.

>> Ooh.

>> I found this out in the shop, and I was thinking this would be the grating for our juice tray.

This piece is just going to sit right on top of that.

I can now take the grate out and put it back in ever so easily so the Board of Health will be very pleased with our design.

Right now we're making a box, and you kind of don't know what it is.

>> Yeah.

>> Like, if you approached it, you'd be like, "It's a big, shiny, stainless-steel box."

>> "What am I going to get when I put my hot dog underneath and push the button?"

Like, make the front clear.

>> Yeah, so you can see that it's onions.

>> This is just the front plastic piece they made.

It looks like it fits pretty good.

>> Yeah.

>> I like that, Kim.

That looks really good.

>> So from here, we're going to drill the two holes that need to go through the face and the back of our box that the onion- dispenser tube will go through.

>> We still have to test the hopper.

>> Can you hold it in place?

I'll dump the onions.

>> All right, plunging forward.

( laughter ) >> That's to much.

>> All right, some fell.

I don't know.

It's like one piece and then three pieces and then one piece and then, like, a whole bunch comes down and then again one piece, three pieces.

>> So it's a surprise every plunge.

All right, let's get to building.

>> So here's the face, and that's the polycarbonate.

And on the other side is the mesh.

>> Please fit.

It fits, right?

>> It's good.

>> Nice.

>> Whoa!

>> Nice.

>> Woo!

>> Okay, open it.

Okay, so let's push, my friend.

Easy, not all the way down.

>> I'm so proud of this.

>> It's working.

>> Get your hot dog, Dewey.

Tell us where you, as the customer, would like to put your hand.

>> If I was going in, I'd go in probably about there.

>> There?

Very nice.

>> Okay, so... >> Are we going to weld this?

>> I suppose we should.

That's probably the best way to do it.

>> Okay.

>> To the welding machine we go.

>> Ready?

Weld.

All right, cool.

>> Nice job, guys.

Oh, that looks really nice.

>> So do you want to start drilling the hole for the auger?

>> Yeah.

The hole is so that we can get the auger bit through.

Once it's through there, we can attach it to the motor.

The motor will be over here.

And on this side, it'll spin it and push the onions out.

>> This is the plunger system.

The rod is going to bend around, into the box.

And then on this side, we're going to have a lever.

So when you pull the lever forward, the onions will come out.

When you push it back, it'll reload the onion chamber, and then you can push it forward and get some more onions.

We'll put a wall back here.

The back of it will hit up against it, and it won't be able to go any farther.

>> It looks good.

Cool.

Let's turn it up.

If nothing else, it looks cool.

>> ...does not fit.

>> I don't think any side fits, actually.

>> I'm pretty sure it just doesn't fit.

>> Ah, that was useless.

>> How did you get your measurement, anyway?

>> It doesn't matter how he measured or what utensil he used to measure it, which could have been air.

It just doesn't work.

>> Ouch.

>> I'm not saying anything.

>> So what if you do this?

We already have the piece.

Let's just cut them and then make the pieces smaller and weld them on the side.

All right, quickly then.

We got to go quick.

What's going on, Jason?

What you doing?

>> Cutting the L bracket.

>> Uh, we need two.

( Tomas whistles ) >> What?

We need two?

>> Yeah.

>> Okay.

And then we'll put silicone at the edges, yeah, so that it doesn't leak.

>> That's a good idea.

Now you're thinking, my friend.

>> Yes!

>> All right, so button, people, where do we want it to go, right there?

>> Yeah.

>> All right, cool.

Someone mark it and drill it.

Half an hour, people.

Let's roll.

>> Dewey, would it be safe to put onions in here right now?

>> It's working, right?

>> Oh, yeah.

>> Ah, yeah, okay, I'm putting onions in.

It's test time.

>> Press the button.

>> I like that many onions.

>> Yes, argh!

>> All right.

Ah, ah!

>> We can put a lower voltage battery on there.

It'll go slower.

>> Hey, guys, look what we found.

>> That's cool.

>> It'll make it really look like the doghouse that we're designing it to be.

>> I want some onions, and I got some onions.

>> Okay, guys, can we try this box in there for a sec?

We need something here.

>> Ah!

It works.

>> We got one amazing raw onion dealing machine.

>> We've got a full night of fun in store for you tonight.

>> ♪ Who let the dogs out?

♪ ( barking ) >> Hey, Dog Man.

>> You got my onion dispensers ready?

>> They're right here.

>> All right, all right.

Here we go.

Here we go.

>> So we got Green Team up first.

>> Go ahead.

Let's see how it works.

>> All you have to do is push the lever back, let onions fall into the chamber, and push it forward.

If you need more, you can just keep on putting more on, and you never waste any.

>> Oh, look at that!

But that's all right.

>> No juice, perfect amount of onions every time.

>> What more could you want, Dog Man?

>> All right, Purple Team's up next.

>> It's electric.

You just push a button, and the onions come out at the bottom.

And say when you have enough onions.

>> When.

>> Wow.

All right.

>> What do you think?

>> It's good.

>> So it's going to be between the touch of a button and the pull of a level.

>> May the best team win.

>> I like this one better.

This one's better.

>> Why?

>> Why?

Because it's easier.

>> I like this one better because you can control how much you put on the hot dog.

>> Just push the button, it comes out.

>> Every time you do this, if you pull too much, then too many onions will come out, and it's just a waste.

( gasping ) >> We are here at the Dog Pound.

It is the onion dispenser challenge.

We're going to announce the grand prize winner.

Dog Man is going to do the honors.

>> And the winner is... the Purple Team!

( yelling and cheering ) >> Come on up and check out the onion dispensers up here at the Dog Pound.

>> Hey, good going, girls and boy.

All right, all right, hey.

( barking ) >> With only two challenges left, Dewey clings on to the lead, barely edging out Leah at the top of the scoreboard.

>> Hey, have you checked our Web site?

>> Yeah, it's pretty cool.

You can build projects on your own or with your friends, and you can win cool stuff.

>> Oh, check it out.

Go to pbskidgo.org.

>> Coming up... >> We're working with a Bruins player.

>> He shoots.

They score!

Next time on Design Squad.