>> ♪ We've got two days to get this straight ♪ Got a challenge just won't wait our eyes are on the prize ♪ Two engineers just set the date ♪ 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... ♪ >> Welcome to your first day of Design Squad, everyone.

( cheering and applause ) >> Over the next 13 weeks, you're going to be building projects that are crazy, fun, interesting, useful, and challenging, just like real engineers.

>> We have the Blue Team.

( cheering and applause ) Oh, and we have the Red Team.

( cheering and applause ) But don't get too cozy, because we're going to shuffle you up every week.

>> All right, so at the end of every challenge, the team that gets closest to nailing it is going to get 100 points per member-- the team that loses, zero, zilch, nada, nothing.

Then, at the end of the 13 weeks, the engineer in training with the most points overall wins the grand prize, which is-- drum roll please-- a college scholarship from the Intel Foundation.

( cheering and applause ) >> Yes!

>> Well, right here is where all the action's going to happen, from brainstorming to debugging.

So turn around, take a look at your workspaces.

>> You guys each have identical work spaces.

Now, the Red Team's on the left, Blue Team on the right.

You have hand tools, power tools, electrical equipment, and just about everything you need.

Finally, out here in the big machine shop are the larger tools, and you both have access to those.

>> All right, well, you guys ready for your first challenge?

( cheering and applause ) All right, all right.

This week, we're going to get a little face time with our first client.

His name is Dan Page, and he's from Hampstead, New Hampshire.

Dan feels the need... >> ...the need for speed.

>> Whoa.

>> Hey, Design Squads, I'm Dan Page.

I build dragsters from scratch.

I've been building and racing cars since I was 16 years old.

I now have over 100 cars on the racing circuit, and I've got some serious hardware to show for it.

Dragsters are the fastest accelerating vehicle driven by man, and that includes the Space Shuttle.

Dragsters can reach speeds over 330 miles an hour and cover the quarter mile in less than five seconds.

Now for today's Design Squad challenge.

I want you to build me the fastest dragster possible.

Here are the specs.

Both teams have two days to modify an existing car into a dragster.

We'll supply the cars and the engines; you supply the engineering know-how.

Both dragsters will face off in a head-to-head showdown at the New England Dragway.

The fastest car wins the challenge and some serious hardware.

But here's the catch.

Nate, Deanne.

>> Ha, ha, that's right.

You guys have to take these little, wimpy, non-powered kid toys and turn them into the fastest, most insane dragsters possible.

>> I know, and I know both teams are wondering which one of these do I get.

So to figure it out, we're going to do a coin toss.

Blue Team, call it.

>> Tails.

>> Tails it is.

>> There we go.

>> All right.

Blue Team, let's huddle up, figure out which one of these bad boys you want.

>> Okay, guys, come one.

All right, so what are we going to talk about?

>> I think it'll be easier to put a motor on the bottom or the top of the wagon, because there's really no place that you can mount anything on the trike.

>> The wheels on the wagon, it's durable.

>> Bigger than the trike.

>> The wagon?

>> The wagon.

>> All right, Nate, Dan.

>> We've made our decision.

>> And it is?

>> We'll take the wagon.

>> Red Team, sounds like you guys have the trike.

>> Oh, we want the trike.

We want the trike.

>> Bring it, bring it.

>> Three wheels versus four wheels.

>> See you on the racetrack.

>> So here we go.

You guys ready?

>> Yeah.

>> Let's get out there.

Get your vehicles and get some brainstorming going.

>> All right.

>> All right, Blue Team.

>> One more thing.

You'll find the motors that we want you to use on your work tables.

Good luck.

>> Oh, my god.

>> What?

We're supposed to move a car with this?

>> I thought we were getting combustible engines.

>> That caught me off guard.

>> Brainstorming time, guys.

Let's go.

>> Brainstorming, guys.

Let's go.

>> All right, so our goal is to drag race.

>> Drag racing automobile.

>> We're going to have to use some type of gear system, because I don't think that the drill's going to be able to make the car move as fast as we want it to.

>> Right, so some kind of gear train.

>> And we also want preferably less weight in the car.

>> You know what?

I'll drive.

I'll drive.

It's okay.

I think we should go take a look at our drills.

>> We should figure out what settings... what the settings mean.

>> All right.

>> The sound means it's going faster.

>> Which one's going faster?

>> The more high pitched one.

>> We have to find a way to attach the drills to the axle on the on the wheel.

>> What part of the drill is going to be attached?

>> But wait.

Hold on a second.

We don't need to connect it to the axle because look, the wheels are free spinning.

They're not connected to the axle.

We have to connect it to the wheel.

Because look, when that wheel spins... >> How are we going to attach it to the wheel?

>> That's what we have to figure out.

>> Do you want to dismantle it right now?

>> No, I think we need to brainstorm completely first before we start taking apart the materials that they gave us.

>> I like ripping things with my bare hands.

I would say the simplest thing to do would be to have it powered from the rear after we remove these crummy tires.

>> Well, we got a simple bolt that's in there.

We could fit it right into there.

If you have it on here, it's going to be like this.

>> Hey, guys.

>> How's it going, Red Team?

>> Oh, my goodness.

Well, we've learned how to disassemble things.

>> Yep.

>> Have you guys thought about acceleration at all?

>> Are we allowed to push the car physically at the beginning of the race?

>> Well, do dragsters use push starts?

Do people push the dragsters?

>> Yeah, dragsters aren't made out of tricycles, so... >> This one's made out of tricycle.

No push.

You guys have to be completely powered off the drills.

>> Did they get it to work?

>> Yeah.

>> Oh, my gosh.

>> We got it to work!

>> It doesn't stop though.

Brakes!

>> It's slowing down.

>> Nice, good job, you guys.

>> Red Team's idea is a direct drive.

That means the drill is directly connected to the wheel.

So the wheel turns one time for every turn of the drill.

But here's the catch.

The trike's wheels can't spin any faster than the drill's top speed.

Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys, another thing that I noticed is you've just been hacking at stuff, taking things apart, which is a good way to get started, maybe get a couple ideas flowing, but I really want to see some stuff on paper.

>> We just wanted to jump right in and start taking apart the tricycle, like, immediately.

We didn't want to, like, plan it out.

So we had to take a step back and kind of plan it out a little better.

>> You want to, like, draw down what we're planning to do first?

>> Yeah.

>> Yeah, let's draw.

>> We got our main wheels.

>> All right, so we got our forks up in front.

We can have the drills right around here, right down on the main axle in line with it.

>> Our motor's somewhere in here with our gears.

>> Can you guys give us the rundown on your design?

>> We decided that the drill probably wouldn't have enough power to make it go at all if with any speed.

>> Interesting.

How'd your decide that?

>> Um, we kind of just assumed.

>> Did you do any tests at all, or did you just, like, look at them and think, "Those drills aren't powerful enough"?

>> We assumed.

>> Oh.

>> So how are you going to get that acceleration?

>> I remember learning that if you have a spool, and there's a wire around the spool, and the spool's constantly getting bigger, it's going to be pulling more, so the car's always going to be accelerating.

So we somehow apply that concept to a cart.

We'll be able to keep the car constantly accelerating.

>> That's great.

I think your onto the right track.

I mean, definitely you have three different speeds here, but there are ways to achieve that without just relying on the drills.

>> Right.

>> I think that's a good thing to brainstorm-- are ways that you're going to get acceleration in general.

>> That's going really fast.

>> That wheel.

>> Are you sure you won't be the driver?

>> No, I just said-- you didn't hear me-- I said I take back my comment.

>> I will volunteer to drive this crazy... >> He's driving.

>> I volunteer to do it too.

>> Fine, we'll rock, paper, scissors for it.

>> Okay, that's one way to go, but Red Team would be better off if they considered their power- to-weight ratio.

The drills' limited power can't accelerate a heavy load, but a lighter load will accelerate faster down the track.

So if Red Team wants the edge, they should choose the lightest person to drive, and that's Natasha.

>> Maybe I should go ride it around the Blue Team and intimidate them.

>> Wait a second.

>> Has to have more force on the front wheel.

>> If this works, then I'm driving.

>> As soon as I started shifting my weight up to the front of the car, it started going.

>> Let's try it with Mike standing forward like this.

>> It's working a lot better now.

>> We're going to use the gear changing inside the actual drill.

>> How are we going to switch it though?

>> He's going to physically switch it, we think, for now, maybe-- no?

>> Where's the drill going to be?

Like, is there going to be one here and one here?

>> The easiest thing to do would be to mount it like this... >> And then drill a hole right there.

>> ...cut a hole right here so I can just put my finger through.

>> But what about the other one?

>> Look at the way the motor's spinning.

>> I know.

That's the problem with that.

>> But if we do it like this... >> That's clever.

So we need a way to make this tire spin with this motor in this position.

>> Each motor would be attached to this little space right here.

>> Oh, to the wheel, okay.

>> Yep.

How, gear?

>> I guess we can just do a chain that goes around.

>> That's be really easy, to just... if, like... well, let's say we move this down here.

>> Yeah.

>> ...to have this spinning... >> And a chain just going... >> ...and a chain going from here to here.

>> We can put...

I'd rather not do a chain.

>> I'm a little aggravated because we're getting nowhere.

Everything we try is just not working.

We need to think outside the box.

>> We might need to start over, head back to the drawing board.

We need to pick one.

We need to get something done.

>> All right, instead of thinking about all these axles, I'm seeing the drills coming straight out of the body... >> Okay.

>> ...and I just press the buttons, and they're connected directly to the wheels.

>> So have it on direct drive, then, for powering?

Okay.

>> I guess so.

Keep it simple, stupid.

>> These will have to somehow be out here... >> Yeah.

>> ...I guess spinning these wheels, like this.

>> Yeah.

>> And they can be some type of structure that comes out that's stable enough to hold the drill.

>> Can we name the wagon right now?

Can we just do that?

>> Let's call it the Blue... the Blue Boomer.

>> The Blue Boomer.

Right there, we're on the same level.

>> Um, I'm worried about the time just a little bit.

It'd be great if we can actually test our design today.

What time is it?

Anybody?

>> Time to rock and roll!

I have no idea.

>> This is the mechanism we want.

This is the trigger for the drill.

>> We want to take the switch out to remove the whole hassle of trying to figure out a way to push the trigger in, and we can just have the whole switch and then extend the wires and put it onto the handlebar.

>> So this will allow us to move this trigger up to the handle so that we don't have to bend over and pretty much put our face into the tire to try to get it to work.

>> We're going to need to run the wires out.

>> Yeah, so this is on top.

This is top.

You get bottom.

Oh, it's working.

>> Yep, I got it.

>> Yes, all right.

>> This is the greatest feeling ever.

>> Yes, we have movement.

>> Put down your power tools.

That's it for day one.

>> Yeah!

>> All right, put it down, you guys.

Clean it up.

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

>> We got to get this clutch to... >> Uh-oh.

>> Hey, guys.

>> Blue Team, day two.

>> So our first to-do is the mounting of the drills.

>> The drills are going to be attached like this.

>> I have a question.

Have you guys even sat on it yet?

When I used to build go-carts, the first thing I did was sit on it, imagine myself flying down the road.

>> I stood on it.

>> If we pushed you right now, how would you steer?

>> I wouldn't.

>> With our body.

>> Wait.

>> Let's see what he does.

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

Whoa.

>> Go.

>> Oh, the axle from the wheel.

>> I like it.

>> Can you do that?

>> Eureka.

>> So instead of dancing, what are you going to do with your hands then?

>> Vroom.

>> Nice.

When we first talked about acceleration, you guys came up with some interesting ideas, you in particular.

>> Did I really?

>> Oh, no.

>> Your cable, your spooled cable idea.

>> Oh, yeah.

>> Yeah.

Noah's spool idea is a continuously variable transmission or CVT.

Here's how it works.

One spool wound with cable is attached to the wheel's axle.

A take-up spool is attached to the drill.

With each turn of the drill, the spool takes up more cable and grows in diameter while the wheel spool that's feeding cable shrinks in diameter and must turn faster to keep up.

That spins the wheel, and the wagon accelerates.

Towards the end of the race, Blue Team may have the speed advantage because the CVT can spin the wheels faster than the Red Team's direct drive.

>> All right, so we're going with the spool.

>> This represents our wheel, and the drill will represent the motor.

As the motor pulls the string in, our wheel will begin to turn, as it is now.

>> Keep going.

>> Just fix it underneath.

>> So if you look at this huge mess down here, the string's not going to unwind because the string is too soft.

So when you put tension to it, it just sinks in rather than unraveling.

All right, I'm going to start cutting this off.

>> So right now we need something that's a lot harder, which is right now steel cable, and we'll see how that works.

I'm a little worried about how it's going to... how tight it's going to wide around, because it is stiffer than the string.

But we're only going to find that out by testing.

>> You guys look like you're about ready for a test.

>> Yeah.

>> Look at that thing go.

>> The battery's on.

>> I'm going to go get the Blue Team.

>> Hey, guys, Red Team is ready to test.

You guys want to come check it out?

>> No.

>> Maybe.

Maybe.

>> It's going to be the coolest- looking stationary tricycle ever.

>> Stick and stones, Tom, sticks and stones.

>> That's what you're going to be landing on when that thing explodes.

>> Oh.

>> You're just jealous.

>> One for the Blue Team.

>> You talk the talk, but you know, we're testing first, so... >> We can talk the talk, but you're going to be walking the walk when that doesn't work.

>> Ooh.

>> Ooh.

>> I feel like the Red Team's going to fail horribly right now, and it's going to feel wonderful.

>> Yeah, Natasha.

You got this, girl.

>> Natasha, are you ready?

>> Ready!

>> Hey, you guys, what's going on?

>> Hey!

>> Oh, my goodness.

Someone's on the track.

Come on down, Dan.

>> Hi, Dan.

>> What do you think of what they've built so far?

>> Looks pretty crazy.

So what do we have here?

>> We pretty much have a really chopped up tricycle.

We used this motor and attached it to the front wheel to make this front-wheel drag machine.

We also changed out the wheels in the back for better traction.

>> So where's the seat?

>> There is no sitting.

>> Let's give it a test drive.

>> On your mark, get set... >> Golf clap, golf clap, golf clap.

>> You'll have to work in the acceleration a little bit.

>> I think they have to just work on the whole moving part as a whole.

>> So where's your car?

>> You can't rush perfection, Dan.

>> It's getting there.

>> I noticed you were kind of picking on their car a little bit, but I don't see your car out here.

>> Oh, don't worry.

Our car will move.

>> Make sure you guys bring your wrench set to the real race.

You might need it.

>> Make sure you bring a working car next time.

You'll need it.

>> Oh.

>> Yeah, because yours worked perfectly.

>> At least we have something.

>> I hope ours works as well as yours.

>> We have something.

>> It was not fun.

It was disappointing and tiring.

>> It was very embarrassing.

>> It just gave the Blue Team an ego boost that was highly unnecessary.

All right, something is definitely loose in there.

>> The chuck's spinning, but it's not, like, engaging.

The chuck stays on there fine, but the motor isn't spinning the chuck to spin the axle because the chuck's loosening.

Are they both spinning though?

>> No.

>> That one's not spinning?

>> Basically, what we did was we clamped it down with this hose clamp just tight enough so that it would stay in there and make sure it wouldn't move.

>> Let's go for a test, you guys.

>> All right.

>> You ready?

>> The weight difference between you and I is about 20-something odd pounds.

>> I can't believe you're going to steal that from me.

I called it first.

>> And?

>> And?

>> I'm a lot lighter.

>> We have it on camera.

>> I was born... >> I guess it would be more effective for Krishana to drive the car.

>> Fine, all right.

You know what?

Drive.

I don't even care.

I don't even want to drive anymore.

I'm just going to check my e-mail.

I've seen Krishana drive.

>> Are you talking trash?

>> Break it up, you two.

>> Do I have to strangle him?

>> We need to work together as a team.

>> Do I have to?

I'm taking Natasha down.

I don't know about him.

I think the guys kind of undermine us because we're females.

They're always like, "Go in the kitchen."

Like, what?

What are you talking about?

We're engineers.

Dude, listen.

Giselle and I take it well.

>> That's the whole point of working in a group, is working together and throwing out as many ideas as you can, and sometimes it just doesn't go through.

( cheering ) >> Ah, it worked!

>> Whoa!

>> All right!

>> It worked!

It worked!

>> That is the output of our hard work, and that is the meaning of teamwork.

>> We wound both, obviously.

we secured both drills with this metal bar.

We put this bar here to stop them from wobbling.

Now it's, you know, solid as a rock.

We're ready to test.

>> Testing phase.

>> We're definitely ready to test.

>> We're not going to stoop to their level and heckle them.

>> No, no, no, no, but... >> Oh, my gosh.

>> And it looks like it's really hard to wind that cable on there because it's so darn stiff, right?

You have a pretty small radius, and the cable doesn't want to bend that much.

>> Look over here for a second.

>> That's the second time it did that.

>> The cable got wound up on the end so much that it ripped the pipe out of the wood.

>> Wow, that's impressive.

>> So when we get into the pit, what kind of repairs are we going to make?

>> We're going to put that axle back on.

We're going to either wind the cable tighter or find something that winds tighter than the cable will, something that's less stiff.

>> I love our car, and we're still going to beat the Red Team, because we're so much cooler.

>> Put it in, blue.

Put it in, blue.

>> Blue Boomer!

>> It was just like our car.

>> Yeah, sounds just like it.

>> Before we had metal wiring, and then that wasn't really stable enough, so we changed it to climbing rope.

>> So you're going to just spool it perfectly so that it's not going to be able to coast past.

>> That's the idea.

>> Top flight races to staging lanes for round one.

Again, top flight to the lanes for round one.

>> All right, this is it.

>> What's our strategy?

>> You don't want to have an itchy trigger finger and, you know, jump off the line too quick.

>> Boomer, Boomer.

>> The Blue Boomer is not a late bloomer.

Get ahead early, stay ahead.

>> Red Baron!

>> Blue Boomer!

>> I'm anxious and nervous.

I'm excited.

I'm every emotion you could possibly imagine.

>> Yeah!

>> The blue one looks good too, man.

Look at that gear drive.

And it changes ratio as it gets down near the end.

That's pretty good.

>> Yeah, we got a full house today.

>> Okay, ladies and gentlemen, a special event happening here at New England Dragway, night of thrills, where we are featuring a very special event here on the eighth mile, two very unique dragsters from Design Squad.

These guys have built some very unique... ...New England Dragway welcome to the Red Baron and the Blue Boomer.

( cheering and applause ) >> They look so small compared to the racers that were just on.

Is this some kind of joke?

What is this?

>> Yeah, the audience is like, "What is going on?"

>> Yeah, they're not saying a thing.

>> So we are getting ready to go.

>> There it goes.

>> Look at the Red Baron head on down ahead of the Blue Boomer as they are approaching the halfway mark.

I think the Blue Boomer is catching up.

This could be very tight down there at the finish.

Ah, Blue Boomer... ( cheering and applause ) >> I am pumped!

I can't believe that worked as well as it did.

>> Yeah, I know.

It was awesome.

>> Oh, my gosh, that was so great.

Oh, you looked wonderful out there.

>> I felt myself accelerating, and I was going to burn Natasha to death, and then it got tangled.

>> I got so nervous once...

I was kind of up ahead, and then Krishana just kept coming and coming, and then I was like, "No matter what happens, I'm not giving up," and I put all my weight to the front, and she just ended up breaking down, and I just went for it.

It was awesome.

>> And a big round of applause for the winning driver down there in the Design Team Challenge.

Give her a hand, the Red Baron.

( applause ) >> Thank you.

>> Very successful here at New England Dragway.

Hopefully there'll be a rematch sometime in the future.

>> Both the teams did a great job.

You guys took off quicker.

You had a pretty good acceleration early on.

And it sure looked like you were catching up there.

It's too bad it broke.

It was going to be close.

The winner of the first annual Design Squad trophy is the Red Team.

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org >> So Joey, Mike, Kim, and Natasha have each racked up 100 points, and the Blue Team came up empty.

But the lead is still up for grabs when the teams get reshuffled next time on Design Squad.

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

Go.

>> There are games, photos, new challenges, how to build a dragster, car design features, videos, quizzes, scoring updates.

>> Time's up.

>> Ugh!

Just go to pbskidsgo.org.