Picnic time

                                     

It's time for a feast at invention squad!This week, we asked our students to design a transportable food system for an outdoor picnic. This industrial design challenge may seem pedestrian at first sight- especially for those of us who have to scrape leftovers from a school lunchbox every evening. You might think that a picnic basket is just a box with a handle, but in the hands of a set of eager kid inventors there are many interesting possibilities for innovation.

How to make it easy to transport? Could it be eco-friendly? How could we adapt it for special types of food? Could it be multifunctional? Is my lunchbox for a special user? This is a prototype for a future lunchbox. It comes with a remote control, which allows food selection and pops up the appropriate food receptacles on extendable platforms as they are selected. The whole box is mounted on wheels for transportability. 

This picnic hamper includes a music player and has a handsome leather lining! 

This is a portable BBQ unit for picnics.  It includes a removable heating unit (with a solar cell connection), a food storage area, roasting sticks and a carrying strap.

This invention is a feeder for a small monkey. It explores the idea that pets and zoo animals need more stimulation and giving them their food in a climbing nook will make dinnertime into a bit of a game. Old toy parts are remixed to create a colourful playful design with lots of receptacles for snacks.

This design is for outdoor adventurers. The lunch canister is light and straps to the head or the body to leave hands free for climbing and trekking. This inventor considered the portability factor. Nice job!

Lunchbox!

One of our workshops this week was about form and function. We posed the question: is it time to redesign the school lunchbox?

Could it be easier to transport? Could it be more eco-friendly? Could it be adapted for other types of food? Could it be multifunctional?

This industrial design challenge may seem pedestrian at first sight- especially for those of us who have to scrape leftovers from a school lunchbox every evening. You might think that a lunchbox is just a box with a handle, but in the hands of a set of eager kid inventors there are many interesting possibilities for lunchbox innovation.

Consider the eco-lunchbox. It comes with a lidded rain-catcher (in case you forgot to fill your water bottle) and in sunny conditions you can use the solar panel for re-heating food. In another design, the students felt that lunch was sometimes too heavy to carry. What about a food buggy. It has a colourful cupcake holder (6 slots, so you can bring cakes for all your friends), a flexible sandwich pouch, a snap clipped rain cover and has a robust frame and wheels for street transport.

In some of the designs, the lunchbox was transformed into something else: a racing car (with a zipped closure) or a table with mounted plate to eat on or an extra pouch for a friendly lunch buddy.

At the end of the session, we had demo time. This is a chance for our students to show their designs and get some great feedback from their friends. They did an excellent job of describing their creations!