Feel good friend
This idea has been brought to life
Hi, I’m Craig and I run a design and engineering consultancy. My background is in mechanical design and development engineering and I have worked on products ranging from race cars to large diesel engines to health and safety equipment. I’ve always loved getting involved in STEM support with schools and this looks like a great initiative where I could share my design and engineering skill to help bring some amazing inventions to life.
This idea is being brought to life. Watch this space!
Blog entries
Take a look at the gif with this post to see the Feel Good Friend in action.
It’s done! This was a great project to work on and I’m really pleased with how it’s come out, I hope you all agree.
Turning the crank wheel to rotate the little sunflowers and dispense a positive affirmation sticker to take away with you is really satisfying. The clacking and whirring that the internal parts make along with the feel of the textured wood and 3D printed plastic parts make this a really tactile machine that add to its fun and whimsy.
I feel I’ve done the initial 3 ideas justice with the end result with elements of each idea included and woven together.
The mood selector is ready on the crank wheel. Now you can tell the Feel Good Friend how you’re feeling before you turn the handle. What mood would you choose today?
Design is well underway! I've taken the concept sketch and AI render I wrote about in the previous blog post to start designing and making the actual Feel Good Friend.
The design will have 2 main materials; 3D printed PLA parts and oak wood panels. I think this mix of silver and grey plastic with the natural wood will give a really nice contrast, especially against highlights from silver and black screws securing the whole thing together. Along with the flowers under the bell jar, I'm really liking this mix of modern materials made with a recent manufacturing process alongside materials taken from nature.
So far I've made the top and bottom panels, side mounts for the internals and the crank wheel which will power the whole machine. The crank wheel has a black disk in its centre which spins round and will be used to choose the mood you're feeling from a selection of images.
There's a little bit of design work to finish off on the internals to make sure all the gears run smoothly, turning both the flowers under the bell jar and the sticker dispenser to give you your positive affirmation message. But it's nearly there and coming together really nicely!
These 3 ideas for a Feel Good Friend are amazing. I hope I can do each individual idea justice when merging their intent together into a hybrid super-design!
After a lot of sketching, I think I've come up with something that captures the essence of each idea into a single machine.
From Aubery's Nature Globe, I've taken the bell jar on top to contain flowers, helping you relax by feeling closer to nature. From Lauren's Affirmation Vending Machine, I've taken the mood selectors, allowing you to reflect on how you're feeling today and input that into the machine. From Louise's Positivity Popper I've taken the moving display of flowers to lighten your mood and make you smile. And from all of the ideas, I've included a method of dispensing positive affirmations, in the form of stickers that you can wear with pride and take away with you.
The way I see this Feel Good Friend machine working is that you begin by selecting your mood on the crank wheel. Reflecting on and acknowledging your mood can help you process it better. You then turn the crank wheel, sending that emotion into the machine. As the crank wheel is turned, the flower bouquet in the bell jar turns, brightening your day. A positive affirmation sticker is then dispensed from the front of the machine, giving you an uplifting message to take away with you.
I sent my concept sketch into AI to see what it may look like when I've built it. What do you think?