The Flamingo Mobile
This idea has been brought to life
This invention idea was brought to life by PTI Engineered Plastics for our MISD Mission Moon Challenge!
Maker blog entries
Hayden was really surprised with the final design of her Flamingo Mobile!
Hayden's vision of the Flamingo Mobile comes to life!
Congratulations to Hayden and we can't wait to see what she comes up with next!
The Flamingo Mobile is nearly ready to be deployed and details are coming together for the mobile debut!
Now that the team has finished 3D printing components to the Flamingo Mobile it is time to start painting! By combining different shades of pink spray paint they have come up with a perfect "Flamingo Pink" color.
The design team began working on painting components and assembling parts of the mobile. 3D printed parts are first washed in a "bath" of isopropyl alcohol and then cured with light. The Flamingo Mobile is nearly ready for flight!
Flamingos are actually grey when they are born. Adult Flamingo feathers are different shades of pink from beta carotenes in their diet. The red orange pigment is found in high amounts in the food Flamingos eat, which include algae, brine shrimp and brine fly larvae .
Selecting just the right shade of pink for the Flamingo Mobile involves sampling different paint colors and custom blending them to create just the right pink!
Creating the actual model for the Flamingo Mobile is a multi step process. The team began 3D printing components, each part can take several hours to print and even days!
The ideation phase of the project takes Hayden's original idea and "brings it to life" on screen. Three designs were presented to Hayden. The design team walked through each one with her and narrowed down which overall features were the best, including the shape of the mobile, where booster rockets would be located, use of exterior lighting and other features.
One important feature that was reviewed and refined were the Flamingo's "legs". In talking through the potential use of the mobile in transporting astronauts from a space station to a planet surface, the team decided that mechanical legs that could retract during flight would be best. There could be a potential of deploying an astronaut manned "flock" of Flamingo Mobiles from a space station that would then be used on a planet surface to map out terrain and conduct experiments. If needed the astronauts could rest in their sleeping pod during the expedition, and use the camera eyes to document the work from the mobile.
The early concept design of the Flamingo Mobile started out on a whiteboard, like many projects do! The designers brainstorm, draw rough sketches, erase them and draw again, it's all part of the process! Once general concepts are decided on the fun begins in using software programs to bring the whiteboard sketches to life.
After meeting with Hayden and talking through key elements of the Flamingo Mobile design, the team worked on an inspiration board , pulling ideas from many sources, including animated films and actual vehicles used in space!