Team: Neera, Olivia, Mudit, Michelle

We built a cuckoo clock out of an Amazon box. The basic idea is that the bird sits on a stick arrangement that has a rubber band attached to it. When the stick is pushed outward, it pushes the door open and the rubberband slacks. On the other hand, when the stick is pulled back in, the rubber band gets stretched and pulls the door shut due to the tension it develops. We built rails around the stick to guide it more accurately and allow for more control in addition to smoother operation.

We are happy that we were able to overcome Design Fixation in our design as the concept and the look are quite different from the sample we saw in class. We approached the problem afresh from the grassroot level and figured out the whole mechanism. This realization became even more prominent when we were made aware that our cuckoo clock has just one door unlike the one in shown in class which had two doors. We had a lot of fun putting it together and are excited to share it at the showcase tomorrow.