This week we finally presented all of our hard work at the Community Forum. I think everything went great and everyone seemed very impressed by our project. We even had many people come back to our table to show others our idea. Many guests said they would definitely be interested in using a Handy Handle and mentioned they would like to see us pursue our idea even further. It felt great to know that people really thought our idea could make an impact in metro riders lives. In addition, I believe that we were very prepared for the Forum after creating key points to go over with our audience along with rehearsing to a few other groups. At the Forum, we presented our poster, along with our bacteria samples to show evidence that our handles showed a significant decrease in germs compared to everyday poles and handles on the Metro. Finally, we presented our Handy Handle prototype which many guests seemed to enjoy. I learned a lot throughout this experience about being a good team member but also about how to take action on my own such as when my group members were presenting to other guests. Overall, I had a great experience at the Forum presenting to others and seeing what my classmates had to share. Written by Zoey Greenwald This week we finished creating our product and we have our first prototype! We also showcased the product to passengers on the Metro as well as classmates and people on campus. After they had time to learn about Handy Handles, they were given a survey on its usefulness and if they would use it. The final prototype of Handy Handles works and looks like so: it has a hook at the top to attach to the ceiling rails, a fabric loop for the user to hold, an extendable bolt for the user to adjust the length, and a bolt that is encased in a plastic cover. In the first run of our survey, we had twelve respondents. The questions and their responses are shown below. Do you frequent the L.A. Metro? If yes, Bus or Train? Would you be interested in using this product? (0 = never, 5 = definitely) If this was more compact, easier to extend, etc., would this sway your decision? We learned that people think our product could be useful and that there is a need for Handy Handles on the Metro. To increase our impact we could have asked/introduced our product to more people and received more responses to our survey. We mostly received good feedback and a positive outlook on its usefulness. One person suggested a product for the side rails so that children could also have a Handy Handle! Written by Drew Beerman This week, despite our third musketeer being sick, we accomplished a great deal, in both the research department and furthering our solution. However, some challenges also stood in our way. The chief of this being the failed swab attempts. In spite of best efforts, the tests did not yield much growth. Best our will is strong! Ben went on the metro for a second time with even more special swabs, and we will (hopefully) have a much smoother outcome. On another note, most of this week was spent on creating our solution, which is a personal handle that can extend to one’s height preference and is easy to clean at home, a.k.a. The “Handy Handle.” We are creating this invention by combining three pieces, the hook, the handle, and the extender. The handle is fairly simple, as well as the hook. The extender is much more complicated and therefore a challenge. Ben collaborated with Max, an expert at our school. There was much designing and measuring, but the piece is being printed over the weekend and we can expect a working prototype by Tuesday.
Written by Ben Blau Our group is still doing pretty well. This week we have gotten a lot of work done. Ben finally got on the metro to take measurements and germ samples, along with some great footage for our website and our video. Now that we have all of this we can really move forward with our project. Since we got our swab samples, Ben and Drew met with Stephanie a science teacher here at Windward to record our data. We are waiting for our bacteria to grow over the weekend and then we will all meet with her again. In addition, we can start with our prototype now that we have measurements of existing metro poles. In fact we just started sketching out and coming up with ideas. Overall this one thing really made a difference for our project. However, Some things have been difficult over the course of this project. One issue was that we were never available on the same days and if Ben didn’t step up to ride the metro on his own we would be very behind on our project. We also had a hard time setting up a meeting with Stephanie for the same reason. Both of these problems are communication issues that were only solved by some group members taking their own time to make important things happen. Now that we’ve resolved these issues I’m very excited for moving forward in the rest of our project. Written by Zoey Greenwald Our group is making great progress. Last Friday, we meet with multiple teachers and received great feedback from them. This session was great for our group and we got tons of helpful advice. Many of the teachers who gave us feedback ride the LA Metro on a daily basis. They highly recommended that we ride the metro ourselves to measure the handles we will be recreating and take samples of the germs and bacteria on them. We greatly appreciated this advice and one member of our group, Ben will be riding the metro during an upcoming week to do both of these things. We expect to see a great number of germs hiding on the metro based on our research so far. In addition to riding the metro, we were advised to use a material that will not slide around on the existing metro poles while creating our handles. Many people also mentioned, they would not like to carry around a handle when they exit the metro. Based on this feedback, we have decided to create, collapsible and lightweight handles. These handles will have, some sort of stretchy plastic material that will stick to metro poles. In addition our handles will be washable so they will not be covered with the germs living on the metro. Our handles will keep you and the metro cleaner. With a cleaner way to ride the metro more people will be encouraged to do so. This will be good for the environment because with more people riding the metro, less will ride their personal vehicles reducing fuels released from cars. Regulars on the metro should also have a lower chance of getting sick from the germs their hands touch directly while on the metro because of our washable handles. In conclusion, we are feeling very confident about our project and think our handle will make a huge positive impact on our community.
Written by Zoey Greenwald This past week, our team settled on solving the issue of how to avoid bacteria on the Metro. One of the main sources of bacteria on the Metro are the poles and handles, which people touch every ride. We brainstormed individual solutions to decrease exposure to bacteria. Our solution is focused towards patrons of the Metro and will not put a financial burden on the Metro itself. Our product is a portable and washable handle that clips onto the pre existing railings of the tram. There will be a rubber section of the clip so that it doesn’t slide along the railing. The handle will be machine washable or can be washed like a dish. Currently, there is no product that is similar to our idea, so this could solve a major issue in public transit. Written by Drew Beerman https://pxhere.com/en/photo/562756
We are Ben, Drew, and Zoey, three seventh graders looking to improve our L.A Community through the transportation system. We all know friends who take the metro everyday, and how many others do as well. So, we decided to help one bus or train at a time. We started with the very broad topic of the L.A. Metro. After a round of brainstorming and light research, we discovered the following; While the metro is necessary to any person living in a big city, it is well known that sometimes the cleanliness can faulter. This sparked many questions. How are buses and trains cleaned? Where did this disgust come from? Is it truly that vile? This week, we desperately tried to answer our wandering minds. We uncovered two things that we were crucial to narrowing our topic: (1) the metro is only cleaned by volunteers and (2) the cushioning in buses was outdated, and could use a “fresh coat of paint.” our new, narrow topic is “The spreading of germs through the L.A. Metro. Written By Ben Blau |
AuthorsDrew Beerman |