Video 1. Final Presentation to Pod

My design process went through stages of change, with two large pivot points resulting from campus closures and lack of available materials and facilities. In  the beginning the arm was meant to be created out of multiple kinds of cardboard, paints for aesthetic design, and super-adhesives in order to achieve a sleek-design. The first design stage was choosing the Iron Man look, and after constructive criticism from the class, planned on expanding the material list intended to bring the design to life. From there plans to purchase high quality materials and paints was laid out, but closures made this step impossible.

Next step involved deciding how to best achieve my goal design with the limited resources at my disposal. Deemed a “non-essential task” by my family in quarantine at the time, I could not go outside the home to procure materials.  Then the goal became cataloging what I could find around the house and using whatever I could to get close to my goal. Then I came up with the great idea of using fire.

By burning the outer surfaces of the cardboard as I had mentioned previously in my first post, I was able to achieve some level of aesthetic design to the pure white cardboard for a worn and mechanical feel to the design.

The next pivot with the constraint of only using household materials was the task of adhesives. I was only able to find two-three vials of super glue, which had to be carefully and meticulously used in order to not run out before I was able to get all pieces together.

The final product does not do the Iron Man mark one suit justice, but I believe it came as close as it could with the constraints I was given. Looking ahead, once the world opens back up I plan on revisiting the design, and improving it better and better, making it more durable and more realistic. With the guidance of my classmates from my review process, paints and other materials and techniques will be used in order to give my little brother a totally awesome costume piece for him to trick or treat in come October.

Original and future intended plans for the redesign with advanced equipment and materials.

Originally intended as a Halloween costume augment, it has and will serve its purpose fully, as my 6-year old brother loves the design and has been playing around with it pretending to be Iron man all day long.