Tinker Toys

~ ~ The domain chosen was the design of several types of towers which can be built using objects similar to PLAYSKOOL's . The idea for this is derived from a workshop used in the Design for Manufacture class at WPI under the direction of Prof. Zenger. The idea is that different colored pieces have different costs, and manufacturability concerns, and the participants must take as much of this into account as possible and build a sixty inch tower out of the building materials.

The basic construction elements remain the same in our system: supports, of varying length and connectors with a holes for connecting supports at and angles. For towers in SNEAKERS, in order to allow more flexibility, and a little realism, the type of material of which the support is made is also allowed to vary. Different connectors are also defined, which each allow different angles, and can connect different materials.

Specifically, supports can be 1, 2, 4, or 6 feet long. (Units have been changed to feet for convenience in thinking.) They can be made of aluminum, steel, or wood. Details about these materials can be found in Table .

Connectors come in the form of bolts, snaps, and welds. Some limitations exist, for example, wood cannot be welded. Bolts work at incremental angles starting at . Snaps only work at increments starting at . Welds are the most versatile, they have the same angles as a bolt, plus the addition of angles at increments. These attributes are shown in Table .

This set of -like materials still allows for great variety in the types of towers that can be designed. It is still fairly intuitive, but needs to be guided to keep the design flowing toward an acceptable design of a tower.

This domain lends itself to the Abstract-Detailed design paradigm. The Abstract Design phase consists of choosing one of the abstract towers listed in section . The Intermediate Design phase consists of selecting the height, base and platform measurements. Then, the Detailed Design phase consists of specifying the actual components of the tower from those listed in Table and Table .