Research
The third step in the design process is the researching stage. During this step, the designer is to search the world for any already existing ideas that could pertain to their current project. Using any data collected, they are to then build up a design surrounding those figures. For the Kinematic Racer project, I searched any already existing rubber band racer ideas that could be useful and gave them my own little twist later on.
Original Racer
Final Racer
Using what we already knew would work, we researched different ways people have already built rubber band racers. We found a website where they built a racer made out entirely of cardboard.
There were a few videos that I stumbled upon that outlined what a rubber band racer is and how it could be built. The one video that really stood out to me was about how to build an air car. This type of racer is made out of a water bottle body with four bottle cap wheels. Instead of the rubber band attaching to the axle of the hind wheels, the rubber band of an air car would attach to a turbine of the back of the car. The rubber band would twist the turbine, pushing the air, pushing the car forward and spinning the wheels.
That racer had two wheels with a square cardboard piece with a cutout for a place for the hind axle to be exposed. That is the place where the rubber band would attach to the catch put onto the hind axle.
We thought that this design was very good, but there was still something we did not like. We wanted four wheels in order for the racer to have better balance. That was how we made the design our own.
Website used: http://pbskids.org/designsquad/build/rubber-band-car/