Design and make a foam toy car

Showcasing some of the toy cars done by the 2NT students. Materials used were plastic foam for the car body and wood for the wheels. A mini competition is held as to which toy car can go the furthest using an elastic band to propel the car forward on a race track.

Biomimetics & Biomimicry

Biomimetics

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Biomimetics is the study of the structure and function of biological systems as models for the design and engineering of materials and machines. It is widely regarded as being synonymous with biomimicry, biomimesis, biognosis and similar to biologically inspired design.

More from wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomimetics

Biomimicry

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Biomimicry or biomimetics is the examination of nature, its models, systems, processes, and elements to emulate or take inspiration from in order to solve human problems. The termbiomimicry and biomimetics come from the Greek words bios, meaning life, and mimesis, meaning to imitate. Other terms often used are bionics, bio-inspiration, and biognosis.

More from wikipedia at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biomimicry

My personal thoughts and reflections:

After watching the NatureTech videos, I feel that as teachers and students who are in the field

of Design and Technology, we need to be more observant on nature and really appreciate the beauty of how different animals, plants, humans and other organisms move, eat, live, reproduce, survive, interact with one another in this big ecosystem we call Earth. Nature has been around way before mankind and I believe that every organism has its benefits for mankind to ponder and researched upon to continuously unravel the mysteries of life and improve the way of life for humans, be it in the field of medicine, architecture, transport, physics, chemistry, mathematics, engineering, product design, industrial design, materials engineering, fashion, the list is endless. I believe this is the future of design and technology, as our planet Earth is dying, due to Global warming and pollution, it is time for mankind to relook, learn, unlearn and relearn about nature and work together to produce sustainable designs that will slow down our ageing home called Earth.

To be continued.

NatureTech

NatureTech, a multi award winning series, explores biomimetics – the science of looking to nature for answers to modern problems.

Why are blossoms never dirty and can we also make our cars that way? Why can geckos walk on the ceiling and can we use their tricks to create better adhesives? Why is the spider’s web tougher than steel?

Exciting new developments in computer technology, chemistry and physics are now enabling us to understand Nature’s designs better than ever before.

Scientists are not simply trying to copy nature — they are taking hints, extracting principles and applying winning designs of evolution in a new, human context.

Visually, this series is an attractive, fast-paced mix of stunning natural history shots, computer-assisted design and CGI graphics of futuristic inventions, ultra-modern, spacy architecture and high tech as well as scenes of the world’s leading designers and engineers at work, all created by the team that made “Limits of Perception”.

View this documentary at http://topdocumentaryfilms.com/naturetech/

Or you can go to youtube at:

http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=naturetech&oq=naturetech&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&gs_sm=e&gs_upl=698501l703956l0l704748l10l9l0l0l0l0l0l0ll0l0

Enjoy.

Designers playful at Milan's 2011 furniture fair

MILAN : Designers laughed off the economic crisis at Milan's annual furniture fair this year, ditching staid luxury for jocular hammock sofas, tilting chairs, bar stools with pedals and robot bookcases.The Salone Internazionale del Mobile - the biggest event in the design calendar - celebrated its 50th year with over 2,700 companies on exhibit and expected over 100,000 people to flock through its doors.Curious visitors and the design-savvy alike wandered between hoards of minimalist lampshades, bird ornaments and plant displays and perched on sleek plastic chairs or reclined on eccentrically shaped chaise longues.French designer Philippe Starck drew crowds with his "Miss Less" chair, a plastic creation for Italian company Kartell, so minimalist that the designer has boasted he had managed to break the limits of scaled down furniture design.The chair, a solid block of glossy black plastic - which also comes in a two-toned version with a transparent back-rest - starred alongside Starck's towering, long-legged bar stool and white table with a lustrous black top.In another area of the show, Italian architect and designer Fabio Novembre showed off his Transformer-style 1980s Robot-shaped bookcase, created for the design company Casamania."My generation always had a robot as a playtime companion and I needed to find a new reason to justify its presence next to my desk," the 44-year-old joked when the bookcase was recently presented to the public.Composed of black asymmetrical shelves and cubbyholes, the towering robot with jetting shoulders and a square head sported a red compartment for a heart - a perfect place for stashing Transformer comics. More news on the furniture fair at: http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/lifestylenews/view/1122890/1/.html

D&T Conference 2010

This year's D&T conference was held at Dunman Secondary School with the theme 'Thought in Action'. Below are some pictures of what was showcased at the conference.

SolidWorks Blog

SolidWorks is a 3D Mechanical Computer Aided Design (CAD) software, that runs on the Microsoft Windows Platform. It is used worldwide, by designers, engineers and scientists in industries such as: aerospace; automotive; manufacturing; architecture; product design; and scientific research.

Visit the Solidworks education online community at:

www.3dclassworks.com/blog

Learning Journey@ Red Dot museum

This year's theme for the red dot museum showcases Tupperware, the company that is already a worldwide presence, making a difference to millions of lives for over 60 years thanks to the innovative storage products and an extremely attractive business opportunity. Tupperware has been given the Red Dot design team of the year 2009. Here are some pictures of the showcased products.