Pawnetic Playground

by angela perrone & xiwei haung

7-WORD SLUG LINE (okay, so it’s 10 words)
From Kibble To Kinetic: Harvesting Energy From Dogs at Play—> 7 words but not as clear: Kibble to Kinetic: Harvesting Dogs’ Playtime Energy

PAWNETIC PLAYGROUND PROPOSAL
Dogs live in world filled with playtime, walks and constant motion. What if there was a way to harness this necessary energy exertion and use it to light and delight? Pawnetic Playground© aims to capture the energy that is used naturally by dogs at play and apply it immediately to a delightful experience for playful pups.

Inspired by the grid system and playgrounds, our plan is to create a 4×9 grid play area made up of pressure mat tiles. These pressure mats will use a system of gears and motors to capture the pressure put on the mats and use it to light up overhead spotlights.  When the dog steps on the pressure mat tile, it will push down a lever, this lever will spin a gear. This gear, connected with a series of gears under the mats, will spin a gear that turns a rod. The rod is connected to a larger gear at the corner of the mat grid. This final gear will spin a motor, which  is where the energy generates for one side of the mat. There will be one system like this, per side. (Inspiration)

Playtime outside at night has never been brighter!

SCHEDULE

ROUGH BOM

SKETCH & BRAINSTORMING
We also considered using a piezo system, but that system has a slower payoff, and that the gear system would be more efficient. These sketches will guide our final design.