01x01 - The Need for Speed

[bunniefuu]

Pop quiz.

Two teams of four kids have two

days to design a project for one

client.

Who will be the winner?

We might need to start over.

Stay tuned to find out...

Yeah!

...on Design Squad.

♪ We've got two days

to get this straight

♪ Got a challenge

just won't wait

our eyes are on the prize

♪ Two engineers

just set the date

♪ Got this client

can't be late

oh, no, it's go time

♪ Build it, test, fix it

debug now and kick it

♪ Got to get it off the ground

yeah

♪ Stick around and you'll see

what teamwork's supposed to mean

♪ It's so key

Design Squad

Design Squad...♪

Welcome to your first day of

Design Squad,everyone.

[ cheering and applause]

Over the next weeks,

you're going to be building

projects that are crazy, fun,

interesting, useful, and

challenging, just like real

engineers.

We have the Blue Team.

[ cheering and applause]

Oh, and we have the Red Team.

[ cheering and applause]

But don't get too cozy, because

we're going to shuffle you up

every week.

All right, so at the end of

every challenge, the team that

gets closest to nailing it is

going to get points per

member-- the team that loses,

zero, zilch, nada, nothing.

Then, at the end of the

weeks, the engineer in training

with the most points overall

wins the grand prize, which is--

drum roll please-- a college

scholarship from the Intel

Foundation.

[ cheering and applause]

Yes!

Well, right here is where all

the action's going to happen,

from brainstorming to debugging.

So turn around, take a look at

your workspaces.

You guys each have identical

work spaces.

Now, the Red Team's on the left,

Blue Team on the right.

You have hand tools, power

tools, electrical equipment, and

just about everything you need.

Finally, out here in the big

machine shop are the larger

tools, and you both have access

to those.

All right, well, you guys

ready for your first challenge?

[ cheering and applause]

All right, all right.

This week, we're going to get a

little face time with our first

client.

His name is Dan Page, and he's

from Hampstead, New Hampshire.

Dan feels the need...

...the need for speed.

Whoa.

Hey, Design Squads, I'm Dan

Page.

I build dragsters from scratch.

I've been building and racing

cars since I was years old.

I now have over cars on the

racing circuit, and I've got

some serious hardware to show

for it.

Dragsters are the fastest

accelerating vehicle driven by

man, and that includes the Space

Shuttle.

Dragsters can reach speeds over

miles an hour and cover the

quarter mile in less than five

seconds.

Now for today's Design Squad

challenge.

I want you to build me the

fastest dragster possible.

Here are the specs.

Both teams have two days to

modify an existing car into a

dragster.

We'll supply the cars and the

engines; you supply the

engineering know-how.

Both dragsters will face off in

a head-to-head showdown at the

New England Dragway.

The fastest car wins the

challenge and some serious

hardware.

But here's the catch.

But here's the catch. Nate, Deanne.

Nate, Deanne.

Ha, ha, that's right.

You guys have to take these

little, wimpy, non-powered kid

toys and turn them into the

fastest, most insane dragsters

possible.

I know, and I know both teams

are wondering which one of these

do I get.

So to figure it out, we're going

to do a coin toss.

Blue Team, call it.

Tails.

Tails it is.

There we go.

All right.

Blue Team, let's huddle up,

figure out which one of these

bad boys you want.

Okay, guys, come one.

All right, so what are we going

to talk about?

I think it'll be easier to

put a motor on the bottom or the

top of the wagon, because

there's really no place that you

can mount anything on the trike.

The wheels on the wagon, it's

durable.

Bigger than the trike.

The wagon?

The wagon.

All right, Nate, Dan.

We've made our decision.

And it is?

We'll take the wagon.

Red Team, sounds like you

guys have the trike.

Oh, we want the trike.

We want the trike.

Bring it, bring it.

Three wheels versus four

wheels.

See you on the racetrack.

So here we go.

You guys ready?

Yeah.

Let's get out there.

Get your vehicles and get some

brainstorming going.

All right.

All right, Blue Team.

One more thing.

You'll find the motors that we

want you to use on your work

tables.

Good luck.

Oh, my god.

What?

We're supposed to move a car

with this?

I thought we were getting

combustible engines.

That caught me off guard.

Brainstorming time, guys.

Let's go.

Brainstorming, guys.

Let's go.

All right, so our goal is to

drag race.

Drag racing automobile.

We're going to have to use

some type of gear system,

because I don't think that the

drill's going to be able to make

the car move as fast as we want

it to.

Right, so some kind of gear

train.

And we also want preferably

less weight in the car.

You know what?

I'll drive.

I'll drive.

It's okay.

I think we should go take a look

at our drills.

We should figure out what

settings... what the settings

mean.

All right.

The sound means it's going

faster.

Which one's going faster?

The more high pitched one.

We have to find a way to

attach the drills to the axle on

the on the wheel.

What part of the drill is

going to be attached?

But wait.

Hold on a second.

We don't need to connect it to

the axle because look, the

wheels are free spinning.

They're not connected to the

axle.

We have to connect it to the

wheel.

Because look, when that wheel

spins...

How are we going to attach it

to the wheel?

That's what we have to figure

out.

Do you want to dismantle it

right now?

No, I think we need to

brainstorm completely first

before we start taking apart the

materials that they gave us.

I like ripping things with my

bare hands.

I would say the simplest thing

to do would be to have it

powered from the rear after we

remove these crummy tires.

Well, we got a simple bolt

that's in there.

We could fit it right into

there.

If you have it on here, it's

going to be like this.

Hey, guys.

How's it going, Red Team?

Oh, my goodness.

Well, we've learned how to

disassemble things.

Yep.

Have you guys thought about

acceleration at all?

Are we allowed to push the

car physically at the beginning

of the race?

Well, do dragsters use push

starts?

Do people push the dragsters?

Yeah, dragsters aren't made

out of tricycles, so...

This one's made out of

tricycle.

No push.

You guys have to be completely

powered off the drills.

Did they get it to work?

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh.

We got it to work!

It doesn't stop though.

Brakes!

It's slowing down.

Nice, good job, you guys.

Red Team's idea is a direct

drive.

That means the drill is directly

connected to the wheel.

So the wheel turns one time for

every turn of the drill.

But here's the catch.

The trike's wheels can't spin

any faster than the drill's top

speed.

Guys, guys, guys, guys, guys,

another thing that I noticed is

you've just been hacking at

stuff, taking things apart,

which is a good way to get

started, maybe get a couple

ideas flowing, but I really want

to see some stuff on paper.

We just wanted to jump right

in and start taking apart the

tricycle, like, immediately.

We didn't want to, like, plan it

out.

So we had to take a step back

and kind of plan it out a little

better.

You want to, like, draw down

what we're planning to do first?

Yeah.

Yeah, let's draw.

We got our main wheels.

All right, so we got our

forks up in front.

We can have the drills right

around here, right down on the

around here, right down on the main axle in line with it.

main axle in line with it.

Our motor's somewhere in here

with our gears.

Can you guys give us the

rundown on your design?

We decided that the drill

probably wouldn't have enough

power to make it go at all if

with any speed.

Interesting.

How'd your decide that?

Um, we kind of just assumed.

Did you do any tests at all,

or did you just, like, look at

them and think, "Those drills

aren't powerful enough"?

We assumed.

Oh.

So how are you going to get

that acceleration?

I remember learning that if

you have a spool, and there's a

wire around the spool, and the

spool's constantly getting

bigger, it's going to be pulling

more, so the car's always going

to be accelerating.

So we somehow apply that concept

to a cart.

We'll be able to keep the car

constantly accelerating.

That's great.

I think your onto the right

track.

I mean, definitely you have

three different speeds here, but

there are ways to achieve that

without just relying on the

drills.

Right.

I think that's a good thing

to brainstorm-- are ways that

you're going to get acceleration

in general.

That's going really fast.

That wheel.

Are you sure you won't be the

driver?

No, I just said-- you didn't

hear me-- I said I take back my

comment.

I will volunteer to drive

this crazy...

He's driving.

I volunteer to do it too.

Fine, we'll rock, paper,

scissors for it.

Okay, that's one way to go,

but Red Team would be better off

if they considered their power-

to-weight ratio.

The drills' limited power can't

accelerate a heavy load, but a

lighter load will accelerate

faster down the track.

So if Red Team wants the edge,

they should choose the lightest

person to drive, and that's

Natasha.

Maybe I should go ride it

around the Blue Team and

intimidate them.

Wait a second.

Has to have more force on the

front wheel.

If this works, then I'm

driving.

As soon as I started shifting

my weight up to the front of the

car, it started going.

Let's try it with Mike

Let's try it with Mike standing forward like this.

standing forward like this.

It's working a lot better

It's working a lot better now.

now.

We're going to use the gear

changing inside the actual

drill.

How are we going to switch it

though?

He's going to physically

switch it, we think, for now,

maybe-- no?

Where's the drill going to

be?

Like, is there going to be one

here and one here?

The easiest thing to do would

be to mount it like this...

And then drill a hole right

there.

...cut a hole right here so

I can just put my finger

through.

But what about the other one?

Look at the way the motor's

spinning.

I know.

That's the problem with that.

But if we do it like this...

That's clever.

So we need a way to make this

tire spin with this motor in

this position.

Each motor would be attached

to this little space right here.

Oh, to the wheel, okay.

Yep.

How, gear?

I guess we can just do a

chain that goes around.

That's be really easy, to

just... if, like... well, let's

say we move this down here.

Yeah.

...to have this spinning...

And a chain just going...

...and a chain going from

here to here.

We can put... I'd rather not

do a chain.

I'm a little aggravated

because we're getting nowhere.

Everything we try is just not

working.

We need to think outside the

We need to think outside the box.

box.

We might need to start over,

head back to the drawing board.

We need to pick one.

We need to get something done.

All right, instead of

thinking about all these axles,

I'm seeing the drills coming

straight out of the body...

Okay.

...and I just press the

buttons, and they're connected

directly to the wheels.

So have it on direct drive,

then, for powering?

Okay.

I guess so.

Keep it simple, stupid.

These will have to somehow be

out here...

Yeah.

...I guess spinning these

wheels, like this.

Yeah.

And they can be some type of

structure that comes out that's

stable enough to hold the drill.

Can we name the wagon right

now?

Can we just do that?

Let's call it the Blue...

the Blue Boomer.

The Blue Boomer.

Right there, we're on the same

Right there, we're on the same level.

level.

Um, I'm worried about the

time just a little bit.

It'd be great if we can actually

test our design today.

What time is it?

Anybody?

Time to rock and roll!

I have no idea.

This is the mechanism we

want.

This is the trigger for the

drill.

We want to take the switch

out to remove the whole hassle

of trying to figure out a way to

push the trigger in, and we can

just have the whole switch and

then extend the wires and put it

onto the handlebar.

So this will allow us to move

this trigger up to the handle so

that we don't have to bend over

and pretty much put our face

into the tire to try to get it

into the tire to try to get it to work.

to work.

We're going to need to run

the wires out.

Yeah, so this is on top.

This is top.

You get bottom.

Oh, it's working.

Yep, I got it.

Yes, all right.

This is the greatest feeling

ever.

Yes, we have movement.

Put down your power tools.

That's it for day one.

Yeah!

All right, put it down, you

guys.

guys. Clean it up.

Clean it up.

All right, what do we got to

do?

We got to get this clutch

to...

Uh-oh.

Hey, guys.

Blue Team, day two.

So our first to-do is the

mounting of the drills.

The drills are going to be

attached like this.

I have a question.

Have you guys even sat on it

yet?

When I used to build go-carts,

the first thing I did was sit on

it, imagine myself flying down

the road.

I stood on it.

If we pushed you right now,

how would you steer?

I wouldn't.

With our body.

Wait.

Let's see what he does.

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

What are you going to do?

Whoa.

Go.

Oh, the axle from the wheel.

I like it.

Can you do that?

Eureka.

So instead of dancing, what

are you going to do with your

hands then?

Vroom.

Nice.

When we first talked about

acceleration, you guys came up

with some interesting ideas, you

in particular.

Did I really?

Oh, no.

Your cable, your spooled

cable idea.

Oh, yeah.

Yeah.

Noah's spool idea is a

continuously variable

transmission or CVT.

Here's how it works.

One spool wound with cable is

attached to the wheel's axle.

A take-up spool is attached to

the drill.

With each turn of the drill, the

spool takes up more cable and

grows in diameter while the

wheel spool that's feeding cable

shrinks in diameter and must

turn faster to keep up.

That spins the wheel, and the

wagon accelerates.

Towards the end of the race,

Blue Team may have the speed

advantage because the CVT can

spin the wheels faster than the

Red Team's direct drive.

All right, so we're going

with the spool.

This represents our wheel,

and the drill will represent the

motor.

As the motor pulls the string

in, our wheel will begin to

in, our wheel will begin to turn, as it is now.

turn, as it is now.

Keep going.

Just fix it underneath.

So if you look at this huge

mess down here, the string's not

going to unwind because the

string is too soft.

So when you put tension to it,

it just sinks in rather than

unraveling.

All right, I'm going to start

cutting this off.

So right now we need

something that's a lot harder,

which is right now steel cable,

and we'll see how that works.

I'm a little worried about how

it's going to... how tight it's

going to wide around, because it

is stiffer than the string.

But we're only going to find

that out by testing.

You guys look like you're

about ready for a test.

Yeah.

Look at that thing go.

The battery's on.

I'm going to go get the Blue

Team.

Hey, guys, Red Team is ready

to test.

You guys want to come check it

out?

No.

Maybe.

Maybe. Maybe.

Maybe.

It's going to be the coolest-

looking stationary tricycle

ever.

Stick and stones, Tom, sticks

and stones.

That's what you're going to

be landing on when that thing

explodes.

Oh.

You're just jealous.

One for the Blue Team.

You talk the talk, but you

know, we're testing first, so...

We can talk the talk, but

you're going to be walking the

walk when that doesn't work.

Ooh.

Ooh.

I feel like the Red Team's

going to fail horribly right

now, and it's going to feel

wonderful.

Yeah, Natasha.

You got this, girl.

Natasha, are you ready?

Ready!

Hey, you guys, what's going

on?

Hey!

Oh, my goodness.

Someone's on the track.

Come on down, Dan.

Hi, Dan.

What do you think of what

they've built so far?

Looks pretty crazy.

So what do we have here?

We pretty much have a really

chopped up tricycle.

We used this motor and attached

it to the front wheel to make

this front-wheel drag machine.

We also changed out the wheels

in the back for better traction.

So where's the seat?

There is no sitting.

Let's give it a test drive.

Let's give it a test drive. On your mark, get set...

On your mark, get set...

Golf clap, golf clap, golf

clap.

You'll have to work in the

acceleration a little bit.

I think they have to just

work on the whole moving part as

a whole.

So where's your car?

You can't rush perfection,

Dan.

It's getting there.

I noticed you were kind of

picking on their car a little

bit, but I don't see your car

out here.

Oh, don't worry.

Our car will move.

Make sure you guys bring your

wrench set to the real race.

You might need it.

Make sure you bring a working

car next time.

You'll need it.

Oh.

Yeah, because yours worked

perfectly.

At least we have something.

I hope ours works as well as

yours.

We have something.

It was not fun.

It was disappointing and tiring.

It was very embarrassing.

It just gave the Blue Team an

ego boost that was highly

unnecessary.

All right, something is

definitely loose in there.

The chuck's spinning, but

it's not, like, engaging.

The chuck stays on there fine,

but the motor isn't spinning the

chuck to spin the axle because

the chuck's loosening.

Are they both spinning though?

No.

That one's not spinning?

Basically, what we did was we

clamped it down with this hose

clamp just tight enough so that

it would stay in there and make

sure it wouldn't move.

Let's go for a test, you

guys.

All right.

You ready?

The weight difference between

you and I is about -something

odd pounds.

I can't believe you're going

to steal that from me.

I called it first.

And?

And?

I'm a lot lighter.

We have it on camera.

I was born...

I guess it would be more

effective for Krishana to drive

the car.

Fine, all right.

You know what?

Drive.

I don't even care.

I don't even want to drive

anymore.

I'm just going to check my

e-mail.

I've seen Krishana drive.

Are you talking trash?

Break it up, you two.

Do I have to strangle him?

We need to work together as a

team.

Do I have to?

I'm taking Natasha down.

I don't know about him.

I think the guys kind of

undermine us because we're

females.

They're always like, "Go in the

kitchen."

Like, what?

What are you talking about?

We're engineers.

Dude, listen.

Giselle and I take it well.

That's the whole point of

working in a group, is working

together and throwing out as

many ideas as you can, and

sometimes it just doesn't go

sometimes it just doesn't go through.

through.

[ cheering]

Ah, it worked!

Whoa!

All right!

It worked!

It worked!

That is the output of our

hard work, and that is the

meaning of teamwork.

We wound both, obviously.

we secured both drills with this

metal bar.

We put this bar here to stop

them from wobbling.

Now it's, you know, solid as a

rock.

We're ready to test.

Testing phase.

We're definitely ready to

We're definitely ready to test.

test.

We're not going to stoop to

their level and heckle them.

their level and heckle them. No, no, no, no, but...

No, no, no, no, but...

No, no, no, no, but... Oh, my gosh.

Oh, my gosh.

And it looks like it's really

hard to wind that cable on there

because it's so darn stiff,

right?

You have a pretty small radius,

and the cable doesn't want to

bend that much.

Look over here for a second.

That's the second time it did

that.

The cable got wound up on the

end so much that it ripped the

pipe out of the wood.

Wow, that's impressive.

So when we get into the pit,

what kind of repairs are we

going to make?

We're going to put that axle

back on.

We're going to either wind the

cable tighter or find something

that winds tighter than the

cable will, something that's

less stiff.

I love our car, and we're

still going to beat the Red

Team, because we're so much

cooler.

Put it in, blue.

Put it in, blue.

Put it in, blue. Blue Boomer!

Blue Boomer!

It was just like our car.

It was just like our car. Yeah, sounds just like it.

Yeah, sounds just like it.

Before we had metal wiring,

and then that wasn't really

stable enough, so we changed it

to climbing rope.

So you're going to just spool

it perfectly so that it's not

going to be able to coast past.

That's the idea.

Top flight races to staging

lanes for round one.

Again, top flight to the lanes

for round one.

All right, this is it.

What's our strategy?

You don't want to have an

itchy trigger finger and, you

know, jump off the line too

quick.

Boomer, Boomer.

The Blue Boomer is not a late

bloomer.

Get ahead early, stay ahead.

Red Baron!

Red Baron! Blue Boomer!

Blue Boomer!

I'm anxious and nervous.

I'm excited.

I'm every emotion you could

I'm every emotion you could possibly imagine.

possibly imagine.

possibly imagine. Yeah!

Yeah!

The blue one looks good too,

man.

Look at that gear drive.

And it changes ratio as it gets

down near the end.

That's pretty good.

Yeah, we got a full house

Yeah, we got a full house today.

today.

Okay, ladies and gentlemen, a

special event happening here at

New England Dragway, night of

thrills, where we are featuring

a very special event here on the

eighth mile, two very unique

dragsters from Design Squad.

These guys have built some very

unique...

...New England Dragway welcome

to the Red Baron and the Blue

Boomer.

[ cheering and applause]

They look so small compared

to the racers that were just on.

Is this some kind of joke?

What is this?

Yeah, the audience is like,

"What is going on?"

Yeah, they're not saying a

thing.

So we are getting ready to

go.

go. There it goes.

There it goes.

Look at the Red Baron head on

down ahead of the Blue Boomer as

they are approaching the halfway

mark.

I think the Blue Boomer is

catching up.

This could be very tight down

there at the finish.

there at the finish. Ah, Blue Boomer...

Ah, Blue Boomer...

[ cheering and applause]

I am pumped!

I can't believe that worked as

well as it did.

Yeah, I know.

It was awesome.

Oh, my gosh, that was so

great.

Oh, you looked wonderful out

there.

I felt myself accelerating,

and I was going to burn Natasha

to death, and then it got

tangled.

I got so nervous once... I

was kind of up ahead, and then

Krishana just kept coming and

coming, and then I was like, "No

matter what happens, I'm not

giving up," and I put all my

weight to the front, and she

just ended up breaking down, and

I just went for it.

It was awesome.

And a big round of applause

for the winning driver down

there in the Design Team

Challenge.

Give her a hand, the Red Baron.

[ applause]

Thank you.

Very successful here at New

England Dragway.

Hopefully there'll be a rematch

sometime in the future.

Both the teams did a great

job.

You guys took off quicker.

You had a pretty good

acceleration early on.

And it sure looked like you were

catching up there.

It's too bad it broke.

It was going to be close.

The winner of the first annual

Design Squadtrophy is the Red

Design Squadtrophy is the Red Team.

Team.

So Joey, Mike, Kim, and

Natasha have each racked up

points, and the Blue Team came

up empty.

But the lead is still up for

grabs when the teams get

reshuffled next time on Design

Squad.

All right, Deanne, here's a new

challenge: describe the Design

SquadWeb site in ten seconds.

Go.

There are games, photos, new

challenges, how to build a

dragster, car design features,

videos, quizzes, scoring

updates.

Time's up.

Ugh!