01x04 - DS Unplugged

[bunniefuu]

Last time on Design Squad,

the teams built bikes for a

top-secret mission.

That was easy.

Not.

Both squads won...

What?

...and went on a wild ride.

Awesome.

But today, the teams get

reshuffled to tackle a new

challenge on Design Squad.

The bike went awesome.

Both teams did fantastic.

We could not trash-talk each

other because it was so good.

I know.

And I love trash-talking.

I couldn't do it.

We did not expect a tie at

all.

But it's better than me

losing.

♪ We've got two days

to get this straight

♪ We got a challenge

just won't wait

our eyes are on the prize

♪ Two engineers

just set the date

♪ We 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 Design Squad!♪

Design Squad!♪

Are you guys ready for your

next challenge?

Yeah.

All right, let's go do it.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Where are you guys going?

Where are you going?

We are going to shake things

up a little bit this week.

We're going to be taking you

out to a secret, undisclosed

site, where you're going to meet

your client right there and get

your challenge in person.

All materials and tools will

be supplied at the location.

So are you guys ready?

To the D Squad van!

To the D Squad van! All right.

All right.

What do you think it's going

to be, Tom?

Um, we're going to have to

Um, we're going to have to build a tree.

build a tree.

Oh, wow.

We're pilgrims now?

Oh, hi, guys.

Hey!

Welcome to the Wilson

Mountain Reservation.

My name's Marcus Brandt.

I'm a traditional builder.

I build everything from barns to

covered bridges.

And we've got quite a challenge

for you today.

We're going to build two

different kinds of bridges here,

a suspension bridge and a truss

bridge.

A suspension bridge has a

deck that is hung from vertical

ropes.

These ropes are held up by long,

heavy cables.

The cables are supported by

towers and are anchored at both

ends.

A truss is a structure made up

of posts and struts.

A king post truss is about as

simple as they get.

King posts are vertical center

posts supported by diagonal

struts.

They've got to get from one

side of the creek to the other,

which is roughly feet.

They've got to be strong enough

to carry a load that's

equivalent to everybody here,

including Nate and Deanne.

I've provided all the materials

you need, all the tools you

need, but here's the rub.

We're only using pre-industrial

materials and pre-industrial

tools.

That's no power, no electricity.

What?

Well, we have cordless saws,

you know, the kind that goes

like this.

There was nothing you could

do to prepare yourself for this.

When I took a look at what we

had-- a chisel, an ax, a saw--

I'm like, "What is all this?"

I have no clue what to do.

You guys have to decide the

design.

I'll help you where I can, but

you make the call.

And we're going to decide who

builds what bridge the old-

fashioned way, tug-of-w*r.

Ready?

Yeah.

Yeah. Set, pull!

Set, pull!

That's it, official victory

for the Red Team.

Huddle up and choose what kind

of bridge you want to build.

So the truss, it's good for

short distances.

But it takes a lot of

manpower to build.

We have no power tools.

I vote for the truss because

it'll hold a lot of weight.

Plus I think the suspension

bridge will take a lot more fine

tuning.

We're running low on time,

guys.

Have you guys picked what kind

of bridge you want to build?

I think so.

I don't know.

Noah, what do you think?

Everyone agrees on truss.

One, two, three, Red Team!

Red Team chose the truss

bridge, so that leaves you guys

with suspension.

All right.

You guys all right with that?

Yeah, we can work that.

Yeah, it's going to be fun.

All right, Blue Team, here's

your site.

In between those two trees other

there, that's where the

suspension bridge is going to

start.

It's going to go from bank to

bank, span all the way across.

What do you think?

Piece of cake.

I brought in a white board

and some pens so you guys can

start brainstorming.

Suspension bridge.

First off, what do we know about

suspension?

They work best in tension,

not compression.

Krishana's right.

The ropes and cables in a

suspension bridge work in

tension, not compression.

When a material is pulled, it's

in tension.

When it's pushed or squeezed,

it's in compression.

The hanging deck of a suspension

bridge pulls on the vertical

ropes.

These ropes then pull on the

main cables, placing them in

tension.

While under tension, the main

cables push down on the

supporting towers, placing them

in compression.

We're going to need some kind

of flat surface for the roadway.

We need the towers.

We're also going to need the

anchor points on either side.

Yeah.

We could use natural, or we

could try to make our own, which

would be a little tough, because

we'd have to kind of hammer it

into the ground.

An anchor point goes into the

ground?

The anchor point makes it so

that it pulls it out taut, and

the towers keep it up.

On the tree side, we almost

don't even need anchors, but the

anchors are going to be really

important on the artificial

side.

So let's not even put anchors

back here.

We're going to need a lot of

rope.

Rope.

The main cable here is bigger

than the smaller cables, because

it takes the total load of all

the smaller cables.

Right.

So we might want to make two

different kinds of rope.

I think every three or four feet

we should have a small cable to

prevent the sag.

That sounds pretty good.

I think we should, like,

figure out where we're going to

lay it out across.

Yeah.

I think we need to look at

I think we need to look at our materials first.

our materials first.

Let's throw this board across

and find out what we're spanning

exactly.

Watch out, guys.

Move out of the way.

And that's our span.

Okay, so basically, it looks

something like this, right?

Like, you have a triangle,

another triangle.

Oh, yeah.

Nice drawing.

What we're going to do is

we're going to rough lay out a

truss right here on the ground.

So let's grab one of these long

timbers.

These things are heavy, guys.

Just don't drop it.

Giselle, come on.

Giselle.

I was going to help him

because I was afraid that he

might pop a hip or something.

I'm old, but not that old.

Oh, that's on my foot.

That's on my foot.

That's on my foot.

Oh, it's on her foot!

It's on her foot!

How many toes can you feel?

I'm good, I'm good.

Are you okay?

Can you feel them?

Can you feel them? Yeah.

Yeah.

Yeah. One, two, three.

One, two, three.

Here you go, guys.

Here's your cordless saw.

All right, so these boards

are around eight feet long, and

we though our bridge should be,

like, four feet wide.

So basically, we can just cut

these in half, and that'll be

these in half, and that'll be the width of our bridge.

the width of our bridge.

Marcus made it look so easy.

Oh, you guys are horrible.

I'm so glad I didn't grow up

in the olden days.

One piece of wood.

That was minutes for one

piece of wood, and we have that

many to go through, and we're,

like, already fatigued.

How did the colonial people do

it?

Be gruesome, Giselle.

Shut up!

I am!

I didn't mean to yell at you.

I'm sorry.

That's all right.

Yes, you did.

We're all just mad because

they took away our power tools.

I miss my jigsaw.

I know you do.

Basically, we just need to

make rope.

Yeah, right now we need to

get to rope making.

What we have here is a real

simple rope-making machine, and

we're going to learn about

spinning.

It's basically the same trick...

So wait.

We're making our rope.

You're making your own rope.

Why can't we buy it?

Yeah, let's just go...

I mean, I got a few bucks.

We can go hop in the D Squad van

and...

Pre-industrial, baby,

pre-industrial.

This is ridiculous.

I love the st century.

All right, here, Krishana.

If you take a look at any

rope, you'll notice it's made

out of yarns like this.

All right, spin away.

And the yarns are twisted

together into strands, and the

strands are twisted together to

make the rope.

Oh, wait, hold a second.

Krishana needs her paddle in.

All right, towards me now, right

up against my knot.

So we're going to wait until

they've got this twisted up nice

and tight so its more like that.

Then, as that happens, we're

going to start sliding this

forward and start plying this

together.

And then at this end is where

the rope starts forming.

the rope starts forming. Keep it tight.

Keep it tight.

Keep it tight. This is hard work.

This is hard work.

This is going to take

This is going to take forever.

forever.

We should have just won the

tug-of-w*r.

The rope is kinking up on

itself so we get that.

Tom's definitely a leader on

our team.

He kind of just is like, "Okay,

do this."

Sometimes we bump heads, I

guess.

Watch your fingers, Kim.

I know, but kind of hold it

so it doesn't come undone yet.

I'm holding it.

All right.

Don't put your fingers in

there.

All right.

Let's not get snappy here,

all right?

We're under a lot of tension.

The suspense is k*lling me.

We just need to bridge these

troubled waters.

I'm on a roll.

Kim knows a lot about knots.

That's really useful, because I

know little.

I know how to tie my shoes.

That's just about it.

That is how you do a crown

knot.

It keeps the ends all together,

and then you can splice it back

through.

I'm not going to lie.

I'm not a nature girl.

I'm a city girl.

I'm freaking out because I'm

seeing bugs that I don't even

see on the Discovery Channel.

Ah!

It's not cool.

I would have preferred to build

a bridge over a pool or a puddle

somewhere in the city, but this

whole jungle thing is all right,

I guess.

Man, now I'm sweating.

I've been sawing long boards

into shorter boards.

Great.

Now we just need two more.

And it's just very tedious, and

And it's just very tedious, and everyone's tires.

everyone's tires.

Our strategy for day two is

to make a lot of rope.

We have to do the two

artificial posts on that side,

and we also have to do the

anchoring over there.

I'll volunteer for digging.

I like digging.

Timber.

We need to drag this over to

where we were digging holes, and

where we were digging holes, and then we're going to cut it.

then we're going to cut it.

Whew.

I'm just going to sit down for a

I'm just going to sit down for a second.

second.

Why didn't we win the

Why didn't we win the tug-of-w*r?

tug-of-w*r?

Well, if our bridge fails, it's

not because our wood's weak.

I am man.

Ah!

The ground has got so many roots

in it.

in it. It's, like, rock solid.

It's, like, rock solid.

I'm going to break the shovel.

Down in the ground over

there, there is solid rock

underneath only about four

inched of topsoil.

I'm going to show you how to

lay out the three basic joints

on this, show you how to cut out

the joints.

What we're doing here is we're

making a tenon that's going to

go through a mortise here.

A mortise is a pocket cut

into a piece of wood.

A tenon is a tab that fits

snugly into a mortise, creating

a solid joint.

We go two inches to nothing.

And if we cut the mortise with

that similar angle, this wedge--

it's called a dove's tail-- that

bites, and that'll hold the

whole end of this bridge up.

So we don't need nails or

pegs or anything.

pegs or anything. That's right.

That's right.

And away I go.

I'm drilling a hole right now

into the wood, the one that has

into the wood, the one that has to be at an angle.

to be at an angle.

I'm going to take this piece

of wood that I have trimmed off

and turned into a wedge so that

the king post stays in place.

I'm just going to stick this in

here, and the pedal is what's

going to vice it down.

I'm going to take this nice old

blade and then trim away.

How's it going?

All right.

Hard work.

Because this is at an angle,

when we push this in here...

this is also at an angle.

Got you.

And it's an extra force that

keeps this thing from popping

out.

Okay.

So you move in, over, and then

drive the wedge in over here to

keep it from moving?

Yeah.

Sweet.

Do you want to help us out,

Nate?

Nate? All right, so push and shake.

All right, so push and shake.

All right, more pushing.

More pushing, less wiggling.

More pushing, less wiggling.

Hold on.

Everyone, prepare to lift,

okay.

Is it in?

Oh, yeah.

Now we've got to move it over.

Now we've got to move it over. Okay.

Okay.

So you guys are partly done

with one king post of one of the

two trusses that you're

building.

You guys have your work cut out

for you.

Look at all this string.

This is going to be the most

massive rope ever.

It's so heavy.

I'm making rope so that we can

pull ourselves from here to

China basically.

Our suspension bridge has two

major cables, and I'm making the

rope that has to take all the

tension from the smaller ropes

all the way across.

All right, go ahead.

All right, Mike, do you want

to do it?

I'll give it a shot.

All right.

And when you mess it up, I'll do

it.

First one take on top.

It was on top.

No, you had it like that.

If we didn't have, like, my knot

abilities on this challenge,

like, it would have been, like,

disastrous for them.

You see, it's like you twist it

up.

Yeah, like that.

And then you just take that

around back and through.

Back here?

No, back through, and then

you hold onto it with this right

here.

They can do, like, the regular,

like, tie your shoes knot, but

the fancy knots they don't know.

Yeah, like that.

That's how I want it to look,

like this amount of tightness.

It's so hot right now.

Hey, guys, we need to think

of a new plan that doesn't

involve digging.

We could definitely just put,

like, rocks around it and build

up supports to make it not fall

over.

All right, ready?

On three.

One, two, three.

One, two, three. Walk it up.

Walk it up.

This is a heavy rope.

You did a really nice job.

You did a really nice job. I told you it was so heavy.

I told you it was so heavy.

I'm putting pressure on it

this way.

Like, I'm pulling with my weight

so you can make it as tight as

you can.

And are those thorns k*lling

you?

The other rope over there looks

good too.

Ow!

Ow! Are you all right?

Are you all right?

You actually look wicked

funny, though.

funny, though. Shut up.

Shut up.

I do the stuff that you guys

don't want to do.

Whoa.

Okay, here, give me this.

There you go.

All we have to do right now

is tie all the beams together

and move them.

And even though that's a small

list, it is a big feat, because

those beams are extremely heavy.

Really, it's probably the most

difficult challenge thus far.

This width is approximately

two inches.

So if it can slide through

easily there, we can easily put

two-inch thick wood in there.

Us kids nowadays, we're so

used to power tools and just

flipping on switches and, like,

having things cut in half a

second.

And here in the woods, we

actually have to manually saw

things and drill out holes.

It's an amazing experience.

I'll say that much.

Joey, push the king poles

towards me.

Time's up!

That's it for day two.

Good job, guys.

Good job.

We went through this whole

challenge full-fledged, like,

with full confidence that we'd

be able to finish.

be able to finish. But right now we're not so sure.

But right now we're not so sure.

Day three, day three, day

three.

We're worried because... the

amount of work that we had to

do.

There's a lot of chiseling and

sawing.

You know, you have to be fairly

accurate.

That's one of the problems.

But it's the sheer amount of

work that we have to do in order

to complete the two trusses and

build our actual bridge.

This is the king post, and this

is the area where the strut is

going to be connected to the

king post, and this, what I'm

digging out right now, this

little are, is going to be the

tenon so that the strut does not

move left and right on the king

post when the bridge is up in

place.

This is all done.

I'm just trying to make sure

everything... all the edges are

nice and smooth, you know,

finish out these things like

this.

Let's get this king post all the

way, and then we can go to the

other one.

Hit.

Hit.

Hit. Keep going, keep going.

Keep going, keep going.

Beautiful.

Beautiful. Done.

Done.

Natasha, what are you doing?

You're, like, checking your

nails.

nails. I got a splinter.

I got a splinter.

Fingers.

Oh, sh**t.

Can you lift it over?

We'll help you.

Ready?

One, two, three.

Got it?

No.

There.

Push.

These are some beautiful

trusses.

Good.

There are two hours left.

Which means it's crunch time.

All right, let's get this...

Two hours?

No, how about two days?

Better than I thought it

would.

Go, Tom.

Is that a good position?

That's pretty good.

A little bit towards the

center.

The cables that we made are

ridiculously strong and, like,

heavy, so they are not going

heavy, so they are not going anywhere.

anywhere.

Oh, don't I look lovely?

Yes.

I look like something out of

Star Wars.

Oh, no, that's going to choke

him, because he's going to get

to, like, the middle and...

No, he can pull it off.

All right, go.

If anything, the only problem

we'll have is, like, balance.

Oh, god.

Ready?

On three.

One, two, three.

Because we're using, like,

thin planks down the middle of

our bridge.

So with everyone on it, if

everyone starts, like, rocking,

I think some people are going to

go in the water.

But that's not the fault of our

bridge, because it's pretty

strong.

It's going to hold everyone.

It's just... it's your

responsibility to balance.

Okay, step on the small

board.

All right, that's good.

We should switch, because

Mike should do this, because I'm

really weak.

Hey, on three.

One, two, three.

That's all right.

Hold on.

Go, go, go, go, go.

Ow!

You got that.

All right, now you need to

All right, now you need to pick up the-- no-- bottom board.

pick up the-- no-- bottom board.

We're ready to test.

All right.

All right. Let's go.

Let's go.

Oh, yeah, okay.

I'm almost thinking it should

I'm almost thinking it should go up over there.

go up over there.

I think that's enough.

That's good.

How did we say we were

getting this over, ropes?

I think the best way to do it

is to just wade in a little bit.

Wait, why don't we just send

somebody... we don't have to

wade in the water.

We can go around the creek, get

someone on the other side, put

ropes around it, use the log

idea, and pull.

idea, and pull. All right.

All right.

All right. Give me the rope!

Give me the rope!

All right, ready?

You guys got to help push it.

Uh-oh, we don't have enough

Uh-oh, we don't have enough slack.

slack.

It's stuck in the mud.

Do you need help over there?

It's not pulling.

It's not pulling. We have to pull it up.

We have to pull it up.

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

Got to get that block under

it.

No!

Basically, what happened was

time was of the essence, and

everything was way to heavy and

way to cumbersome for us to...

for us to just do it by the four

of us.

So we asked for some help, and

we got some help.

We're prepared, if we have to,

to take a hit in the points,

because we could have not done

it without their help.

There would be no bridge.

Right in the mortise.

Kick.

That's swell.

Set the bottom and hit home.

[ cheering]

Isn't that exciting?

Isn't that exciting? One, two, three, Red Team!

One, two, three, Red Team!

Bounce up and down.

I want to see.

Dove tails did pull out just a

little bit.

If you put a roof on this thing,

you'd have a covered bridge

that'd last you years.

Really, I'm serious, easy.

Blue Team, are you ready to

show them what you guys built?

Yeah, let's go.

All right.

Oh, my, look at this.

Welcome to our bridge.

Whoa.

Whoa.

That's pretty remarkable.

Keep going.

Are you sure it's going to

fit all of us?

All right, guys.

Here we go.

Come on.

That's really remarkable.

Okay, no, not so much.

Ah, this is great.

Are we going to bounce on

this one too?

Yeah, let's bounce.

Yeah!

[ cheering]

All right, stop!

All right, all right.

You guys realize you have

well over half a ton on this

bridge right now?

That's amazing.

Really impressive.

Look at that.

That is so solid.

That's amazing.

These bridges are both

incredibly impressive.

But you know what?

There's a big decision to be

made.

One of you still has to win,

so we're going to peel off and

decide who it is.

All right, let's review the

criteria.

Had to span feet.

Both of them did that.

They sure did.

They had to support all ten of

us slash of us.

Yeah.

Definitely did that.

That was excellent, yeah.

No problem, no problem there.

So we've got points at

steak.

How are they going to get

distributed?

Well, I would feel really bad

if it was winner take all,

because both teams worked their

guts out.

I was thinking along the lines

of / in favor of the

suspension bridge.

I was thinking more like

/ because the Red Team ran

out of time and needed the extra

help.

We had to step in there with

a whole lot of people of the

production crew to really get it

done at the end of the day.

All right, you guys, we've come

up with a decision.

I have to, with a lot of

consideration, tip it in the

favor of the Blue Team.

[ cheering]

But there's more.

It's a little more

complicated than that.

There's a "but"?

There's a "but."

There's points at stake,

so...

We decided to also recognize

the hard efforts of the Red

Team, so the points split.

points going to the Blue

Team, points going to the Red

Team.

Go ahead and clap right now.

Everybody clap.

[ applause]

Let's hear it for the Red Team.

I feel kind of gypped,

actually.

I think the point totals should

have been / favoring us just

because there's a big difference

between sawing these huge

timbers and just twisting rope

up.

This was a really important

challenge for me point-wise, if

I can be greedy for a second.

I've been in last place since we

started.

I mean, I'm not too

disappointed.

There's, what, ten other

challenges... nine other

challenges, so I know I'm not

worried about my point total.

But I just think, as a team,

overall, we did so much work,

and I would have like to have

seen a little bit more reward

given.

But it happens.

I'm sure there's something I

can't build.

can't build. I've yet to see it.

I've yet to see it.

Tom may have finally won a

challenge, but he's still tied

for last place.

Kim holds on to the lead with

points.

All right, Deanne, here's a new

challenge: describe the Design

SquadWeb site in ten seconds.

Go.

There are games, photos, new

challenges, videos, quizzes,

scoring updates.

Time's up.

Ugh!

Just go to pbskidsgo.org.

I'm Pete Bethune.

I'm a mechanical engineer, and

I'm the skipper of this very

cool boat called Earthrace.

I had this idea to take this

boat around the globe and set a

record for a power boat fueled

on biodiesel fuel.

I was lucky enough to work as an

oil exploration engineer, and

when I left the industry, I just

had a growing awareness of the

need to get fuels like biodiesel

to become part of the mix.

We can take normal diesel, and

we can also take this good

stuff, crude biodiesel.

Make it from renewable sources

like vegetable oil, animal fat,

seaweed, from a whole range of

things.

It actually smells a bit like

fish and chips.

These two engines here, each one

puts out about horsepower.

That's equivalent to what you'd

get out of about normal cars.

Engineering gives you the

ability to understand lots of

different things.

People can't go pulling the wool

over your eyes very easily,

because I know what makes things

because I know what makes things work.