01x09 - Batter Up

[bunniefuu]

Last time on Design Squad, it

was a battle of the sexes.

This is going to be intense.

The teams had to push fashion

forward with a hidden twist.

I'm going to go for a jog.

( laughter )

Red Team's chill suit got a

cool reception.

I think I'm ready for the

next one.

But Blue Team's wild wedding

was a fashion sensation.

( cheering and applause )

And that kept Natasha in the

lead for the college

scholarship.

I'm happy I'm in the lead,

but it's not really that much of

a gap.

I'm in last place, so that's

special.

I can lose this challenge but

still be in the lead, but that's

not really too comforting to me.

No one wants to be on my team

now.

It's not because I'm not...

like, I'm a bad engineer.

I just have the Tom curse.

* 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! *

Is that bad?

No.

Smells like burning.

No, it's steaming.

It's a teenage pancake.

It's not really mature yet.

Ready?

Oh!

And that is a perfect

pancake.

Now, can anybody possibly

fathom what today's challenge

might be?

Scrambled eggs?

Wrong!

Roll the tape.

Hi, my name is Jay Hajj, and

I'm the owner of Victoria's

Diner.

I've been in business for

years, long enough to know what

customers want-- quality food

that's affordable and fast.

And if you're at Victoria's for

breakfast, that means...

Pancakes!

That's my uncle.

Pancakes.

Pancakes.

And they got to be good to keep

these customers happy.

Here's your challenge, Design

Squads.

I want you to build me an

automatic pancake machine that

will work in the touch of a

button.

These are the specs.

The pancakes have to be as good

as the ones fresh off the

griddle at Victoria's.

I am looking for quality over

quantity.

I'll supply the batter.

You'll supply the machine.

And the winning machine will

have the honor of cooking

pancakes for my regular

customers.

And believe me, they know their

pancakes.

Good luck.

So you got that?

He needs you to make an

automatic pancake machine that

will make pancakes at the touch

of a button.

And he's looking for quality

over quantity, so they better be

good.

Now, the task is to cook the

pancake on one side, flip it

over, cook the pancake on the

other side, and then get it off

the griddle and onto a plate.

Everything you need will be

found right here in our shop.

All right, and each member of

the winning team is going to

receive points.

Now, both machines will

actually be used at Victoria's

Diner to do the judging, but

only the winning one will be

serving pancakes to the regular

customers.

It's time for you guys to

start brainstorming.

But before you start thinking

too much, you really need to

learn how to make a perfect

pancake.

It's what we engineers call

analyzing the user experience.

That's right.

So let's get cooking.

All right.

Go too it, little flapjacks.

Who can make pancakes?

I've never had pancakes

before.

I've never made them.

Why don't we just start

cooking and see how long it

takes to make a pancake?

...making me really hungry.

We're going to do the time

before we flip it and then the

time after we flip it to do the

other side.

By doing this, we can see how

well we flip them, and it just

gives us some more time to

think.

I'm going to eat it for the

first time ever.

He's going to throw up.

It's really plain.

We should talk about how the

heck we're going to do this.

No ideas.

All right, all right, I'm going

to start out with a line.

I wish someone would come up

with some ingenious thing.

Once this pancake's done,

I'll start thinking.

Pancakes don't help you

think.

It's very hot.

All right, I'm going to go ahead

and start working, if anyone's

paying attention.

Scientific purpose of this

pancake is actually to measure

the diameter and general

circumference of what it would

be if it's one-third cup.

Six-inch diameter cake.

Is that really necessary?

Let's see what the thickness

is with a caliper.

I have an interesting idea:

nonstick surface, flip onto a

nonstick surface, flip onto a

plate.

I thought, like, flipping was

kind of hard.

If you just, like, lift it up

and have it just slide down the

thing...

We need motors, and we need

to set them to a certain time.

That's the big thing that,

you know, I'm thinking about

right now, the time issue.

Here's an idea.

What if we did something with

the pans-- like, we had two pans

attached, pour it in one side,

have it close, let it cook, and

then just flip the entire thing

over so it's on the other side

of the pan, open it, and then

just chuck it out?

Actually, that is a very good

idea.

The idea of it would be up and

then...

Did it fall?

Yep.

Oh, it did.

All right, let's take a look

at what we've got here.

Well, I was thinking it would

be, like, flip this open right

here.

Okay.

And then...

Yay.

There is a lot of mechanical

motion.

That's what makes this really

complicated.

We have spatulas.

I mean, I was just thinking,

like, why don't we, like, drill

through the spatula and use that

as the flipper?

Like, connect it to the motor

and, like, as it goes around...

You would need to attach it

on a different axial point, and

that's also a completely

different idea.

I do like it, but we're also

running short on day one, so...

Like, we haven't come up with

a design.

We're still in the brainstorming

phase.

So that's why I just threw that

out there.

I think it's going to be

really hard to do it...

I think the easiest way would

be to cook both sides at the

same time.

I was thinking some kind of

sandwiching idea where we kind

of hinge this together and then

place the pancakes right in

there and put... have this fully

automated I guess.

Are they... are they... yeah,

they're getting smushed.

Oh, good.

Oh, yeah.

That's pretty.

That's a quality pancake.

That's actually disgusting.

I'll eat it.

Okay, instead of pressed up

against the pancakes, let's have

it raised up a little.

Okay, I have to line this up.

One minute.

Muscles dying.

Now.

I hope this works.

Hey.

Oh.

How about some pancakes?

That actually turned out

really well.

Yeah, and they're massive.

Plate-- ready?

My only issue is now the

mechanics behind putting a grill

on top of another grill.

All right, right now we're

testing the kind of ripple fold.

Oh, this is hot.

This idea requires just

having the single sheet of

nonstick coating and using that

just to simply flip it and then

try to slide it off.

The one problem that I

foresee with this idea is the

problem of automation and making

this a process that we can do at

the push of a button.

Yeah.

There could possibly be a bar

up here with some strings that

pulls.

I was thinking we could do a

truss bridge.

No.

I'm just kidding.

I'm just kidding.

I like the truss bridge.

Okay, you put one truss, one

truss, and then you put a pole,

and then we can have the molder

attached, and it can just kind

of like... and you could have it

stop at different intervals.

Okay, so now Mike's going to

attempt to roll the pancake.

No.

That was my fear.

Let's just, each person, go

off, build something in foam and

wood, and see if it works.

If it doesn't, then ditch it.

But sitting here is not going to

give any progress.

No, you don't know.

And I just thought of an

idea-- ready?

You can have the perfect pancake

here, so it's actually touching

both sides.

You could also attach metal

bearings to it so that it would

just roll across, and the metal

bearings are going to get hot.

And then it gets over here

and it goes.

I'm too afraid that we're going

to jump into this and be like...

we're going to have to build a

crane to move these things.

No.

Are you not satisfied with

the brainstorming?

I'm not satisfied with the

brainstorming.

Well, let's brainstorm some

more then.

Everyone kind of bounced

around with a ton of ideas, and

nothing worked at all.

So it's kind of tough.

What if we cut out, from the

cookie... the cookie sheet?

Because since we're flipping

it...

No, that...

Why are you shaking your

head?

I didn't even finish explaining.

Because the thing... the

cookie sheet doesn't heat up as

well as... like, this stuff is

meant to heat up.

We didn't try that, though.

All right, whatever.

It's fine.

The last hour of the day, I

want everybody to have their own

mockup, and I want that to bring

to the table.

Each person do something, simple

as that.

Today was a pretty poor day

for Team Blue, I think.

We accomplished very little.

I'm not exactly sure why this

challenge is more difficult than

the other challenges.

It might just be that we're

tired, and it's a very hot day;

it's making us really irritable.

Either start testing or keep

brainstorming, but let's do

something.

I want to try this black

thing right here.

Yeah, we could use that to

flip.

We just need to actually see

if, like, they can cook it on it

and it slides off.

It smells like burning

plastic.

Ready...

There it goes-- woo!

All right, you want to see

mine?

I was also thinking, if we

timed it really slow, we could

cook it along a conveyor belt.

Yeah, but how do you flip it?

If they have the same

behavior when they flip, if we

just move the second conveyor

belt or our second grill

underneath it, we can actually

cook both sides and have that

flip effect.

Oh, that's a really good

idea.

But it's just at a grand

scale, though.

The flipping mechanism is

totally controlled by gravity, I

guess.

Really good.

So let's imagine this

conveyor belt rolling.

It's going to flip itself,

hopefully, and then drop.

Look at that.

I claim this design in the name

of Red Team.

We have minutes left in

day one.

So my idea is the two flipper

idea.

So this is about ten inches.

It's a ten-inch square.

That's approximately how big the

griddle is.

So what happens is this is

actually a metal frame, and

below here is a piece of this

nonstick material.

So it's in direct contact with

the griddle.

So that's cooking.

And after about five or so

minutes or however long it takes

with this stuff, this just

flips, and the pancake lands

flipped on this flipper.

After, I don't know how... it's

just two or three minutes I

guess, this just flips, turn it

onto a plate.

What's the frame made out of?

Sheet metal.

So, Giselle, do you have an

idea or...

I think Noah has a really

good idea.

If we just tweaked it to fix all

the problems, it's really good.

All right.

So tomorrow we start with the

double flip.

We go from there.

Any other data, the machining,

we'll divvy out in the morning.

So we're out of time.

You two are going to work on the

testing and then the frame.

Joey, you're going to work on

the motors.

I'll work on the PVC.

And I'm going to work with

you.

Everyone's going to work

together.

The secret to success: get

everybody in on the design

instead of trying to change it

last minute.

So you ready?

One, two, three, pancakes!

That's why I wanted to do

this today.

Let's go.

Whew!

Oh.

That's disgusting, isn't it?

Okay, pancake's going to

start up here.

It's going to be pulled down

here.

And then it's going to cook

here, pull, pull, pull, onto a

plate.

I guess we could start building

one conveyor belt, but we really

need to test the distance

between our two cooking surfaces

so that it flips.

Yeah, but, like, we need to

decide if the conveyor belt's

going to go all the way around,

underneath the bottom too.

Yeah.

So we're going to need two

rollers.

The other thing I'm worried

about is actually spinning that,

because the motor has, like, a

little itty-bitty shaft.

Like, there's our motor, right?

And then we have this big,

enormous tube.

How do we connect those?

PVC has caps.

So that can cover the hole.

Ah, genius.

I'm just so stupid not to think

of it.

Who's doing what?

Joey, you're going to work on

the motors and attach them to

the PVC.

You guys are working on the

testing and then the frame.

And I'm working on putting the

PVCs on the grills.

I want to see if we can

actually make a good list for

today.

So we got the frame.

We got the flipping mechanisms

themselves and the motorized

units.

All right, the frame, anybody

want to tackle that?

Yeah, we'll work... do you

want to work together?

Yeah.

That's fine.

All right, let's get a design

on paper.

The other major component is the

electrical action for the

flipper.

So that's going to be

critical, because it not only

needs to flip; it needs to be

able to go back and forth, rest

on it, and...

Yeah, that's going to be a

lot of timing and testing.

I really want that done.

Let's think of ways to adjust

the height of this.

We can use our buckets turned

over just to set this platform

on.

It'd be easy if we actually

taped this.

That worked.

It flipped over.

Let's try again.

So that was nine inches off.

I'd say that worked.

I'd say it flips.

Offhand.

Kim and Krishana have nailed

the perfect flip, and here's

how.

As the pancake falls off the

griddle, its weight creates a

spinning force, and the pancake

starts to flip.

If the bottom griddle is too

close, the pancake will

under-rotate; and if it's too

far, it will over-rotate.

So to cook the pancake on the

flip side, Kim and Krishana have

placed the griddles just the

right distance apart.

You want to try it, like, at

ten this time?

Yeah.

BOTH: That works too.

I'd say we make it nine and a

half.

The smaller the frame, the

easier and better it is to,

like, fit in a kitchen and be

more useful.

Um, you guys, so let me just

give you a quick rundown on the

frame.

Basically, it's going to be like

a drawbridge.

If this is the whole griddle,

put a piece of plywood

underneath it, plates right

here.

We make a tower, and we can put

the motor up here.

That can wind a piece of string

that would be attached to the

metal.

And basically, what it can do

is, if there's piano hinge that

we could rivet right onto the

griddle, we can just make it

come up and then unwind it to

come down.

To put it on the plate, it would

be the exact same thing.

We'd have another motor mounted

onto the mast, and we could just

pull it up, pull it down--

simple.

And I can build the frame in a

really short amount of time.

I like it.

So...

Once I've done the frame,

then let's get those motors on,

because we need to see if it

lifts.

If not, then we need to fiddle

with the gear ratio.

More powerful motor.

The motors are a long way

away from where we are right

now.

Giselle, why don't you help

Natasha?

Joey, do you have an idea of

how you're going to attach the

PVC pipe to the motor?

The caps for the end of the

PVC pipes we can just attach to

it, and then drill a hole

through it, and then put an axle

mount right through both pieces,

kind of mount it along the side

of the axle.

Then you can spin the axle

using the motor.

And the motor can be attached

to the outside of the frame.

Yeah.

I couldn't find anymore

gears, other than the ones that

are right in front of me, so

what I'm going to do is

basically work with what I have.

The speed doesn't really matter.

The problem is the torque.

Joey's right.

If their motor doesn't have

enough torque, their conveyor

belt won't turn.

So what is torque?

Torque is different from force.

Force is how hard you need to

push or pull an object to move

it in a straight line.

Torque is the amount of effort

used to rotate an object.

So Red Team needs a motor that

provides enough torque to spin

the roller and move the conveyor

belt.

Is it going?

Supposedly, it should.

All right, let go of the

motor.

Ha, ha, that's hilarious.

I'm going to start to build

the frame.

All we need to do is put

pieces here, another piece here.

Like, it's actually just going

to be like a skeleton, and then

you're just going to put pieces

on top, essentially.

Okay, that's cool.

All right, let's get this

done.

This is a terrible idea,

Giselle.

Will you get me the other jaws

of life please?

Why don't we just use the

saw?

No.

One thing I'm worried about is

that it's not going to fall onto

the griddle.

This is the frame for our

flippermajig.

This is going to be riveted

together, and this material is

going to be on the bottom so

that, when it's cooking, this

will be in direct contact with

the griddle.

When it flips, it'll just flip

onto the other flipper.

We're going to take this here

hinge, and then we're going to

drill it to the hot plate.

It's just a little bit

crooked, but we can adjust it

when we mount the hinge to

compensate for it.

Huh?

Oh, it's hitting on this.

This piece of nonstick

material needs to be in constant

contact with the griddle so that

the pancake really heats up and

gets cooked correctly.

What are you doing with the

spoon?

I'm tying not to burn myself.

Be careful.

It's not.

Actually, it's not hot.

It was.

It was.

It was not.

It was warm, and I thought it

was hot.

You're using a spoon.

What I'm doing is sewing

together a conveyor belt.

I'm putting these elastic bits

in here so that we can stretch

it over our rollers and it will

keep nice and taut.

I never thought that sewing a

women's bathing suit to fit my

friend Noah would help me out on

another challenge, but look at

me now.

So you'd mount one motor

here-- one motor here, one motor

here.

Why don't we put a piece of

wood right here?

The reason why we have it

this high is so that it has more

of an angle.

Why don't we do that for the

farthest one back?

And then for the second half,

why don't we just put another

one right here?

Yeah, we have one up here and

then one directly below it,

because we increase the

mechanical advantage with the

height.

Mike is right.

Placing the motor higher has an

advantage.

Torque is needed to lift the

tray, and the key is upward

force.

If the motor is placed too low,

the string won't pull in an

upward direction, and the tray

won't lift.

If the motor is placed higher,

it will pull the string in a

more upward direction, flipping

the tray more easily.

And for both trays to flip at

similar speeds, the ropes must

be at a similar angle, and

that's why their motors should

be placed at different heights.

Hey, Red Team, what's the

status?

Working.

Okay.

Pending.

Good, good.

What's the status of the project

versus the status of you?

Anybody?

Anybody?

We're just working real hard.

Have you guys tested it yet?

Pretty much what we're

waiting on is for the motor

assembly.

Okay.

And then if all you're waiting

for is the motor assembly, why

is all this stuff still spread

out and not assembled?

You guys are aware you have an

hour and a half left?

You need to be really working

here so you can finish in time

to make it work.

It is crunch time, my

favorite time of the day.

What's cooking, Blue Team?

It's about an hour and a half

left, so we're definitely into

crunch time.

What do you guys need to do to

get this thing up and running?

Smelt the motors, get the

timing right, and that's it.

And we're going to help you

by, like, timing how long it

takes to cook one side, the time

to flip.

Exactly, because we're going

to help you guys program digital

timers so this can all implement

in a set fashion.

You got to focus, focus, focus.

You guys need some energy.

Pep it up.

Don't even tell me.

Is it this?

All right, all right.

Ready?

Reverse the direction,

please.

Is the motor spinning or

what?

It's too tight.

That could have gone better.

I think that motor's going to

work.

That's not even going to

move.

Let's just move on to the next

one.

Where's the other one?

The spool needs to not have

that much string on it.

How does the wheel attach?

We need to take off some of

the string.

Okay, yeah, do you see?

Just one test, one test.

Go.

Woo!

The reason why we switched

motors is because the motor...

Didn't have enough torque.

...really didn't have enough

torque.

We just switched to the ones

that we used for the soccer

ball.

Yeah, these ones are nice and

slow, and they have a lot of

torque.

This motor, you turn it on, it

kicks a lot.

Yeah, I know.

So I just want to make sure

it's really tight.

That should do it.

Krishana, do you want to

watch and see if it works?

Ah, it works.

Guys, that's awesome.

It has enough torque.

Other way, other way.

Nice.

Once we sew that, the duct

tape won't be a problem.

It won't get stuck.

Fetch me my needle.

That's pretty great.

Now it's all ready to go, so

we can get ready for our second

test.

Okay.

All right, stop.

That's good, that's good.

Flip it.

All right.

Three, two, one...

Flip.

( cheering )

How long do we let it cook this

time?

The first side three minutes,

the second side two minutes.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, three, two,

one.

Stop it, stop it.

Yeah, beautiful.

Yeah.

Bon appétit.

Do you want to do it again?

No.

All right, Design Squads,

welcome to the moment of truth,

the big pancake cook-off with

our client, Jay.

Jay and I have taken the time to

program these machines, and

we're ready to see how they're

going to cook up the pancakes.

And, Red Team, you're up

first.

So this cooks one side of the

pancake up here.

Then the conveyor belt will move

two pancakes down onto the other

conveyor belt, and it'll cook

the other side.

Once they're done, they flip

onto a plate all the way at the

end.

So they're going to cook.

They're bubbling up nicely, as

they're supposed to, with this

great batter.

I like this.

I think I want one right now.

I'm going to wait till they

cook, myself.

You want to make sure it's a

little bit cooked on the other

side so that it's not doughy.

It's looking good.

Yeah.

Five more seconds.

There we go.

This is perfect.

This is the right time to flip,

right now.

( cheering and applause )

Look at that.

Nice job.

Yummy.

The pancakes look great.

The color is good.

The size is decent.

Let's see how it's going to land

on the plate.

Beautiful.

( cheering and applause )

All right.

Very good.

Beautiful Red Team pancakes.

What do you think of those?

I think they're beautiful.

Look how beautiful they are.

Blue Team, are you guys

intimidated by these pancakes?

No.

All right, well, I'd say Red

Team set the bar pretty high.

Let's see what your machine can

do.

All right.

Okay, so our design works

with two separate flips.

First the pancake gets poured

here, and it cooks for a while,

and then this motor will trigger

a flip, and this will be brought

up, and the pancake will flip

over on the other side.

And then when this is done

cooking, it'll flip right onto

the plate-- very simple, very

compact.

Very smart.

Woo!

Look at that pancake.

They have one pancake.

We have deuce pancakes.

Three, two...

Woo!

Nice.

( applause )

That beautiful Blue Team

pancake.

Automatic.

Pretty impressive, you guys.

Very nice.

It has a nice color to it.

It looks good.

Well done, Blue Team.

All of these pancakes look

great, but only one machine can

win.

So you want to go help us make a

decision?

Let's go.

All right.

I thought both machines were

good.

I thought both of them were a

smart idea.

And both machines did great

pancakes.

They both made exactly the same

pancake.

The bigger machine did two

pancakes, which was great, but

quantity was not an issue.

It was quality.

The smaller machine was small.

I could fit it anywhere in the

kitchen.

And in a busy kitchen like mine,

you need as much space as

possible.

So, Blue Team, you won.

Ah!

points goes to each

member of the Blue Team.

And that means Blue Team is

serving up pancakes to Jay's

customers.

Hey, guys, we got your

pancakes here.

Excellent.

Lovely.

Ooh, wow, they look great.

Enjoy.

Thank you very much.

Captioned by

<span> Media Access Group at WGBH

access.wgbh.org

So after nine challenges,

Natasha still has the recipe for

success and hangs on to the lead

with points.

All right, Deanne, here's a new

challenge: describe the Design

Squad Web 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 am Pete Gosselin, and I'm a

mechanical engineer, and I make

the ice-cream machinery that

makes all the great flavors here

at Ben &amp; Jerry's.

The culinary people I work with

challenge me every day:

"Wouldn't it be great if we

could do this inside a pint of

ice cream?"

The engineering we had to do

with this particular flavor was

to put two different ice creams

together and then put a frothy

top on it like you'd find on the

top of a root beer float with...

concoctions.

And what we had to do was to

modify a filler so that it could

handle two different kinds of

ice cream while introducing a

core of caramel.

The engineering challenge with

Chunky Monkey is how do we put a

whole lot of big chunks into a

relatively small container.

We have to understand how the

chunks flow through pipe into

the ice cream and how to make

sure that happens at very high

speed.

If you're a problem solver, you

want to make the world better,

even in small ways like making

ice cream, engineering's a great

way to go.

Mm, that's good stuff.