Design steps 6 and 7 were manufacturing and testing our prototype. We completed this step in about 3 days.
Manufacturing
Our prototype is made of cotton fiber, PLA rings, and nylon rope. (The rubber ducks are just a visual representation of the boats.)
3D Printer
To reduce expenses, our group used the 3D printer to print out rings for our project. We used Autodesk 360 Fusion to create a 3D model of the ring and then we printed it.
Performance Testing
Reflection
These design steps were my favorites. They were really interactive. We tested a bacteria called ultra-archea instead of alcanivorax borkumensis because it was cheaper and we could not afford the A. borkumensis. I really enjoyed testing our prototype, but it was also time consuming and we had to do it outside of school. Our time-management of these steps was not very good and that could have been improved if we had bought the bacteria sooner. We procrastinated a bit. However, once we received the bacteria we were very efficient with the little time remaining. We finished all the actual testing in a day because we had prepped the experiment a couple days earlier. Something that I learned from this step was how to use a 3D printer. It was really cool!