01x05 - Got Game

[bunniefuu]

Last time on Design Squad,

the teams took a walk on the

wild side and had to...

...bridge these troubled

waters.

Building bridges sounded

simple enough, but there was a

catch.

We're only using pre-

industrial materials and pre-

industrial tools.

Red Team needed extra support

to get the job done, giving Blue

Team the victory and putting Kim

in the lead for the college

scholarship.

It was literally kind of like

taking a true step back, you

know, in time to seeing how

engineering was way back when.

I hope this one will be a

little less muscle oriented and

more brain oriented.

* 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! *

Bring it, Red Team.

All right, huddle up.

Huddle up.

Come on, guys, bring it in.

Bring it in.

All right, you guys ready for

a little face time with our new

client?

Yeah.

All right.

This week, it's Brendan Smith.

He's a basketball coach, and he

doesn't want to miss any of the

action on the court.

Check it out.

Hi, I'm Brendan Smith, head

coach for A Step Ahead

basketball.

Trap-- trap the ball!

Get up now!

Get up!

A Step Ahead basketball is a

program that teaches the

fundamentals of the game.

One of the best ways to teach is

the videotape a game.

That allows us to analyze it, to

break down a players strengths

and weaknesses.

Go after the ball!

The hard part is to capture the

action.

Design Squad, that is where you

come in.

Now, your challenge is to come

up with two different remote

control camera systems that can

tape the game.

Now, let's view the specs.

I want one camera system from

the air, and the other along the

sideline.

We will scrimmage from the small

court to make life easier for

you, but you may not attach

anything to the walls or

bleachers.

Trap him, trap him!

Don't let him out!

Let's get to work.

The camera system that best

covers the action wins.

And the losers are running

sprints.

What?

Looks like Brendan means

business.

You guys are in for it.

So what we're going to do is

we'll give you guys controllers

and the camera systems.

And the systems are both

going to be tested and judged at

Brendan's basketball camp.

The winner will receive

points.

You guys have any questions?

How do we do this?

( laughter )

I have a question.

Yeah?

How do we decide which team

builds which camera-ma-jig?

So glad you asked.

Free throw contest right now.

You guys are going to bring

it.

So you see this line right

here?

This is our foul line.

Each member on your team is

going to get one shot and one

shot only.

The team that has the most

baskets gets to pick whether

they want the aerial or the

ground team.

Blue Team, you're going

first.

Line it up.

One-zero.

Who's up next, Red Team?

You just made my day.

The pressure's on.

One-one, Joey.

Two-one.

One shot left.

Giselle, it's all on you.

Oh, yeah, no pressure.

It's all right, through,

because I made the first basket,

like, of my life.

I say we don't fight gravity

and put it on the ground.

We could make a cool car.

Like a remote control.

Shh.

We could just put, like, a

remote control car and go side

to side, up and down the

sidelines.

In the air, almost like a zip

line type thing.

Like...

Blue Team, did you decide?

Yeah.

We're going ground.

I have to say, I'm floored by

your decision.

Listen up, Red Team, we have

a final decision.

Blue Team's chosen ground, so

Red, that means you get the

aerial camera system.

Let's go brainstorm.

Game on.

Whoa, you found all the

specs, huh?

I see you guys have already

found your remote systems.

We gave you two full setups.

Here's detail about full

dimensions of the court.

It's going to be a half-court

basketball game.

We're going to be going down to

a hobby shop.

It has all kinds of RC

equipment, model-making

equipment.

This is going to be fun.

All right, get to it.

I'm excited to see what you guys

come up with.

Tom, activate.

The squads will use radio

control, or RC, in their remote

control systems.

And here's how it works.

A transmitter sends

electromagnetic radiation,

called radio waves, to a

receiver.

The receiver decodes information

in the radio waves to produce

electrical signals.

And these signals power

actuators that rotate their

cameras and move their systems.

So we've got pretty much an

open area.

We can't permanently attach

anything, so if we were to

attach something, it has to be

semipermanent.

We have, what, feet by ?

That's a huge span to be

crossing.

To the board.

Zip line.

Zip line.

I can't picture it.

This is our camera.

And the area of our basketball

court is not going to be that

huge.

Think about it.

Ready?

We have a spool down here.

The play's at Mike.

Mike pulls, and I'm just

releasing.

The other thing that's seen

in a lot of games is a

helicopter.

Helicopters are really fast, but

they can hover in one spot and

then move to another location

really quick.

That might be another

alternative to try to do that.

I think it'd be really

distracted if I was playing

basketball and a little

helicopter rode by and it was

like... and I'd be like...

I would love to be the

camera.

All right, so here's what

we're working with.

It's called an eye cam.

Basically one lens.

Wireless?

Yeah, it's wireless.

Wireless transmission is how

the squads will get video images

from their camera to the screen.

The camera captures an image and

transmits radio signals through

the air to a receiver.

The receiver converts the radio

signals into digital

information, so the image can

then be sent to the computer and

displayed on the screen.

We need to have two

servoses... servi... servoe?

We can just have one.

Servi?

Servi.

We can have one servi there?

Servi?

Servo.

Servos, or servile

mechanisms, are motorized

devices that automatically

control motion, and in this

case, position.

Electrical signals from the

receiver trigger the servo's arm

to rotate so the camera can pan

or tilt.

I think the nice neat way of

doing this would be just to get

an RC car and stick it on the RC

car.

I really like the four-wheeled

idea of having it be that you

can pick it up and move it to

wherever you want within, like,

two seconds.

Can we check trains?

We can just buy a bunch of

flatbed cars.

We can't buy a train set.

With the car you're moving

left and right, you're

constantly adjusting.

The cameraman is like, "Where

are you going?"

"I don't know."

And then...

Disaster.

I still like the idea of a

free remote control car.

I like the freedom of being able

to move wherever you want to

find the shot, you know?

We're at a stalemate.

Yeah.

Are you, like, more in favor

of, like, the helicopter idea as

opposed to it being, like a zip

line or whatever?

That's my first choice, is,

like, the helicopter or, like,

the blimp, something that's

actually free and moving in the

air.

I don't know.

I think I feel a lot more

comfortable with something

that's, like, planted, not

really flying.

I think that if you don't

take a risk, then we're going to

be penalized for it.

We need to take the daring

approach to win this challenge.

We just have to resolve how

our car's going to be moving.

We could have, like, a

monorail, and just have thing,

like... just put a piece of wood

here, underneath the car, and it

can't move anywhere else but

straight.

Then we would build our own

car that would go on that track.

It's really not that difficult.

You guys, a car is just,

like, a base with wheels.

This is our design for our car.

We're going to have... this is

the cross section.

We're going to have the wheels.

There's the track, and the motor

here, and it's going to have the

camera mounted on top.

All right, now I want you to

take this, and I want you to

start spinning.

All right, I'm just sitting

here.

Am I the motor?

You're the motor, you're the

motor.

Well, I'm...

Oh, that's really easy.

So we're going to do that.

So I've got our list.

We've got a $ budget.

We're just going to get a

couple of servo motors.

Write down some way to mount

it.

Tires.

Pulleys.

It's shopping time.

We've got to go.

We'll be busy while you guys

are shopping away.

Whoa, that's so cool.

Wait-- how much is that?

$.

Man!

It works perfectly for, like,

aerial shots.

Could you give us, like, a

discount or something like that?

Let's take a bunch of these

and bring them up to Alex.

Keep in mind we have a

budget.

We're going to pick one.

We're trying to basically make a

car that can have a camera mount

on it.

Do you think we should go with

the two motor or one?

How much do you think it's

going to weigh, the whole

vehicle?

The load's probably going to

be, like, at least one or two

pounds.

With that in mind, actually,

the twin motor gearbox.

Here is what the car's going

to look like.

This is the platform that the

camera's going to by mounted on,

and this is a two foot high foam

base.

This is our track that we're

going to be using.

Make it feet.

I'll do feet.

No, I want... just do !

But is divisible by eight,

and these are eight-foot boards.

That good?

feet.

it is!

We want our camera suspended

from here somehow, or attached

to the bottom line so that we

can control it going back and

forth.

Well, I have some motors that

would be appropriate for that,

but what I don't have for you is

a good way to attach the motors

to the pulleys.

Remote doesn't mean that we

can't have any human

intervention.

Right.

So what's stopping us from

pulling this instead of using a

motor?

We'll just have somebody on

either side pulling it.

With the zip line.

Yeah.

Oh, I really like that,

actually.

Yeah.

All right, so we're going

with the person.

The whole thing needs to

spin, and then this needs to be

like a swingset, like swinging

back and forth.

So somehow we need to mount it

in something that allows it to

swing back and forth, like, on

an axle.

Let's wait for them to come

back to just tell them what

we're doing.

We're back.

Surprises, surprises,

surprises!

Yeah, what did you guys get?

This!

We found it in the car.

Woo!

Good.

No, seriously, what did you

guys get?

We didn't buy anything.

Why?

I thought I gave you guys the

list.

Did you lose the list?

What's wrong with you?

No, I did not lose the list.

We just decided that we didn't

need it.

Need what?

You know, we got there, and

we had this epiphany.

We cleared our minds.

We defined remote.

Can you define remote for me?

It's something that controls

something from further away.

Like, you don't have to touch

it.

Right.

Brainstorm.

What else can we use to move

something from far away?

Whoa, what that is, a fancy-

looking puppet.

Human power.

So we can, like, pull on the

ropes to make it go back and

forth.

Yeah.

All right, so no motors?

No motors to pull it back and

forth.

I like it.

You like it already?

Yeah, I like it.

I love being on your team.

All we need... here's, like,

a side view of the gym.

That's the floor.

Here's the walls.

And here's the basket.

It's coming down.

We have a pulley up here and a

pulley, like, up there-- or,

like, even in the back, like, on

the back.

The string goes across, comes

down, comes down.

That's all we need.

So we got our motors, and we

got our wheels and tires.

So this is our car.

This is two-foot-high foam, and

this is the platform that we're

going to be mounting the camera

on.

Yeah, but can we cut it?

It's ugly.

I don't care.

I don't like this.

This is really light for a

car.

You want to know something a

little bit funny?

Red Team didn't really buy

anything.

They didn't buy anything.

Did they buy any, like, ice

cream or anything?

No.

Ha, ha, ha, ha, ha.

This thing's going to be

sweet.

How awesome is that?

Get it all together.

When Nate and Deanne call

time... we'll do that until Nate

and Deanne call time.

Time's up.

Wrap it up, Design Squads.

All right, we've got to

finish with our camera and

mounting.

So do you want to build your

own and you can build your own

and then we can just, like, test

and see what's best?

Because we want the best thing

for our footage.

So we're building two and

then we're only using one?

Just because we have so much

time.

All right, we're going to

have the camera, and it's going

to be attached to an axle, which

goes through two little pieces

of wood.

And then we have the axle

attached to the servo motor, and

then the pieces of wood are

going to be attached to a

platform, which is going to spin

from the motor.

So are you two going to build

your own?

I think I should work on this

because I was the one that

designed it.

Yeah, work on that.

That's cool.

Here's how I think it would

be best laid out.

I'm making kind of a prototype

of the swivel head.

This is pretty much a swivel

unit that will allow the camera

to move on two axes of position.

The camera could actually be

mounted either this way-- and

she just came up with a great

idea of mounting it right down

here so the fallback position

would be kind of right here.

From that position, it would be

able to follow the ball up and

down the court, degrees, so

it can go all the way like that.

But then this can also spin, and

then it can follow the ball like

that.

Oh.

So this... the line would be

attached, like, out here.

Yeah.

You'd be like ( whirring )

and it'd be like ( screeching ).

Like, this thing would be able

to spin.

How do you like that?

That's really simple.

That's more simpler than Kim's

actually.

I'm glad Kim is diligently

working and has a pretty good

design that she's confident in.

I'd like to see the finished

product.

I think that she should try to

include the rest of us in her

design.

This is actually good.

This little prototype didn't

take three people to make, but

we incorporated all of us.

Kim's not incorporating us.

It's all on one remote

control.

This is the camera-- up, down,

left, right.

Watch, watch.

Up, down, left, right.

And then this is the control for

the car.

Just what, forward and

backward?

You mean forward and

backward?

Yeah.

Ah!

It works.

I'm going to drill a hole for

a space where I can mount my

motor.

All right.

Oh, that's incredible.

Oh, that's cool.

That's so sweet.

Dude, I love this thing.

It goes so fast too.

I love it.

Nice.

I like that idea.

Yes, you do, because I

thought of that.

Mike, look.

I already saw it.

I'm just trying to catch up now.

Hi, Noah.

It's so cool.

I can see myself.

I'm on TV.

I love this.

Here we go.

Dude, check it out.

Remote control.

Very nice.

Yeah.

Kim, I want you to follow me.

Ready?

I had you pretty much in

frame the entire time.

Oh, yeah, start rigging up the

pulleys so we can get ready to

test it.

All right, bring it towards you.

Ready?

Go.

It's kind of more difficult

than I expected.

It bounces a ton.

The problem with Red Team's

design is that the same rope

controls both the camera's

vertical and horizontal

position.

So if one person feeds the ropes

too fast, the line goes slack

and the camera drops.

And if she pulls too fast, the

line tightens and the camera

bounces.

To fix their design flaw, Red

Team needs a separate set of

lines to hold the camera up and

another to move the camera back

and forth, or else...

We have these inline skate

wheels, and they're held at an

angle to each other with this

rubber band, and that keeps the

car on the track.

Aren't you a sweet robot?

Yes, I am.

Yes, you are.

Hi.

Go that way.

Perfect.

That's the farthest,

remember?

The farthest it'll go.

Unless you want me to do

this.

All right.

So that's right side up.

The camera's set.

Want to test it?

Yeah, let's test this.

Yours is a little bit more

balanced than Kim's is.

We want to minimize on the

moving of the camera.

Red Team has a choice to

make.

Both Mike and Kim's designs have

a degree pan and a degree

tilt.

So which is better?

Kim's unit is balanced.

The camera tilts evenly about

its axis.

Mike's camera and battery are

placed far from the pivot axis,

so when the unit tilts, it

swings wide, cantilevering its

weight and increasing bounce.

So if Red Team wants a steadier

shot, they should choose Kim's

design.

But they don't.

That should be it.

I think all we need to do is fix

the problem with this, see if we

can make it smother, and it'll

eliminate a lot of the bounce.

Got a little bit more practice

in on trying to get it to move.

So let's see if we can play a

lot more with camerawork and

teamwork so that we can get the

best, you know, video we can out

of this.

All right, let's go.

You guys ready to test this?

Put it on the track.

And down.

Come on.

This is so much fun.

Everything here is just ready

to go.

We're not saying we're going

to win.

We're saying that we're

confident in what we've done.

It's only bragging if you're

not as good as you say we are.

But we are that good.

What did I tell you the other

day about that?

( whistle blowing )

All right, Blue Team, let's

start it up.

( whistle blowing )

Looks really good, you guys.

Whoa.

I thought he was going to crash

right into the camera.

Blue Team, time's up.

Red Team, you guys ready to

fly?

Turn the camera on.

Let's see the footage.

Well, I'm not ready.

No, wait, wait, wait.

We can get all the tangles out

of the rope.

Yeah, it's working.

Why aren't they pulling or doing

anything?

Maybe you got to yell at them to

tell them where the action is.

Pull, pull, pull!

Kim!

Kim!

Go, that way!

Are they doing laundry, or

are they filming?

Come on now.

It only takes one person to

work our machine.

And, Red Team, your time is

up.

Okay, Red and Blue Team, what

do you guys have for me?

Blue Team ground cam.

Okay.

The kids would love to see this.

How about the Red Team?

Ours is hotter.

You'll like it.

Yeah?

The Red Team was the aerial

cam.

With the pulley system.

Good view of the jump ball

here.

That's a good way to see spacing

on the court for players.

And all the footage pretty much

looks the same from here to when

you guys stopped?

That's the pulley?

The pulley was shaking, right, a

little bit?

Yeah.

No, this looks good.

They put a lot of work.

Both teams put a lot of work

into it, so...

You ready to huddle up and

make a decision?

I am.

All right.

Red Team, I... that was the

aerial system?

Yeah.

It seemed a little shaky.

It was a little far from the

court, the action, and it

actually showed too much of the

peripheral of the court.

When you're watching the game,

you just want to see the action

on the court.

The track was a better way to

go, with the Blue Team.

All right, so you're going

with the Blue Team.

Yes, I am.

Here they come.

Here they come.

The decision is, although

both teams did a really good

job, and I think the Red Team

was a little bit more creative

in terms of having something up

top, sometimes you need to be a

little bit more basic in what

you're trying to do.

I think the Blue Team caught

more of the action on the court.

The Red Team was a little shaky

and too much of the peripheral

action.

So the points goes to the

Blue Team.

Yeah!

Oh, yeah.

And the losers are running

sprints.

On the line.

Captioned by

<span> Media Access Group at WGBH

access.wgbh.org

A win for the Blue Team puts

Joey back on top with

points, 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 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'm Amy Kukulya, and I'm an

oceanographic engineer, and I

have a really cool job working

with underwater robots.

Oceanographic engineers use

underwater robots to explore

areas of the ocean where no one

has done any research before.

My role was making the

underwater robot REMUS

streamlined and fast, sort of

put as much instrumentation on

it, like cameras and sensors

that measure temperature and

saltness of the water, and you

want to know why are there no

fish in an area where there used

to be?

Instead of going out for a long

period of time with tons of huge

equipment, you get this little,

small package that can videotape

that whole area.

REMUS is faster and safer and

more efficient.