This happens all the time!
- And we don't want to use the coffee table
because it's out of reach.
- We decided to invent some sort of table
that could fit around the arm of the sofa
to hold our snacky things while we're watching movies.
- So it all started when my dad was cooking dinner,
and he turned his back for two seconds
and then the pot boiled over.
So he rushed over and blew on it,
and that's how I got the idea to invent something
that could prevent a boiling-over pot.
- It all started when our dad broke his ankle really bad,
and he was having a lot of trouble
going up and down the stairs.
- Especially because he was a bigger man,
he found it really tricky and he even slipped a few times,
so we decided to build something that would help him
get up the stairs more safely.
- So I was looking online at all these different designs
of couch-arm tables,
and there's hundreds of them,
and they were all made for square couch arms.
And I know your couch is round,
so we need to make something
that would work for your couch, as well.
- Okay, so this is our first design for the couch-arm table.
And this is the front view.
These are the sides, and this is the top.
- Okay, that looks good.
- This is the first copy!
And also, after this, we should add polyurethane.
- Mm-hmm, that'd be a good idea.
It would protect the wood from staining.
- It'll also be really smooth,
so it won't snag the couch.
- Let's try this one out.
It looks kind of sketchy.
- Let's see.
- Oh, yeah, that's not going to work.
- So we would need to make this, maybe, a little bit wider?
- Mm-hmm.
- And then it would be more stable on the couch.
- So I started with a dollar-store fan.
And I took it apart and then I built this battery pack
out of dollar-store items, duct tape, and cardboard.
And then, as you can see here in my diagram,
the batteries and the connectors were here,
and then I tried to put the wires in here,
and then the motor and the fan propellers
were connected like this,
but that didn't quite work out, so...
- This is the design of our Stair Stepper.
The whole thing would be made out of aluminum piping,
and this is the attachment.
This is the handle, and it's in a T shape,
so that you can go up and down the stairs both ways.
The rubber basings are just to make it
so that you don't slip or anything.
- After we were done measuring all the pieces,
we got our dad to test it to see
if it would hold his weight on the stairs.
- And then we glued all the pieces together
and we got our mom to test the height
to see if it was a good height.
- I like this design better.
It's our second prototype, and it has walls.
- Yeah, so this way, if you bump your drink,
it won't slide off the edge.
Think that's good?
- Yeah.
- So the sides on this one are way better,
because they're wider, so then it won't be tippy,
and it'll hug the couch better.
- Mm-hmm, totally.
And the walls on this one, too, are way better than the old one,
because this time, we won't knock our drinks off the edge
like we did last time.
- So for this advanced battery pack,
I took the battery pack that came off these Christmas lights
and I clipped the wire,
and then, the wires,
since they stream right to the battery pack,
as you can see in here,
I just took those and connected those
directly to the motor inside this box.
And this clip is connected to the box,
which has the batteries in it.
So you clip it on, and then there you go.
- Ideally, we would like the final model of the Stair Stepper
to be made out of aluminum,
and it would be adjustable, like this,
so it could fit the height of your stairs
and the height of your body.
(bubbling)
(whirring)