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NATE: I'm Nate from Design Squad,
and today I'm working with Hannah.
I am 11 years old
and I love building and making stuff.
Today Nate and I are working on an invention.
NATE: Hannah and and I have started talking
about the problem of whale entanglement.
Lots of whales, especially blue whales,
humpback whales, and gray whales,
have been getting entangled in the ropes of crab pots.
Check it out.
This is a video from the Timmy Boy.
It's a crab fishing boat that sails out of Newport, Oregon,
which is where I grew up.
Bob is a crab fisherman.
This is how fishing crews used pots to trap crabs
at the bottom of the ocean.
Lobsters are also trapped this way.
A rope runs from the float to the crab pot.
The float allows the crew to find the crab pot
and grab the rope.
The problem is that the whales can get tangled in the ropes.
If we could get rid of the ropes,
whales would be much safer.
I have a couple ideas.
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I'm thinking about inventing something
to hold the rope and float under the water.
The rope and float would be held in place by a hook.
After the crabs have been trapped,
the hook would let go of the rope and the float,
and then they would rise up to the surface
so the crab pot could be put in the boat.
With this idea, whales wouldn't get tangled in the ropes
because the ropes and floats would be held in place
underwater by the hook until they're needed.
Today we're working on a prototype.
It's like a rough draft
to test the basic idea for a whale-saving crab pot.
So, show me what you've done so far.
Well, I realized that my whale-saving crab pot
will need to work underwater.
So I found a food storage container that's watertight,
and the hook needs to turn to release the float.
So inside the container, I'm going to put a servo,
which is a motor that can be commanded to turn
and stop at certain positions,
a battery that will power the servo,
and a controller that will control the servo
by sending it commands.
I'm also going to use a small shaft that will turn the hook
to release the rope and float.
It will stick through the lid of the container.
I attached the shaft to the servo with a special part
that I designed and printed on a 3D printer.
I also designed and 3D printed another special part
to attach the servo to the lid of the container.
The next thing I needed was some plastic
to keep everything together, and that's where I'm at now.
I have some safety glasses for you to wear
while we're machining.
These plastic pieces were cut from a kitchen cutting board,
which was rough, but we need a smooth surface
so that the parts will form a watertight seal.
To make the pieces smooth, we're using a milling machine.
(machine whirring)
This operation we're doing is called facing.
We're just making a nice level flat surface.
It's definitely like mowing your lawn
because you're going back and forth.
Vroom!
NATE: Feel that surface, let me know what you think.
Smoother than earlier?
- Yes. - That's what we want.
So, what are we doing next?
Well is squishing goopy stuff on other things fun?
- Yes! - Okay, good.
HANNAH: Oh, this is fun.
The goop that we're talking about is a special glue.
NATE: We should start with these screws here.
HANNAH: We're gonna put the cables and stuff inside
and test it out in water.
We want to make sure the flag keeps spinning,
showing us the electronics are working.
Okay, down you go.
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HANNAH: Yes! NATE: It's working!
HANNAH: It's working! NATE: Oh, good.
HANNAH: Yes!
Nice job, partner.
Our next step is to make the release hook attached
to our spinny mechanism.
Right now, I am reproducing this hook design in the computer
so that I can 3D print it.
I've got to put a couple of holes through here.
I'm hoping that you could drill those holes with the mill.
HANNAH: Yeah.
(drill whirring)
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NATE: Awesome.
Nice.
We're gonna give it the directions
using this programming language.
Is it supposed to be plugged in?
NATE: (laughs) Maybe.
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NATE: There, okay, good.
Yes! It works! (Nate chuckles)
Let's take it to the pool.
- Yes!
HANNAH: This bottle will act as a float.
I really hope this works.
NATE: The rope and float are being held in place by this hook
that's attached to the server.
I've programmed the controller
to turn the servo after a minute,
which will give me time to get to the bottom of the pool.
When the servo turns, the hook will turn
and it will release the rope and float.
(water burbling)
(laughs) We did it!
It worked!
Our invention worked.
- I'm so glad it did. - Me too.
Next, I'm going to redesign this
so it can be submerged in salt water for a long time.
And I'm going to add a remote control
so the fishing crew can control
when the hook releases the rope and float.
What do you think of inventing stuff?
I think it's super fun. I really love this.
NATE: Should we do it again sometime on another project?
HANNAH: Definitely.
In fact, you can invent stuff without me around.
You can come use tools, you know what to do.