Framing, literally and metaphorically

This week was so hard and so much fun. We did something as a team that I and we are proud of, and we worked really hard to bring it all together. I sorted myself into roles that could be helpful to the team. At the onset, this was helping to "frame" or organization for the week during brainstorming; during the project it was to help build and assemble the frame for the machine.

The most important part of our week was starting early and getting everyone on board. Credit to Jana for organizing, for Sergio for confidently sharing his vision, and for the team being willing to meet on a Monday afternoon nine days in advance of the project presentation. I used my whiteboard skills from my days as a teacher and budding management skills to help translate the interests of the group into functional teams for the week.
Having sub-teams made it easier to stage each part of the process and provide a little bit of autonomy for each - this was crucial for us to take advantage of the different spaces around campus open to us. We would end up coordinating across N51, the Arch shop, CBA, and briefly downtown Boston.

If there was one regret from this division of labor, it is that most people ended up doing things they were already good at - e.g. Jacob and Alex leading the architectural components of the project - instead of learning new systems.  

Framing the build and then building the frame

The Frame Team had to get started pretty early in the week since most other systems depended on having the frame built. We were also responsible for some of the finishing touches, such as the wire management, backing, and base of the structure.

Our team's list of tasks

  1. Acquiring the framing material
  2. Cutting the frame
  3. Printing the corner braces for the cubic frame
  4. Assembling the frame
  5. Measuring, cutting, and designing the base and backing for the machine.

While working on the project, we made slight adjustments based on the needs of the pulley team, including:

You'll see below one happy accident of the project was that the frame dimensions fit perfectly in my extended arms, making it easy(er) to transport from Building 3 to the Media Lab. I self-selected into some of the grunt work required, such as carrying the materials from N51 to Building 3, making our Blick run for materials, and, as mentioned above, carrying the machine.

Here's a link to our team project website