<Creative Design Exhibition Winners Interview>
 
I-Pi (Grand award)
2020-1***** Jungsuyeon
2020-1***** Kim Si-eun
2019-1***** Seo Minkyun
 
1. Please briefly describe your team and the submitted work (product theme, purpose, etc.).
Hello! We are the I-Pi team, winners of the Grand Prize in this Creative Design Festival. We met as a team at Seoul National University's Gongwoo (College of Engineering Outstanding Student Center). We developed 'PlayEye,' a toy for preventing myopia in children. Considering the recent sharp increase in myopia prevalence in children, reaching 75.2% as of 2021, it is crucial for caregivers to actively intervene in preventing vision impairment during the growth stage. Especially, eye exercises are known to be effective in preventing myopia. However, performing eye exercises regularly at home is challenging. To address this, we developed PlayEye, allowing children to enjoy eye exercises as if playing with toys.
 
2. During the Creative Design Exhibition, what was the most challenging part or what part did you consider particularly important?
For this Creative Design Festival entry, we set a special goal to practically solve a society problem. We aimed to think about the engineering technology needed to address the problem and implement it with the engineering knowledge we had learned.
Going beyond the framework of classes where problems were already defined, defining and solving problems directly was a meaningful experience. It took a long time from identifying and defining the problem to finding a solution, and implementing what we considered the optimal solution also required a lot of effort and time.
Despite occasional setbacks and frustrations, we did our best until the end. We are grateful for the good results we achieved in the competition. Above all, I would like to thank my team members who believed in me and joined me when I first proposed the competition 🙂 I think we all made unforgettable memories in college and, more than anything, learned a lot. We will try to tackle a bigger project together in the future.



Image 1: I-Pi
 
One-Room Factory (Excellence award)
2023-1***** Kwak Seungpyo
 
1. Please briefly describe your team and the submitted work (product theme, purpose, etc.).
Hello. We are the One-Room Factory team. Although we have a team name, it was actually an individual project where all design and manufacturing processes were done in mye-room apartment using a 3D printer and a computer, so I decided the team name <One-Room Factory>.
My entry is a mechanically operated pendulum clock that anyone can easily make with just a 3D printer. Mechanical clocks have always fascinated me because they can perform complex functions withly mechanical elements without electronic components. During high school, experimenting with a 3D-printed escapement (timekeeping mechanism) available for free the internet notly helped me understand the principles of clocks but also provided insights into the 3D printing manufacturing process. This project started as a personal interest and hobby, and participating in the Creative Design Exhibition was more of a way to receive feedback the 3D filament cost used for prototyping. However, winning an Excellence Prize was a pleasantly surprising and overwhelming moment.
I think I paid particular attention to the convenience of the product. To make it easier to manufacture, all parts except the weight and the thread attached to the weight were designed to be printed without a support using a 3D printer, and the design considered the tolerances of the 3D printer, eliminating the need for post-processing and adhesives. Also, I thought that people would make itly if the design was unique or good-looking, so I chose the hollow clock type with an opening inside the clock. Unlike other Hollow Clocks that do not have a clock face at all or have a clock face the edge of the clock, the clock face with the time written it floats in the air through gears to make it easier to see the time and was designed to stay true to the concept of hollow. Assembly has also been designed to be as easy as possible so that if you know where each part goes, assembly can be completed within 5 minutes. I hope that the people who create my designs have fun and that at leaste of them becomes interested in mechanical engineering.
 
2. During the Creative Design Exhibition, what was the most challenging part, or what part did you consider particularly important?
One of the most challenging parts was designing the escapement device for the clock. Although I followed the design of the Deadbeat mechanism available the internet, it was still difficult. The escapement is the most crucial device in a clock, regulating the movement of the clock hands at predetermined intervals. The clock worked relatively stable until the booth operation, but there were situations where it stopped aboutce every 15 minutes. I am currently modifying the design and testing the clock to ensure that the escapement operates continuously after the Creative Design Exhibition ends. At the time of posting the internet, I will make sure that the clock does not stop due to design issues.



Image 2: One-Room Factory
 
AFPS (Auto Fit Power Strip) (Honorable Award)
2018-1***** Guseonghyun
2018-1***** Kim Junsu
 
1. Please briefly describe your team and the submitted work (product theme, purpose, etc.).
Our team is AFPS, and we created an auto-adjusting power strip called AFPS. Have you ever experienced the inconvenience of plugging in a cafe because the power strip is under the chair? (Everyone laughs) After feeling such inconvenience, we thought, 'Wouldn't it be very convenient if the multi-tap holes automatically rotated?' This led us to create this product. Additionally, even when plugging in a large plug with a large volume, AFPS allows you to plug the outlet in the desired direction without interference.
 
2. During the Creative Design Exhibition, what was the most challenging part, or what part did you consider particularly important?
Many challenges were encountered, but the most challenging part was ensuring the safety of the product because we used the common voltage of 220V. It was challenging to design the product considering the possibility of tangling, short-circuiting, or breakage due to the rotation of the 220V wires.
To ensure maximum convenience, we tried various things by plugging in with our eyes closed, did some prototyping, and installed guidelines inside the outlet. In that way, we tried to create a user-friendly product. I think we thought it was important to ensure that it could work well in the same environment as thee we actually use. I believe it was essential to constantly explore and test with various people to find more improvement possibilities.



Image 3: AFPS
 
Mechanical BC All Together (Honorable Award)
2017-1***** Yoo Jin
2018-1***** Jung Seunghoon
2018-1***** Kwon Euijin
 
1. Please briefly describe your team and the submitted work (product theme, purpose, etc.).
We created a product that allows users to enjoy various games with a low-cost and small game module. When looking at gaming machines by category, arcade game machines are filled with memories and have analog-like controls, making them popular. However, they are large, expensive, and challenging to find after the scale of arcades reduced post-COVID. Home gaming consoles like Nintendo have limitations as they canly play specific games. Computer games offer various games, but controlling them withly a keyboard and mouse makes it difficult to provide a diverse user experience.
Our product allows users to place the game machine in the way they want, connect it to a computer, and after setting up the modules initially, enjoy various games using buttons, joysticks, and more, similar to using a mouse or keyboard. This bridges the gap between the diverse gaming experience of computers and the analog input of arcade games. With no existing patent, a steady growth in the gaming market, significantly lower prices and smaller sizes compared to existing arcade game machines or Nintendo, we anticipate gaining great popularity among gamers.
 



Image 4: Mechanical BC All Together
 
 
MEch-SSENGER Lee Sangmin