LightRacers
We are a lab dedicated to the exploration of creative design with an emphasis on entertainment and aesthetics.
Over the past few years, the MIT Toy Lab has grown in both research scope and membership. The MIT Toy Lab consists of: Professor David Wallace, Lindy Liggett, Geoff Tsai, James Penn on the research side. The teaching side of the toy lab is posted here.
The MIT Toy Lab was founded in 2004 by Professor Barry Kudrowitz, Professor David Wallace, and Bill Fienup, with research funding provided by Hasbro Inc. The initial project of the Toy Lab involved developing new concepts for Nerf™ and Supersoaker® brand products. The Nerf Atom Blaster, a variant of a toy developed in this lab, is now currently on the market.
Past Members Include: Sunyoung Kim (SM '09, Nerf), Monica Rush (SM '09, Creativity), Serena Graziosi (Visiting Researcher from Universita Politecnica della Marche, '09), Marlous Nacken (Visiting Researcher from TU Delft, '08), Andrew Hurwich (BSME '08), Jake Muhleman (BSME '08) Paul Fathallah (MSME '08), Bill Fienup (MSME '05), Alan Skaggs (MSME '06), Andrew Greenhut (BSME '06), Matthew Blanco (BSME '07)
Honorary Members: Andrew Carvey (MSME '07), Chandler Hatton (BSME '06), Ethan Crumlin (PhD), Mika Tomczak (MSME '08), Sittha Sukkasi (Phd), Jessica Vechicul (MSME '07), Keiko Poodle
Toy Product Design 2.00b is a hands-on project-based design course offered in the Spring semester. This course is an introduction to the product design process with a focus on designing for play and entertainment. In this course, students work in small teams of 5-6 members to design and prototype new toys. Students work closely with a local sponsor, an elementary school, and experienced mentors on a themed toy design project. Students will be introduced to the product development process, including: determining customer needs; brainstorming; estimation; sketching; graphic design; industrial design drawing; sketch modeling; concept development; design aesthetics; detailed design; prototyping; and written, visual, and oral communication. At the end of the course, students present their toy products at the Playsentations to toy designers, engineers, elementary school children and the MIT community.
Joining Team Hedgehog for 2013 2.00b Toy Product Design I helped create the LightRacer. This Tron inspired toy aims to bring the exciting game of light cycles from the silver screen onto your family room floor.
Each remotely controlled vehicle has two independently driven wheels. These allow for extreme maneuverability. LEDs are embedded along the spine of the vehicle and serve to indicate the number of lives remaining for each lightracer. The tail ends in a UV LED that can activate the coating on the play surface tiles leaving luminescent light trails. A light sensor mounted under the nose of each lightracer can detect when it crosses one of these trails.
There are multiple games that can be played with several selectable vehicle modes. The classic Tron inspired game works similarly to the inspirational light cycle video game. Players pilot their lightcycles around the arena trying to get their opponents to cross a light trail. When this happens the light sensor deactivates a spinal LED and renders the vehicle inoperable for a temporary period of time. Once all LEDs along the spine have been extinguished the lightracer is deactivated until it can be reset. The last man standing wins.
Awards
Best Toy, 2013 Playsentations