Circuit Science
Circuit Science is part of KiwiCo’s Kiwi Crate line. The Kiwi Crate line is a STEAM-based subscription line designed specifically for children ages 5-8.
Circuit Science was one of the first projects that I worked on at KiwiCo. This crate aims to introduce the concept of an electric circuit in an engaging and unique way. First, kids build a light up lantern with a custom lampshade. Next, they build an Electric bowler game that acts as a switch. When all three ball bearings fall into their individual holes, they complete the lantern’s circuit and the LED lights up.
One of the unique design challenges that this project presented was getting the steel ball bearings to reliably conduct electricity. Most ball bearings are manufactured with a healthy coating of grease. In our case, the grease acted as an insulator which meant it had to be removed, but degreasing caused corrosion issues. Even when testing with degreased and polished bearings, the lack of contact area between the spherical surfaces caused reliability issues to persist.
I determined that including a small scouring pad would solve all of these problems. We instructed kids to scratch up the surface of the bearings before playing. Scratching removed grease and rust while simultaneously increasing surface contact. The scouring pad solution fixed the reliability issues and ultimately lead the project to success.