Living Motion

SPRINT BRIEF

You will pick a creature and study how it moves. Then, you will design and build a cardboard robot that copies the creature’s special movement. At the end of the sprint, we will have a Creature Motion Theater.

You will work together to perform with your robots, turning the classroom into a lively habitat full of moving, playful creatures.

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WHAT WE ARE DOING

WHY WE ARE DOING IT

You will learn about creatures and recreate their movements using prototyping techniques combined with electronics

To learn how nature inspires design. By studying how creatures move, you'll explore how we can use those motions to create clever, bio-inspired inventions.

Final Project Expectations

Your design should be inspired by a creature and reflect how it moves in the real world. It will mimic the creature’s unique motion, such as walking, crawling, flying, swimming, or bending.

Your prototype must include moving parts that can be activated manually or electronically to bring your creature to life for the Creature Motion Theater.

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Studio Skills

Collaboration

Concept Development

Lo-Fi Prototyping

Science

Mechanical Movements

Interactivity

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The design process will include these steps:

Lo-Fi Prototyping

؜Precedent Research & Sketching Concept

A good example of signals are "the launch of chatGPT" or "the fall of the iconic tunnel tree redwood" and good examples of drivers would be "artificial intelligence" or "climate change"

Then, identify signals (glimpses of the future we already see today) and drivers (what made the signal possible)

1

2

90 mins

120 mins

Analyze one creature that interests you! Sketch its movement in three frames, then design a second sketch showing how you'd recreate that movement using paper prototyping

Bring your prototype sketch to life by building a cardboard model that recreates your sea creature’s movement using simple materials and mechanisms.

SPRINT STEPS

Week 2

3

؜High Fi Prototyping

4

؜120 mins

Get feedback and improve or do a second model that you could wear

Documentation

؜15 mins

Take a video of your puppet in motion and turn it into a gif

5

Puppet Showcase

15 mins

Showcase your project in a fun and engaging performance.

Week 2-4

Week 7

Week 4-5

Student Example

A precedent is a real-world example or project that you can research to better understand ideas related to your work.

As part of your process, research one creature and analyze how it moves. Focus on how its movement works, what features help it survive, and what makes it an interesting subject to study.

Precedent Research

1.

ACTIVITY MATERIALS

Week 2

Week 11

Pencil

Colored Markers

Laptop/Ipad

Printed Template

Template

You will find all templates under the post, click on each file. You have 2 files in total, one for research and one for the diagrams

Precedent Research

As a group of 3 to 4:

Go to the toolbox folder and you will find a library of various ocean creatures.

Select 1 creature you would like to dive deep into. Then, answer the following questions on a sheet of paper:

What creature did we learn about?
What is this creature's unique ability/ superpower?
How does that unique ability help the creature live in the deep ocean?

1.1

Yes, you can choose a sea creature/organism that is not in the library, but it has to be able to move!

Sketching in design thinking is a quick and visual way to explore, communicate, and develop ideas. It helps designers think through problems, test concepts, and share their thoughts with others—without needing polished drawings. Sketches can be rough, but they’re powerful tools for brainstorming, prototyping, and collaboration.

Sketch how your creature moves by breaking the motion to show how it shifts, bends, flaps, or glides through water. This will help you could recreate that movement using materials.

Sketching Concept

1.2

MATERIALS

؜Template

Sketching Concept

A. Drawing of Movement

Sketch how your sea creature moves by capturing the key changes in its motion across three frames. Focus on showing how the body shifts, bends, flaps, or glides through the water.

2.

~15 mins

Sketching Concept

B. Prototype Sketch

Now think about how you could recreate that movement using materials.

Create a second sketch that shows the parts and components you'd need to bring your creature’s motion to life through prototyping.

Label key elements such as joints, linkages, flexible materials, or any mechanisms you imagine using.

2.

~15 mins

How to Diagram

Use multiple sketches in sequence
Use arrows and text to explain
Use different views (top, side, etc.)

Prototyping is the process of turning your sketches and ideas into physical models that you can test and improve. It starts with drawing your concept, then building simple versions using materials to explore how it moves or works. Prototyping helps you test mechanisms (how parts move or connect) and kinetics (how motion happens), so you can find what works and what needs fixing.

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: SHAPING

Bending

Scoring

Curving

Faceting

Layering

Hinging

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: JOINERY

Brads

Flanges

Brace

Skewer

Bend

Hinge

Slots

Butt Joint

CARDBOARD TECHNIQUES: Mechanism

Scissor lift

Grabbing

Waving

Tentacle

Curving

Fanning

Type to recreate your creature as a cardboard model, replicating it's shape and movement

؜Model Making

2

ACTIVITY MATERIALS

Cardboard

Colored Acetate

Bristol Papers

Zip-ties

Straws

Metal Ruler

Pencil

Markers

Cutting Blade

Masking Tape

Hot Glue Gun

String

Brads

Popsicles and wooden skewers

Model Making

2.

You will first select choose 1-2 mechanisms that your deep sea bot would use to move. Then you will recreate the mechanisms using lo-fi materials.

For example

coiling inspired by the tentacles of Octopi
waving inspired by the tails of Sea Salp
open/close inspired by the grabbing of Jellyfish tentacles
expanding/fanning inspired by the wings of a Bat

*Ensure that the structure does not exactly resemble your chosen deep-sea creature. For example, if your deep sea bot is inspired by a sea plankton, don't create a plankton, but rather, recreate its movement.*

Model Making

Find all the resources for basic prototyping techniques and mechanisms in the toolbox!

Model Making

Examples

Model Making

Examples

Model Making

Examples

Model Making

Examples

Model Making

Examples

Model Making

Examples

Desk Critiques

Group Feedback

Kinds of Feedback

There are three forms of feedback. Understanding these can help us understand the conversations we have with our teams and improve our own ability to react to and use feedback to strengthen our designs.

Reaction-Based

Feedback

Direction-Based

Feedback

Question-based Feedback

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Feedback time!

Teachers are going to move around the class and give feedback to each group!

Make sure you have your research, sketches, and prototype.

High Fi Prototyping (optional)

4.

From the feedback you got work on you model to improve it or make a second one that you could possibly wear!

ATTACHMENT LOCATION

Consider all possible locations and methods of attachment for your wearable enhancement.

Refer to the toolbox to learn different sketching techniques. You will draw many iterations of your design, exploring different ways your concept could look and function. In each sketch, combine the technologies, materials, and design elements you selected, and think about how they work together to express who you are.

Don’t aim for a perfect drawing—this is about experimenting, testing ideas, and refining your thinking. Each sketch should help you learn something new about your design and move it forward.

Think on how one mechanism could become part of a wearable

Document your work!

4.

Record a video of your project moving and turn it into a gif.

Photo of Project

+ Student Name

1

2

3

First Prototype (testing)

Concept Idea

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Sketch

4

Final prototype Video

؜Canva Template for presentation

Puppets Showcase

5.

As a class, bring all your projects together and create a collective performance where you display one wall to showcase your interactive sea creatures in action.

Sync the Movement:
Work together to time your creature’s movement.
Can you create waves or reactions from one side of the wall to the other?
Can some creatures move in sync or in patterns?
Rehearse & Perform:
Practice your performance! You can decide whether it’s triggered by motion, buttons, or played on a loop.
Invite your school community to come and watch the creatures in action.

Living Motion

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