From Prelims 1, we learnt our lessons and added more slides into our powerpoint slide to eliminate the unclarity of our products, Such us a comparison chart on the current market products against our product.
Finally, we passed our Prelims 2, and proceeded to Semi-Finals.
Before Semi-Finals, we went to many different place to scout for our materials, as seen below, and triedo n many different prototype. After 2 futile tries, we finally managed to create a prototype that serves the purpose of our invention.
Below, is a video on how our prototype would work.
After searching what seems like a million shopping malls and markets...
-Lot 1
-Woodlands Civic Centre
-Causeway Point
-North Point
-Chong Bang
-Admiralty Place
-YewTee Point
-Sun Plaza
-Orchard Road
-Sembawang Shopping Centre
Finally, before we moved on to China Town, we found our AWESOME material at Teck Whye, that sure did saved us lots of trouble.
Here are the materials we used for our final prototype.
The button/things inside gives trouble to the user when spoilt.
Velcro Straps on shoes:
Strengths:
Helps children that does not know how to tie shoelace
Tightens, loosens shoes
Easy wearing/removal
Quicker than tying a shoelace
Popular for medical reasons, difficulty bending down, etc.
Weaknesses:
Velcro can stuck unwanted materials in it ( removing them is a messy task )
Does not have the "classic look" (adults hardly wear those shoes)
Loud sounds produced when unstrapping.
Velcro might lose its stickiness.
Softening of plastics.
Lace-amatic: Shoe Lace Tightener:
Strengths: Fast lace tightening, instant knotting & quick shoe removal
Problem: It might drop out if its due to the mischief of friends as they still can pull the knot. Knot might untwist if mechanism is faulty over time.
Quick Snap - Boot fasteners:
Problem:
It is rather troublesome to fasten many tighteners, as every cross between shoelaces must have a tightener.
Nathan Velocity Laces:
Problems:
There will still be some string that are not in used, even if you tuck it in like in the picture, it still might drop and you might still trip and fall.
Moreover, it does not look nice with two strings budging out.
Shoelaces come off easily due to the mischief of friends, poor tying of the shoe or the shoe might not be as tight as the user wants it. Untied shoelaces will cause people to trip and fall and give difficulties to children who does not know how to tie a shoelace yet. People with arthritic fingers will also have difficulty tying shoelaces. It is also very troublesome to the user when his shoelace is untied as when that happens, the person would have to bend down and tie their shoelace again.
Welcome, this is the Main Page for the Shoelace Tightener. Firstly, let's talk about how this idea was "born":
It was a fine Monday afternoon at 1.30p.m. when three good friends, Jia Qi, Yang Zhi and Xin Cheng gathered outside LT3 to discuss about their Projects' Day Competition's idea, we came out with a few ideas before meeting up, mainly: Insect-repellent cum keychain Chair with drawers underneath, Multipurpose pen(with laser ,etc.) Shoelace tightener Sunglasses cum glasses cum goggles
After much contemplation with the ideas, they decided to choose the shoelace tightener because it was the most effective when it comes to solving problems. Insect-repellent would only serve well when one is camping etc and not at basic use, the pros and cons of it was also rather worrying. There also wasn't much need for a keychain to serve as a insect repellent. Chairs with drawers underneath was also not chosen because it would not serve as a good chair cum drawer as it would be bulky and does not serve well to girls, inconvenience in their dressings at times. The multipurpose pen was also not chosen because the ability to make it is rather difficult and the pen would not be compact, which would not really attract any people to want to buy it, for although the functions are good, the size isn't. The sunglasses cum glasses cum goggles was also not accepted because it was out of our budget and hard to make. The market value is also too high to be sold to the people. Thus, the trio chose the idea of shoelace tightener because of how useful it was. Points to support our idea of creating a shoelace tightener was: A shoelace would go off and cause one to trip and fall. would be untied due to the mischief of friends. would make an area place seem messy if they were untied and left lying around. To have a shoelace tightener would also benefit the users by allowing them to adjust the tightness of the shoelace. How was the idea formed?
XinCheng was irritated by the fact that his shoelaces kept coming off or it wasn't tight enough for him and the idea of a shoelace tightener came to his mind, which won over the liking of his two other project partners, Yang Zhi and Jia Qi. The other ideas that were thought of beforehand were immediately washed off and they started working on the design of the shoelace tightener.
The trio came up with an idea that they should invent something that can hold the shoelace so that no matter how hard someone try to pull your shoelace, it would not get untied unless the tightener is removed. The tightener should also adjust the tightness of the shoe for better usage friendliness.
Xin Cheng, who was skilled in art, started drawing all our thoughts into pictures to finalize the design of it, with a bit of editing, the shoelace tightener rough sketch is out!
The trio then went to approach Miss Kala, to be their mentor and their idea was accepted! They then started their journey on creating the shoelace tightener with different idea input, the shoelace tightener would surely be a good invention!
