After watching the origami video, I was inspired to use my origami knowledge for this challenge. The first idea that popped into my head was to put the egg in an origami balloon and add extra buffers inside to absorb the impact when the egg falls, like packing peanuts. However, I realized that this method was not practical since 1) the balloon was too small and 2) putting in the extra buffer is difficult. So, I scrapped this idea and moved on.
Parachute Method
Then I started to look into the parachute method. This would help slow down the egg’s fall, therefore lessening the impact. I was just playing around with folding the paper like a fan and then taping the ends together to something like an umbrella. There were multiple other ideas to piggy off of this one, like creating a basket for the egg or maybe even using this as a cushion.
The problem with the basket idea is figuring out how I could create the strings of the parachute. There’s also the problem with the size of the parachute and the weight of the egg. This idea also ended up being scrapped, but I was thinking of saving the fan structure for later, possibly in another experiment.
Balloon + Box Method
I went back to the balloon, but this time decided to use two balloons as a cushion inside a box. This will create a sort of airbag for the egg, so when it lands the balloons can in a way absorb the impact. I cut a 2 slits where the hole of the balloon was, so the egg could sit in the airbag snuggly. However, I was afraid that when I drop it, the balloon will collapse, which means the airbag would’ve been useless.
I knew I didn’t just want to do a box and balloons because the problem with this design is that there are still 4 sides of the egg left unprotected. At this point, I’ve used about 4 pieces of paper, so I tried to add buffer zones on the outside of the box. The idea for this is to create a way where the egg/box never really touches the ground.
My final design ended up looking like this:
To be honest I had a feeling this wouldn’t work, but I wanted to give it a try anyway and see which parts I need to improve on. I underestimated how much 4.5 meters is; it’s a lot higher than I thought! So I had a feeling it wouldn’t work.
Key Takeaways
I feel like I was too ambitious dropping it at 4.5m from the start. I think next time I’ll increase the height each time to see where is the breaking point. The drop was actually a little less than 4.5 meters and my egg wasn’t raw, so this structure is a failure, but not a complete one. It seems like only the head of the egg took most of the damage, while the rest was fine. I’m not sure how it would be like for a raw egg, but with this I am able to pinpoint the parts of my structure that need more improvement.
The balloons weren’t deflated because it landed on the long side of the structure. Since the long side of the box that had no protection besides the tube of paper, there was no doubt that the egg would crack because of that. Therefore, if I want to continue using this design I need to provide more protection for the long sides of the egg on the inside and the outside. My next step is to try to use triangles, since those are strong structures as well.