The goal for our third and final team project for Design Studio 1 was to create our own toy for children with disabilities. After going through a process of narrowing down ideas, we came to our final idea of redesigning the popular, hand-held toy, the "Bop-It!" We wanted to redesign this toy for children who have fine motor disabilities, specifically Dyspraxia.

​

The Bop-It is a toy that states commands every few seconds, and the user is required to follow the commands within a short amount of time. There are three commands: “bop it”, “pull it”, and “twist it”. In the middle of the toy there is a button which corresponds with “bop it”. On one side there is a blue oblong knob that you pull when the toy tells you to “pull it”. On the other side there is a yellow grooved knob that you twist when the toy tells you to “twist it”. Once someone reaches 100 in a row, he or she beats the game. The commands start out slow and get faster as the game continues. The commands are given in a random order so you will not know what command will come next.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

To begin the process we started with the redesign of the handles. We decided that the best way to do this was by 3D printing new ones because of the small pieces that have to fit perfectly to the inner core of the Bop-It  body. We used SolidWorks to model these parts. We created our adapted parts so that the knobs would be significantly easier to grab. For the twisty knob we based the design off of a pirate ship wheel/car rim. We made it like this so that the user could put their fingers into the slots between the spokes of the twist knob without having to actually grab the knob. We based the dimensions for the twisty knob on the cut-out that worked best for all of us. For the pull knob we went with an actual handle that can be easily grabbed by the user because of the larger surface. 

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

The next step of the construction of our redesign was to make a stand so that the Bop-It could be used without being held. We first created a base for the object with a 45 degree angle cut so that the Bop-It was angled toward the user. To create this angled cut, we used the horizontal saw. After creating the base, we made three pieces needed for a french cleat. We decided to use a french cleat to hold the Bop-It  because it makes it easy to slide in and out of the stand so that the batteries can be changed when they die. To create the french cleat we sawed one plank of wood at two angles, creating three pieces of wood, two of which are identical. The identical pieces of wood were then attached to the stand, with enough space for the third piece with two diagonal sides to slide between. To attach the two identical pieces, we screwed them into the base after pre-drilling and countersinking holes in these pieces. We countersunk the drill holes so when the screw is in we could fill the hole with wood filler.  We then placed a block at the base of the cleat so the Bop-It would have a place to stop and not slide off the stand.  We then connected the Bop-It  to the third piece of the cleat that slides between the connected identical pieces.

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

​

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

After the stand was complete, we attached it to a flatter square piece of wood with 5 long screws so the stand would not tip over when in use. We added a textured plastic mat to the bottom of the base so the stand would not slide easily while the toy was being played with. Once all those steps were completed, we coated all the wood in our product with a glossy finish. This step not only creates a more attractive finished product, but it will protect the wood from wear and tear with constant use.

​

​