Office breaktime kit by danielkschneider

Last crawled date: 3 years ago

The OBTK (Office Breaktime Kit) provides you with a construction toolkit that will turn idle time into a break that will improve productivity right after. It also allows organizing social activities and it therefore can contribute to team building if that is permitted and/or feasible under cover in your organization. You also can encourage trading and competition: Who can come up with a new toy / engine / exhibit or design a sliding game (tip: use whiteboard markers on your desk) ? Finally, squezzy elements can be used to prevent wrist tendinitis.
According to old-style management literature, most folks seem to "spend time inappropriately" at work, on a daily basis. Surfing on the Internet (either using work computers or private cell phones) seems to be most popular. Others rather defend the idea that workers need breaktime. In today's IT-intensive environments, idling on the Internet (e.g. worrying about FB status, new job opportunities and such) is not a good idea. Breaktime should be used to do something that is relaxing, fun and rather physical. Idle time should clear the mind, not clog it !
There are 6 elements which can be combined into various objects
a half sphere with a hole, can also sit upside down
an asymmetric wheel, can be used as support for a ball
a beam with 4 + 3 holes, for constructing engines
a short stick rounded on one side, for gluing, tip, and as handle
a long stick rounded on one side, for gluing and as tip/handle
a long stick that is thinner in the middle, i.e. an axle for the wheels
From these 6 elements people at your workplace can assemble various devices like spinning tops, table curling stones, bowling balls and pins, yoyos, wheels of fortune, racing cars, and more. Alternatively, they also could create stunning works of art (e.g. a black apple sandwich with a raspberry filling). This kit is also suitable for kids of an age where they stop swallowing little sticks.
The idea for creating this set came to me by "accident" after playing around with Arnitel (a very strong flexible filament) of which I bought a roll 2 years ago but had forgotten about (see http://edutechwiki.unige.ch/en/Arnitel for some information). I started playing with creating a squeezy half sphere and then wanted to make something that would allow playing with it. Since I also teach a bit of 3D printing and since it's always nice to be able to justify time spent on 3D printing in my office, I came up with the challenge of create a minimalist (but hopefully successful) construction kit that would allow to create cool little devices from just a few elements. Once I was done, I remembered that as a kid I played with "Matador" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matador_(toy)).