For this assignment, I needed to think of something with no plastic components that best friends can give to the person who has it all. I thought of a few ways I could interpret this assignment – for instance, if the person already has it all, the best option might be to give him/her something that would facilitate a memorable experience, like a set of concert tickets, instead of yet another material object.

However, I decided to interpret the situation differently to allow for some more straightforward engineering approaches. Since the person already has it all, I decided my solutions should solve smaller, “first world” problems instead of providing meaningful experiences. Every one of my solutions would be useful in an irritating situation that most of us surely encounter at some point in our lives. All of these devices can be made without plastic products, and all could be potential gifts from a best friend.

Sketch 1 is designed to help soften up the ice cream right after it comes out of the freezer. No more waiting around for it to thaw out, just use the device to pummel the ice cream into a nice, soft, tasty form.

Sketch 2 is a helmet with a robotic arm holding a toothbrush. I personally hate brushing my teeth, and I’ve never met a person who liked it, so what better mundane task to eliminate? When brushing your teeth becomes fully automated, you’ll have two extra minutes each night to do something important, like stare at your reflection in the bathroom mirror.

Sketch 3 is a koozie designed to keep your drink at a specified temperature. I personally get annoyed when I get a drink out of the fridge and it starts to get warm if I don’t drink it right away. The device can refrigerate drinks, but it can also be used for hot drinks like tea or coffee.

What problem is more prevalent among people who have it all than physical fitness? Sketch 4 is a must-have for your best friend who desperately wants to get in shape but has never found the determination to exercise. It’s a belt with a cattle prod and a motion sensor designed to give you an electric shock if you stop running. Guaranteed to end any fitness problem you have.

Sketch 5 is useful for anyone who’s been in a dreadfully dull conversation and wanted to give a piece of their mind to the person spewing small talk at them. It’s a smart shirt equipped with microphones (and perhaps some machine learning software) that detects when your conversational partner is boring you to death and displays a brutally honest message.

I decided to further develop the idea of the cattle prod fitness belt since it is relatively small and has few moving parts. I also thought about the ice cream tenderizer, but the fitness belt is just more fun.

Drawing 1:

Drawing 2:

It’s apparent to me (and probably you) that I need more practice with sketching. Believe it or not, the top of the second drawing is actually an attempt at one-point perspective with the point off the left side of the page.

However, this was still a fun assignment. My favorite ideas were the cattle prod fitness belt and the brutally honest shirt.