Ingenuity @ The Hall

The Ingenuity Lab at the Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley, is a drop-in museum program that features rotating engineering design challenges. The Ingenuity Lab builds on the best of tinkering and maker content in science centers and emphasizes the engineering process: design, build, and test.

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Ingenuity and Engineering All Summer Long!

It’s fun to use your ingenuity to solve problems and meet challenges! By approaching things in creative ways, and by applying your own talents and skills, you can discover solutions that are uniquely you.

Open Daily During Summer

Open Daily, June 10–September 10 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. On A Level in Holt Hall (We are located next to the Planetarium)

The Ingenuity Lab will be open every day on the main floor this summer. Join us all week long to tinker with hydraulic machines, build custom moving toys, design your own Artbot, or create a marble run. Check out the schedule of engineering challenges below and get ready for a summer of engineering fun!

Summer 2017 Ingenuity Lab Challenges

June 10–July 2 | Hydraulics—Water-Powered Machines

Have you ever wondered how a crane is able to lift heavy objects or how desk chairs can go up or down at the push of a lever? Come and design innovative hydraulic and pneumatic systems that can lift, push, or pull an object.

*Please note, the Ingenuity Lab will be open 12:00 noon–3:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 10.

July 3–23 | Linkages & Moving Toys

Find your inner engineer and artist by exploring linkages. Use two-dimensional mechanical linkages to prototype mechanisms with specific movements, then design your own animated characters and moving toys.

July 24–August 13 | Circuitry & Artbots

Experiment with engineering and motion as you design, build, and test Artbots. Observe and compare how your motorized contraptions perform as you create surprising and unexpected patterns.

Stop by the Ingenuity Lab Monday–Friday to experiment with circuitry and build your own jitterbots, or visit Saturday–Sunday to design custom LEGO® Artbots.

August 14–September 10 | Marble Machines

Use ramps, lifts, tubes, and jumps to design, build, and test your own creative ball run that allows your marble to get from Point A to Point B, all while following some really cool paths in between.

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Spring Science Days in the Lab: Marble Machines

Science Spring Days at the Lawrence Hall of Science is coming up and the Ingenuity Lab is excited to be open all week Monday-Friday (April 3-7)  from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. During Spring Science Days, the Ingenuity Lab is taking a quick break from the LEGO Artbot Design Challenge and will be switching to a visitor favorite: Marble Machines! Come join us in the lab to design, build, and test your very own marble machine. Customize ramps, lifts, tubes, and jumps to get your marble from Point A to Point B, all while following some really cool paths in between.

Tinker with our Quadrilla marble run set to construct different types of tracks that guide your marble through multi-level steps.

The Explore and Play Area is featuring foam blocks, pipes, and large wooden balls for our youngest engineers to design, build, and test their very own marble machine.

Make sure to come downstairs to the Ingenuity Lab and design, build, and test your own Marble Machine during Spring Science Days at the Lawrence Hall of Science!

Spring Science Day Hours (04/03/17 to 04/07/17): 11 a.m.–4 p.m.

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#LEGOTinkering Reflection

Over the last couple of months, the Ingenuity Lab was busy engaged in #LEGOTinkering and prototyping the new LEGO Artbots engineering design challenge. Throughout the first 2 weekends of the LEGO Artbot design challenge, the Ingenuity Lab team continued to make observations and get feedback from visitors to further prototype and improve the LEGO Artbot enginnering design challenge. Let's explore some of the observations we noticed and changes we have made!

Many visitors used the booklets that offered visual step-by-step instructions to build a base model.  We were glad to see that many visitors were able to follow the booklets to build and get started with a moving LEGO Artbot. The booklets helped to lower the entry point of the activity, provide an inviting starting point, and prevent leaving visitors feeling frustrated. After adding a marker and testing it for their Artbots for the first time, visitors were very interested in figuring out new ways to have the Artbots draw different patterns. There was a lot of modifications made to the base models, which resulted in variations in patterns the Artbot drew. Simple changes, such as changing the speed or changing the location of the marker, made huge differences in the patterns that the Artbot drew. Visitors used some of our suggestions for modifications as inspiration and also came up with new ways to make changes to their Artbots. By the end of each day, all the Artbots were very unique and looked drastically different from the starting base models. We are excited that many visitors embraced the engineering design process by constantly making modifications, re-designing, and re-testing their Artbots.

During the first weekend, we initially put out more battery packs and motors out, which resulted in more visitors in the Lab at once. The Ingenuity Lab team noticed that it was much harder to facilitate the LEGO Artbot design challenge when there were too many visitors in the Lab at once. It led to less materials for every visitor and less facilitation that each visitor was able to receive. We tried to reducing the number of motors and battery packs out and reducing the number of design and build tables to see if it made any differences. By providing a less crowded environment in the Lab, we noticed a much more positive vibe and visitors were able to enjoy the design challenge more. There was enough materials for visitors to make explore with and we were able to provide more facilitation and interact with each visitor.

Make sure to stop by the Ingenuity Lab in March and April to design, build, and test your LEGO Artbot and check out the new Explore and Play Area activity!

Ingenuity Lab Open Hours: Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

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March and April in the Lab: LEGO Artbots

After months of prototyping, the Ingenuity Lab is excited to launch our newest engineering design challenge, LEGO Artbots! Experiment with engineering and motion as you design, build, and test your own LEGO Artbot. Observe and compare how your motorized contraptions perform as you create surprising and unexpected patterns.

To help visitors get started with LEGO Artbots, we designed instruction booklets for five different base models. Once you have built a successful base model, feel free to investigate and explore different ways of how to modify your artbot. For example: Add or remove some LEGO pieces. Change the location of your marker. Try to add a second or a third marker. Create a machine that is using a weight or a gear. Create an artbot that goes in a circle. That is what engineers do too; they try new things and test different materials to come up with creative ways to solve problems.

Younger engineers will be able to design, build, and test their very own Wobblebot, a simpler drawing robot! Explore how changing the location and amount of markers can affect the pattern your Wobblebot draws.

Make sure to stop by the Ingenuity Lab in March and April to try our newest engineering design challenge! Please note that space and materials for the LEGO Artbot design challenge are limited. First come, first serve.

Ingenuity Lab Open Hours: Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.* (Room 175, C-Level)

*The Ingenuity Lab will be open for Spring Science Days (Monday, April 3–Friday, April 7) and will be featuring Marble Machines.

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Members Event: LEGO Artbots

Last Sunday, the Ingenuity Lab hosted a special event for members to test our new and upcoming engineering design challenge – LEGO Artbots. This was the first time we let visitors test this new activity. The event was a great success – everyone really enjoyed the challenge and offered us valuable feedback to make improvements before launching it in March.

After a quick introduction, everyone got to pick a base model and built their own following the instruction booklets. After testing the base models, members started modifying their LEGO Artbots. Some common modifications were adding new LEGO pieces, changing the location of LEGO pieces, changing the location of the 3D pen holder, and adding extra markers. Participants noticed that minor changes to their LEGO Artbots resulted in very different drawings, highlighting the importance to constantly test your LEGO Artbot after making any modifications. We saw a lot of creative and unique LEGO Artbot designs that drew cool patterns.

Initially we were concerned that visitors would struggle getting started and would be overwhelmed by the amount of materials. However, the instruction booklets for the base models were really useful to help visitors get started with a functioning LEGO Artbot. Members offered us other great advice that we will use to further improve the engineering design challenge.

We will be launching the new LEGO Artbots engineering design challenge in the Ingenuity Lab in March. Come and join us to design, build, and test your own LEGO Artbot! 

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Happy National Innovation Day!

Today is National Innovation Day, a day meant to celebrate and encourage everyone to be creative and innovative. It’s a day to celebrate how creativity can lead to new ideas and inventions to solve problems and make the world a better place. Here in the Ingenuity Lab we try to foster creativity through our different engineering design challenge, allowing all visitors to design, build, and test their very own creations.

The Ingenuity Lab team wishes you a Happy National Innovation Day and hopes you will continue to be creative and innovative!

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February in the Lab: Water Engineering with ReNUWIt

Join us in the Ingenuity Lab this February for a water engineering design challenge developed with ReNUWIt (Re-Inventing the Nation's Urban Water Infrastructure). Visitors can design, build, and test their own city that can handle stormwater runoff. Focus on water quantity and quality as you test your city design with storm simulations and pollutants. On certain days, there may also be ReNUWIt experts from UC Berkeley and Stanford University in the Lab to help you! 

For our young engineers, we will be exploring the concepts of permeability and impermeability by testing different roofs for your mini house in the Explore and Play Area.

Can you keep your city from flooding? How can you replenish your city’s groundwater? Is your stormwater runoff clean enough for the pond? Visit us in the Ingenuity Lab to find out!

Ingenuity Lab Open Hours: Saturdays and Sundays 11 a.m.- 4 p.m.* (Room 175, C-Level), Open Presidents Day (Monday, 02/20/17) 11 a.m.- 4 p.m

*Open from 12 a.m.-4 p.m. on Sunday, 02/12/17

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1000 Hours of Service at the Hall

If you have stopped by the Lawrence Hall of Science and Ingenuity Lab before, there’s a good chance you may have seen Mary Thompson before. She is one of our very important volunteer here at the Hall and in the Lab.  From helping visitors in the Ingenuity Lab to doing cart activities to managing inventory, Mary has dedicated her time and effort on a very regular basis here at the Lawrence Hall of Science. Today Mary has achieved an amazing milestone- 1000 hours of volunteer service! Congratulations on this accomplishment and the Lawrence Hall of Science and Ingenuity Lab appreciates all the work you have done!

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Tinkering with LEGO Artbots

Over the past months, the Ingenuity Lab team has been engaged in #LEGOtinkering as we are prototyping LEGO artbots. These are LEGO machines that draw interesting and often unexpected patterns on paper. Visitors will be introduced to engineering and motion as they go through iterative prototyping to build and test LEGO artbots. They observe and compare how their motorized contraptions perform and discuss their design process.

The kit has been developed by the Tinkering Studio at the Exploratorium in collaboration with the LEGO Foundation and LEGO Idea Studio. We are excited to be invited as a group of early testers. 

Make sure to stop by the Ingenuity Lab in March and April and tinker with us to design Lego artbots.

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January in the Lab: Linkages

This January we will be continuing with Linkages in the Ingenuity Lab. Come find your inner engineer and artist by designing, building, and testing your very own linkage! Tinker with two-dimensional mechanical colorful acrylic linkage pieces to explore different movements and design your own moving toy.

Create your very own linkages moving toy using cardboard pieces that you can take home!

The Explore and Play Area is featuring the Rigamajig set, where our younger engineers can build different structures, such as a car.

Ingenuity Lab Open Hours: Saturday and Sundays 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Open on Martin Luther King Jr. Day (01/16/17, Monday) 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.

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How It Works: Marble Machines

Have you wondered how your marble is able to roll from the top of your marble machine all the way to the bottom?  Let’s explore the physics behind how a marble machine works!

Gravity

Marbles roll, jump, and spin through your marble machine with the help of gravity. Gravity pulls your marble down your track and towards the center of the Earth. When an apple falls off a tree, it falls down towards the ground instead of floating in the air because of gravity.

Potential Energy and Kinetic Energy

Potential energy is the stored energy that an object, like a marble, has and increases when an object is further away from the ground (higher up). When you place your marble at the top of the track, it has a lot of potential energy because it is at the highest point of your track.  Kinetic energy is the energy of motion found in an object. As your marble begins to roll down the track, potential energy is quickly converted to kinetic energy. Kinetic energy increases as your marble rolls down the track and decreases as it rolls up a hill. When your marble moves up a hill, some of the kinetic energy is converted back to potential energy (and converted back to kinetic energy when it rolls down a hill again).

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Some fun physics equations to calculate potential energy and kinetic energy:

Potential Energy= Mass x Gravitational constant x Height

Kinetic Energy= ½ x mass x (velocity)^2

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Visit us in the Ingenuity Lab during Winter Weeks to design, build, and test your very own marble machine and see the forces of potential and kinetic energy in motion!

Winter Weeks Hours (12/16/16  to 01/01/17): 11 a.m.–4 p.m. daily

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Winter Weeks in the Lab: Marble Machines

During Winter Weeks, the Ingenuity Lab is taking a quick break from the Linkage Design Challenge and will be switching to a visitor favorite! Come join us in the lab to design, build, and test your very own marble machine. Customize ramps, lifts, tubes, and jumps to get your marble from Point A to Point B, all while following some really cool paths in between.

Tinker with our Quadrilla marble run set to construct different types of tracks that guide your marble through multi-level steps.

The Explore and Play Area is featuring foam blocks, pipes, and large wooden balls for our younger engineers to build their very own marble machine.

Winter Weeks Hours (12/16/16  to 01/01/17):

11 a.m.–4 p.m., Open 10 a.m.–2:30 p.m. on 12/24/16, Closed on 12/25/16

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Ingenuity @ the Hall

Welcome to the Ingenuity Lab’s blog! The Ingenuity Lab at the Lawrence Hall of Science, UC Berkeley is a drop-in museum program that offers rotating engineering design challenges. We invite you to come be an engineer and design, build, and test!

Open Hours: Saturdays and Sundays 11 am to 4 pm in Room 175 (C-level)

*Check for special hours during Winter Weeks and summer!*

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Making and engineering all summer long!

The Ingenuity Lab moved to the Design Quest exhibit for the summer offering daily programming from 10:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. We kicked off our summer program with fun engineering design activities to explore Circuitry. Create simple and complex circuits with our new set of circuit blocks. Turn on a light or a buzzer, make a toy spin, or challenge yourself by connecting a switch or a potentiometer to your circuit. 

Design, build, and test Jitterbots using motors, batteries, wires, weights and other familiar materials. Set your motorized machine off to go and observe as it leaves traces on the paper. Adjust your components to create different designs. 

We hope to see you in the Ingenuity Lab this summer.

For more information about Ingenuity Lab programming visit our website.

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Cardboard Automata in the Ingenuity Lab

This fall we have been focusing on building simple cardboard automata with visitors in the Ingenuity Lab. Automata are fascinating mechanical sculptures: when you turn a handle on the side, an object on the top moves in a certain way. Designing automata is an activity that integrates science, technology, engineering, art, and math. Over the past two months we have seen hundreds of fun, whimsical machines from simple to more complex come to life that often tell fascinating imaginative stories.

The Design Process Visitors drew inspiration from sample designs that showcased different motions. We reminded them to keep it simple and make it interesting. We used accessible materials like cardboard boxes, skewers sticks, and foam circles to make the automata mechanics, as well as cheap consumables and recyclables to create interesting objects for the top. Hot glue guns were used to glue things in place. Visitors worked with a partner to choose and motion and design, built, and test their automata in an iterative process. Making automata is not easy, it takes patience and perseverance, but it is a very rewarding experience once you get it to work. Check out the amazing designs on our Flickr Gallery.

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Spotlight on a Space – Lawrence Hall of Science

As part of our ASTC Community of Practice (CoP) on Making & Tinkering Spaces in Museums, we're hosting a hangout that highlights the Ingenuity Programs and TechHive at the Lawrence Hall of Science.

Thursday, October 2nd at 11PST staff at the Hall will give us a tour of three different maker/tinkering spaces and talk about how those programs have evolved over the past 5 years.

The Ingenuity Lab:  a drop-in lab for visitors of all ages offering rotating engineering design challenges. 

Design Quest: a new 5.000 sq ft exhibit designed and built at the Hall-featuring interactive learning experiences to engage visitors in the design process. 

The TechHive: a new studio space and teen internship program focused on digital media authorship, design, and digital tool development.

Hope to see you Thursday! ~ October 2nd at 11PST ~ To register for the session, go to this URL - https://www4.gotomeeting.com/register/871832087 

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Are you wondering what an ASTC Making & Tinkering CoP hangout is?  It’s a chance to connect online with colleagues working in this arena – and you’re welcome to become a member (to join the CoP, click here).

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Summer of Making in the Ingenuity Studio

The Ingenuity Lab relocated to the exhibit floor and opened as the “Ingenuity Studio” for the summer. Join us this week and engage in fun ways to explore circuitry. Create both simple and complex circuits, and design, build, and test new inventions using motors, buzzers, lights, and movable parts. Design and create your own Jitter Bot or build an electronic game to test how quickly you can respond.

For more information about our summer programs visit our website.