Elephantoytus

Jan 29

Written By jenna frye

An 800 lb weeble-wobble toy made for the elephants at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.

elephant pushes trunk against a tire stacking toy

Completion Date
December 2016

Client
National Zoo, Washington DC

Disciplines
Toy design, digital fabrication

Course
Epic Fail at MICA

Through an exciting opportunity with the Smithsonian National Zoo, my students and I got to work on the epic challenge of designing and fabricating an actual toy for 6 Asian elephants.

Our challenge was to design a toy that could withstand the force and weight of an elephant, that would stimulate their critical thinking, encourage socialization and discourage competitive behavior.

Actually, the first thing I remember hearing about the project was “are you interested in making a toy to help elephants make friends?” to which there is only one answer: an enthusiastic YES!

Because this was our first collaboration with the zoo, I made the decision to test the project within a course that was already established, and my EPIC fail class seemed oh so perfect for that. Ultimately, if we went all in and failed gloriously, well... Epic Fail. But that isn’t what happened at all.

We worked through an intuitive engineering process at first, testing 3d printed eggs with weights to see how to get a parabolic object to weeble but not fall down. We sent our design ideas to Amanda at the zoo for feedback and even got a chance to bring our physical prototypes to the zoo for input and a chance to study the environment the toy would live in. This was a great opportunity for our team to practice our design skills of empathy and observation in a real world context. It’s not an exaggeration to say it was life changing.

Watch the elephants play!

two elephants investigate a large tire stacking toy

a toy built for elephants that includes a wooden hemisphere base, steel cone topper, and stacking tires.

elephant uses trunk to move the steel cone of the elephant toy back and forth

There is no such thing as elephant PROOF, only elephant RESISTANT.

group of students and faculty surround the elephant toy inside the zoo

young woman sits inside of the wooden hemisphere of the elephant toy — If it was good enough for Anna, we figured the elephants would like it too.

young artist wearing gloves and safety equipment uses metal grinder to polish the steel cone of the elephant toy — CNC plasma cut pieces were then welded and ground into perfection.

students place large bags of sand inside the elephant toy base — Adding 200 lbs of sand to the toy!

students filling sand bags with sand at the zoo — It takes a village!

Engineering Consultant
Paul Mirel

Elephant Consultant
Amanda Bobyack

Fabrication Consultants
Ryan McKibbin
Kevin Cook
Pete Karis

Student Team
Kristen Brown, Albany Carlson, Amy Carlson, Omar Choudhury, Connor Davenport, Karl Ericksen, Anna Huff, Jessica LaFratta, Kariyma Murphy, AJ Oehm, Erin Rothback

jenna frye

Elephantoytus

An 800 lb weeble-wobble toy made for the elephants at the National Zoo in Washington, DC.

Through an exciting opportunity with the Smithsonian National Zoo, my students and I got to work on the epic challenge of designing and fabricating an actual toy for 6 Asian elephants.

Our challenge was to design a toy that could withstand the force and weight of an elephant, that would stimulate their critical thinking, encourage socialization and discourage competitive behavior.

Actually, the first thing I remember hearing about the project was “are you interested in making a toy to help elephants make friends?” to which there is only one answer: an enthusiastic YES!

Watch the elephants play!

There is no such thing as elephant PROOF, only elephant RESISTANT.

Symmetry & Fracture

Impossible Puzzle

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