5 ms·

Spin-It: Optimizing Moment of Inertia for Spinnable Objects

Pitarou 12y ago
If they can extend their work to forms that can be reproduced with injection-molding, the asymmetric yo-yos will make an attractive novelty.
- viggity 12y ago
  for some of the simpler shapes they could probably injection mold multiple pieces and weld them together. For the more complicated ones, they could insert the cast weights into the injection molding machine and inject around them.
alexchamberlain 12y ago
Ok, this is cool, but what is the use to Disney of this research?
- darkmighty 12y ago
  Toys. Also as a general research institute being cool probably makes a research project worthy already.
  - JulianMorrison 12y ago
    Possibly also useful for their animatronics in Disney World. I could see it being used to help model a ballroom scene.
- pavlov 12y ago
  It's an application of 3D printing, so it could be monetizable in a hypothetical near future when cheap printers are starting to be common but content is still scarce. E.g. Dad buys a 3D printer, prints customized spinnable toys for all of little Adam's favorite Cars characters. When Mom asks why Dad spent all that money on a stupid printer, Dad can point to Adam playing with his new spinning toys. "Honey, these are unique, you can't make these except by 3D printing. And look, they've got Adam's name embossed on them!"
- damoncali 12y ago
  It's a bit of a stretch to call this research. It's basically an engineering project to develop toys.
  - Stwerp 12y ago
    What then is the research barrier they need to cross? I'm genuinely curious. This seems more "researchy" than a lot of other items I've read (such as optimizing a planar antenna geometry with included matching network et. variants) to me, but I'm perfectly fine with a very blurry engineering/research line.
    - Iftheshoefits 12y ago
      There is "research"--in which one is poring over an existing body of knowledge and possibly "tweaking around the edges" to investigate properties described therein, conducting surveys to gauge response (e.g. "market research"), and the like. This kind of research is a superficial investigation into well-established, well-known subject matter, possibly with an interesting approach or to find a context-specific answer to a question, but not one that fundamentally adds to the body of knowledge. Then there is "research"--in which one is exploring a new, known but unexplored, or a known, previously investigated but complex problem in a novel way with the intent to expose previously unknown properties and add to the body of knowledge. This is the kind of "research", e.g., physicists, mathematicians, and some engineers do. I hazard a guess, without knowing for sure, the parent sees a "barrier" between these two kinds of research, and that he'd place this article in the first category rather than the latter.
      - damoncali 12y ago
        Yup. This is basic engineering as taught early in any mechanical engineering curriculum. That's all I meant. It's still cool and worth while, I just don't see anything that separates it from any other application of basic theory. It's no more research than building a ruby on rails website.
  - snowwrestler 12y ago
- stephencanon 12y ago
  To judge by the number of researchers from Disney Zurich who were on the road giving job talks this spring, it seems that Disney may be asking the same question.
stephencanon 12y ago
I met Emily Whiting (one of the authors) earlier this year; she had a few of the fabricated tops with her at the time and I spent a few minutes playing with them. It should be noted that while these are much easier to spin than un-optimized solids (which don’t spin at all), they are still much, much harder to spin than normal tops. Still, it’s a cool little project.

If they can extend their work to forms that can be reproduced with injection-molding, the asymmetric yo-yos will make an attractive novelty.

viggity 12y ago
for some of the simpler shapes they could probably injection mold multiple pieces and weld them together. For the more complicated ones, they could insert the cast weights into the injection molding machine and inject around them.

alexchamberlain 12y ago

Ok, this is cool, but what is the use to Disney of this research?

darkmighty 12y ago
Toys. Also as a general research institute being cool probably makes a research project worthy already.
- JulianMorrison 12y ago
  Possibly also useful for their animatronics in Disney World. I could see it being used to help model a ballroom scene.
pavlov 12y ago
It's an application of 3D printing, so it could be monetizable in a hypothetical near future when cheap printers are starting to be common but content is still scarce. E.g. Dad buys a 3D printer, prints customized spinnable toys for all of little Adam's favorite Cars characters. When Mom asks why Dad spent all that money on a stupid printer, Dad can point to Adam playing with his new spinning toys. "Honey, these are unique, you can't make these except by 3D printing. And look, they've got Adam's name embossed on them!"
damoncali 12y ago
It's a bit of a stretch to call this research. It's basically an engineering project to develop toys.
- Stwerp 12y ago
  What then is the research barrier they need to cross? I'm genuinely curious. This seems more "researchy" than a lot of other items I've read (such as optimizing a planar antenna geometry with included matching network et. variants) to me, but I'm perfectly fine with a very blurry engineering/research line.
  - Iftheshoefits 12y ago
    There is "research"--in which one is poring over an existing body of knowledge and possibly "tweaking around the edges" to investigate properties described therein, conducting surveys to gauge response (e.g. "market research"), and the like. This kind of research is a superficial investigation into well-established, well-known subject matter, possibly with an interesting approach or to find a context-specific answer to a question, but not one that fundamentally adds to the body of knowledge. Then there is "research"--in which one is exploring a new, known but unexplored, or a known, previously investigated but complex problem in a novel way with the intent to expose previously unknown properties and add to the body of knowledge. This is the kind of "research", e.g., physicists, mathematicians, and some engineers do. I hazard a guess, without knowing for sure, the parent sees a "barrier" between these two kinds of research, and that he'd place this article in the first category rather than the latter.
    - damoncali 12y ago
      Yup. This is basic engineering as taught early in any mechanical engineering curriculum. That's all I meant. It's still cool and worth while, I just don't see anything that separates it from any other application of basic theory. It's no more research than building a ruby on rails website.
- snowwrestler 12y ago
stephencanon 12y ago
To judge by the number of researchers from Disney Zurich who were on the road giving job talks this spring, it seems that Disney may be asking the same question.

stephencanon 12y ago

I met Emily Whiting (one of the authors) earlier this year; she had a few of the fabricated tops with her at the time and I spent a few minutes playing with them. It should be noted that while these are much easier to spin than un-optimized solids (which don’t spin at all), they are still much, much harder to spin than normal tops. Still, it’s a cool little project.