Kick off & Plan of action BBQ

Today is the first day we start working on the barbecue project. Our mentor explained to us that because we successfully completed our internship we don't have to provide him with all the documents we usually need to hand in. We don't have to hand in a list of requirements or a morphological analysis, or at least we wont be graded on them. It might still be smart to make them. For the project's sake though.

During the kickoff we met a new intern teacher who will guide us during the production of our product. Our teacher noticed how we usually choose to make our products using either a water jet cutter (when we have to cut metal), a 3D printer (for plastic parts) or a laser cutter (for various materials). So he wants us to talk to the intern teacher about more conventional ways of production.

This year I decided to step away from my last-year ideas and think of some new and less complicated concepts.

A few days ago I went to a friend of mine and he told me that he was planning to go backpacking with his girlfriend during the summer. He told me he was gathering all the equipment and showed me the list he made. He told me about how he would arrange things regarding food and water and also that it wouldn't be possible to cook big meals during his trip. He would have to cook simple dried foods on a campfire which he would ignite with a firesteel. During our conversation I told him about "project BBQ" and how we had to design one for school. I also told him I hadn't really settled on a subject yet. I showed him some of my ideas from last year and at one point we talked about making a light and portable BBQ to take on hike's. He liked the idea but quite soon we came to the conclusion that no-one would bring a bag of coals with them during a walk. You need the space in your backpack for more important things. Besides that, coals can be quite heavy. After some more conversation on the subject we talked about how it can take a while to make a fire using a firesteel and how you would have to gather wood to make a campfire. I asked him if it would be helpful to make something for backpackers which will speed up the process of heating up the wood and actually starting a hot fire to cook on. I told him I was thinking of something similar to a coal starter, one you can also cook on. He told me that would be very helpful but it had to be as light as possible, as compact as possible and it had to be easy to ignite it with a firesteel. My brain started storming with ideas and after I got home I immediately started working on it.

I will soon post my first sketches of the idea. Stay tuned.

I also made a plan of action for this project, you can find it here. Mind you, it's entirely written in Dutch.