The ejection mechanism of these control rods is an important detail to get right, and was a decent candidate for modeling.

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The mechanism is simple, repeatable, and easy to actuate. The concept of pushing them out from below seems like an elegant solution and would reset the room effectively while providing a degree of randomness.

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I think the idea of testing the self-resetting mechanism is a key and very prototypable part of this room. Because the game itself is so clever, the self-resetting aspect could be left by the wayside, so I'm glad you have tackled it!

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The resetting of the core definitely makes sense to sketch model. Without the ability to reset, this game would not be installable at 5Wits, so good job.

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The nuclear core is one of the main parts of this experience. You guys definitely answered the right questions of whether you could get this to self reset and work. I liked your push pin solution. It was nice, clean, and simple.

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The design as modeled may require parts of the mechanism being below the floor level. Perhaps consider a taller core structure or a modified ejection mechanism? A single actuator design saves parts, but may lend itself to jamming. Perhaps consider actuator-per-core solution, despite the increased part count?

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Seeing variations for the different tubes, such as different angles, chamfers, fillets, and the such would have been nice too see if there were other geometries that worked better. The tuning done to make the cylinders fall out at better angles both highlights and solves the geometric difficulty of the task. Alternative geometries could have allowed exploration of launching different tubes different distances which would be nice. The design might have to change to incorporate a fixed resting position for charging if the rod designers do end up incorporating LEDs.

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I definitely appreciate the simplicity and execution of your sketch model. JUstifying this type of pin mechanism is definitely very useful and well-executed! My only comment is that it might be nice to have tested a more autonomous system to get a sense for any actuators and other mechanisms you may use. That is only a minor gripe though, very well done!

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The sketch model looks like it worked great and from your presentation it seemed like you learned a lot about the geometry of the push pins while making it. If you had time, you could've made it look a little bit more like the actual core.

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Great demonstration of the push pin. It worked and even looked like the final model. What would be even greater would be to try and automate this process, so perhaps pushing a button will raise all the push pins and push the rods out. Apart from that, great solution and demonstration.

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