2022
For an amusement park engineering class in High School, I build what I named "Darwin's Brainchild" AKA the Natural Selector (I thought I was clever at the time). It was designed to take the humans inside at (10 Gs) thus lifting them up via centripetal acceleration.
This project started with various calculations. I started with one major design goal, to have the ball bearing passenger reach 10Gs of acceleration during top speed of the ride. From there I calculated voltage, current, and gear ratios. I ended up going with a planetary gear box that I 3D printed myself to reach the appropriate gearing. Was this the best choice for gear reduction? TBH, I'm not sure, but it definitely taught me the most out of all of the options. Implementing things (even if they seem straightforward in theory) is always always fraught with peril, is what I learned.