Day Six - Very Functional

We did it. Made from a drawing, raw creative energy, some 1x4 wood, a few bolts and plenty of screws. Today all 4 teams successfully send their rolling body suits from the barn all the way to the bridge. Megan takes her roll suit for a test run.

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Nooi Successful test tun from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

Her run ends smoothly

Campers are tied off so that collaborators can pull the emergency break.

Nooi celebrates a completely successful run.

Nick learns that parachord will not make a great zip-line. To much give.

Team Kablooi was still dealing with handling issues this morning.

While team Panda realized they needed to lock their nuts in place to keep their wheels on.

Nick gears up for his big run.

Nick finds him self mastering the intricacies of his carts handling and comes careening down the hill with amazing confidence and speed.

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Panda Team, Successful Test 5 from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

Team Piki works on a new knee shield and breaking system. They are the only team without a successful run at this point. They refuse to be the team that didn't pull it off and muster up incredible focus for their final push.

Gretchen poses with team Kablooi's rolling suit.

Ana takes a very intentional and controlled run down the road. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/72532809 w=500&h=281]

Kablooi Successful Run from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

Joey goes for a smooth ride down the road. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/72532810 w=500&h=281]

Nooi Successful Run 2 from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

And predictably, after hours of pushing, rapid testing, team conflict and startling flexibility, Noah takes team Piki's fully functional cart for a wildly successful run down the hill.

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Piki Successful Full Run from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

And we celebrate the moment when every team has at least one successful run under their belt.

Bryn, energized by their teams success, takes hold of the steering mechanism and heads down the hill.

The controls are wonky, the strength required is startling but exciting. Bryn eventually gains control.

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Panda Team Successful Run, Bryn from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

And we celebrate.

Yoel is up next to brave the slopes.

He has control, but Josh is still very excited to have an extra way to stop him.

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Panda Team Successful Run, Yoel from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

And we celebrate.

Cameron joins the fray as he rides team Piki's suit down the hill.

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Piki Successful Full Run, Cameron from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

Quietly, in the background, Josh, Oren and Christie has been laboring away at an adult sized chest piece. The adventure looks like to much fun. We use the what the kids built for our arm and leg pieces, and would have used their chest piece, but they were far to small.

Oren prepares for his first run.

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Oren the Collaborator dives down the hill from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

Oren is a little bit larger than any of the kids, so the his breaking system takes a bit more damage than anticipated.

Josh joins the fun.

He stops by the tire swing to invite the kids to watch his run.

It goes incredibly well. The upper speed and control potential on these suits is spectacular. The handling provided by the arm pieces made by Kablooi, and the leg pieces made by Panda are precise.

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Josh's speed run from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

After a long hard day of tinkering and down hill lounging, we play. We swing, we celebrate, we tell stories and we play.

And to end our long and wonderful day we give the Junior Collaborators a spin on the body suits.

Kevin has an amazing time.

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Kevin's Full Run from Tinkering School on Vimeo.

Tomorrow we wrap up, show off to the parents and try and leave Elkus Ranch cleaner than we found it.

It's been an amazing week.