CSU Research Competition 2025 Creative Arts and Design trophy
"Hands Holding a Star," is the first-place trophy designed by the team Above and Beyond. This trophy was designed for the first-place winners of the Creative Arts and Design category for 39th annual CSU Student Research Competition. "Hands Holding a Star," was designed and built during the Fall 2024 semester at Cal Poly Humboldt. The inspiration was from the team's idea to encapsulate all of the different art forms. Their design symbolizes an offering of the creative spark. The trophy is comprised of a trapezoidal base, two 3D-printed hands, a dodecahedron, and LED lights that are surrounded by a 3D-printed sphere with the flower of life cut out of it.
Background[edit | edit source]
2025 will mark the 39th annual California State University (CSU) Student Research Competition. This will be the first year the event is held at Cal Poly Humboldt and will be an important showcase for the University as a new Cal Poly. Research teams of both undergraduate and graduate students will compete in one of ten research categories for Best Presentation and will be awarded both a cash prize and a unique trophy. The trophies will be constructed by teams in Engineering 205 from Cal Poly Humboldt making use of the newly constructed and highly anticipated Maker Space. Working with the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, these student designers will construct meaningful trophies specific to each research category.
Design and construction of the trophies will occur in the Fall, 2024 semester as a semester long, group project. The group, Above and Beyond, with team members Isaac Crockett, Chloe Hammond, Chris Larsen-Gould, and Ivan James Sanchez will design and implement the first-place trophies in the Creative Arts and Design research category.
Problem statement[edit | edit source]
The objective of this project is to design, build and test two one-of-a-kind award trophies for the graduate and undergraduate winners of the Creative arts and Design category for the 39th Annual CSU Student Research Competition. The challenge was to design a trophy that represents all of the creative arts. These trophies will showcase Cal Poly Humboldt, it's School of Engineering and Makerspace, and Humboldt County as a whole. These trophies will also stand as a reminder to the winners of all they accomplished during their research.
Criteria[edit | edit source]
The client had seven criteria that were important to consider while designing the first-place trophies. The criteria were weighted from 1-10, with 10 being the highest.
| Criteria | Description | Weight
(1-10) |
|---|---|---|
| Aesthetics | Meets or exceeds an aesthetic level previously approved by the client | 10 |
| Visibility | Able to be seen, and identified by a trophy, on stage by 250 people or more | 9.5 |
| Safety | Meets or exceeds TSA guidelines or USPS shipping requirements | 9 |
| Cost | $500 or less | 8.5 |
| Trophy Lifespan/Durability | Trophy lasts ten years or longer | 8 |
| Weight | 25 lbs or less | 6.5 |
| Ease of Use | All trophy interactions understood in 30 seconds or less | 5.5 |
Prototyping[edit | edit source]
We went through three prototyping phases before reaching the final design and construction procedures. Primarily, a simple prototype was constructed to visualize how the four main components of the trophy would work together and to adjust the size ratios of the various components. This included making a dodecahedron out of small pieces of wood and hands made with gloves and spray foam. The second prototyping phase included a CAD design of the trophy where the four main components were adjusted in size, relation to each other and texture to finalize our design choices. When this CAD design was chosen, a miniature 3D print of the trophy was made to confirm that the team agreed on the sizes and placement of each component. The third and final prototyping phase included construction of the various components to finalize the construction process.
- Prototype gallery
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CAD of final design. Created by: Isaac Crockett -
Cardboard and 3D printed mini prototypes. Image by Chloe Hammond
Final product[edit | edit source]
Hands Holding a Star
The design team Above and Beyond have been chosen to design the winning trophy for the upcoming CSU research competition in the Creative Arts and Design category. Generally, a trophy is symbolic of the field in which the competition has taken place. The design team Above and Beyond put several weeks of careful thought into answering the question, “How does one symbolically represent all of the arts in one trophy?” Individual arts are easily symbolized such as a paintbrush for visual arts, a whisk for culinary arts or a musical note for representing music. However, there isn’t a culturally accepted symbol for all the arts. After much consideration and discussion, we arrived at the idea of a pair of hands holding a star. Much of art is created with the hands, and this image invokes the idea of creating art with the body. The design is representative of an offering to the world, with the hands of the artist offering their work to the collective.
Wooden Base
The wood used for the base is madrone, a native tree in the area of Cal Poly Humboldt. The specific lumber used is from one of the team members’ home and had been set aside as firewood. This lumber was milled in another team member’s wood shop into beautiful pieces of lumber. By utilizing materials at hand and increasing the level of utilization from firewood to gorgeous lumber, the team hopes to respect this need of the client. After consideration, the design team chose to CNC these pieces of lumber to form the trapezoidal base. Getting both a mitered corner and a 100 trapezoidal base to meet perfectly at each edge is a difficult challenge with typical wood working tools such as a table saw. The CNC machine at the new Cal Poly Humboldt Maker Space was critical in cutting these pieces for the base.
3D Printed Hands
The design team Above and Beyond attempted several methods to arrive at a satisfactory CAD image of two hands which would enable 3D printing. A design team member learned a modeling software called Blender to create an image of two hands that enabled detailed movements to position the hands exactly to fit the rest of the design. Many iterations involving where the hands should meet the dodecahedron were considered before arriving at the final choice.
3D Printed Sphere with Flower of Life Geometry
To symbolize a star, the design team Above and Beyond chose to include a sphere with the Flower of Life geometry encased in a dodecahedron. The Flower of Life is a complex image of overlapping circles that form a grid-like pattern of six petaled flowers. This ancient symbol, at least 6,000 years old, has been seen in the art of various ancient cultures around the world. Some of the symbols of this geometric design include the circles and cycles of life, unity, order, protection and are a part of the genre of art known as sacred geometry. Sacred geometry is a second method in which the design team hoped to invoke the culture of Humboldt County into the final design.
Wooden Dodecahedron
In order to integrate the various components of the trophy, the design team chose to create the dodecahedron of the same madrone wood as the base. Getting the pieces of wood cut so that the seams of the dodecahedron meet perfectly meant that the only safe option for cutting these pieces was with the CNC machine. As engineering students, the team appreciated learning the trigonometry for the angle between the twelve faces of the shape, known as the Dihedral angle, which is exactly cos-1 (-1/√5).
Construction[edit | edit source]
"Hands Holding a Star" trophy started with milling madrone logs into boards 16mm thick. This process used both a band saw and chainsaw to cut the logs into board shaped pieces, then the pieces were passed through a planner to flatten and smooth them. A CNC machine was used to cut both the wooden base pieces as well as the wooden dodecahedron pieces. The base was glued together using a 3D printed jig to hold the pieces correctly while the glue dried. The dodecahedron assembly included using two part epoxy to attach the 1/8 inch metal rods to the wooden pieces, then the pentagons were glued together two at a time. Both the wooden base and dodecahedron were sanded down to 220 grit and then finished with a mixture of bee's wax and olive oil. The hands and sphere were both 3D printed and the sphere was sanded and spray painted after printing.
Assembling the trophy components began with the assembly of the electrical components. The wires pass through a small metal conduit connecting the base to the sphere which holds the LED lights. Once the electrical components were soldered together and the wires ran through the conduit, the main trophy components were assembled. The hands are held to the base with bolts that were installed during 3D printing. The dodecahedron is made to fit within the hands and the sphere is attached to the top of the metal conduit. Getting the sphere inside the dodecahedron required that the dodecahedron not be completely glued to leave room for the sphere installation. Once the sphere and electrical components were all properly installed, the final dodecahedron pieces were glued together. The metal plaque was attached to the base and a QR code was added to the bottom of the base.
- Construction Collection
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Madrone Cut Outs -
Computer Numerical Control -
Dodecahedron Assembly
Material List[edit | edit source]
- Madrone Wood
- Double Sided Tape
- Wood Glue
- PLA (Polylactic Acid) Filament
- Stainless Steel Straws
- Human Presence Sensor
- LED Lights
- Rechargeable Battery
Tool List[edit | edit source]
- (CNC) Computer Numerical Control Machine
- 3-D Printer
- Plastic Clamps
- Wood Planer Machine
- Jointer
- Vertical Band Saw Machine
- Shop Vac
- Drill Press
- 5-IN-1 Scrapper Tool
- Sander
- Fusion 360
- Chainsaw
Process Video[edit | edit source]
Here is an inspirational video of team Above and Beyond during their trophy making process.
Bill of materials[edit | edit source]
Here is a list of the cost of all the materials used to make the two first-place trophies. About half of the list is comprised of donated materials.
| Item | Amount | Cost per unit | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spray foam and box of gloves for prototype — Get at Ace Hardware | 1 | USD 21.28 | USD 21.28 |
| Planer blades and sand paper for wooden components — Get at Almquist Lumber | 1 | USD 60.08 | USD 60.08 |
| Shop vac filter (CM Filter) — Get at Ace Hardware | 1 | USD 29.28 | USD 29.28 |
| Human presence sensor (HLK-LD2410S) — Get at Amazon.com | 1 | USD 9.99 | USD 9.99 |
| double sided tape for CnC — Get at Hensel's Ace | 1 | USD 5.03 | USD 5.03 |
| small Boost converter for LED's — Get at Amazon.com | 2 | USD 0.70 | USD 1.40 |
| USB-c Breakout boards — Get at Amazon.com | 1 | USD 8.99 | USD 8.99 |
| Lithium Battery charging modules — Get at Amazon.com | 1 | USD 3.99 | USD 3.99 |
| Boost Buck converters for ESP-32 — Get at Amazon.com | 1 | USD 3.99 | USD 3.99 |
| 2 1/8th inch downcut endmills | 1 | USD 7.59 | USD 7.59 |
| 4 pack stainless steel straws — Get at North Coast Coop | 1 | USD 5.00 | USD 5.00 |
| Madrone wood (Donated) — Measured in board feet | 8 | USD 0.00 | USD 0.00 |
| Electricity in shop (Donated) — Measured in kWh | 13 | USD 0.00 | USD 0.00 |
| Wood Glue (Donated) — Used for assembly | 1 | USD 0.00 | USD 0.00 |
| Wood Scraps (Donated) — Measured in board feet | 5 | USD 0.00 | USD 0.00 |
| Sand Paper (Donated) — Measured by the sheet | 4 | USD 0.00 | USD 0.00 |
| Clamps (Donated) — Per piece | 20 | USD 0.00 | USD 0.00 |
| 3D-Printer Filament (Donated) — Measured in grams | 600 | USD 0.00 | USD 0.00 |
| ESP-32 microcontrollers (Donated) — Per piece | 2 | USD 0.00 | USD 0.00 |
| Grand total | USD 156.62EUR 134.69 <br />GBP 114.33 <br />CAD 194.21 <br />MXN 3,265.53 <br />INR 11,723.01 <br /> | ||
Operation[edit | edit source]
To operate, place trophy on the shelf and admire. To show off the cool interaction, simply walk towards the trophy and watch how it lights up.
Place the trophy on a shelf to display a symbol of your accomplishments.
Walk closer to the trophy to set off the human presence sensor and light up the trophy
Maintenance[edit | edit source]
This trophy is low maintenance. Here is a schedule to keep the trophy looking beautiful.
Maintenance schedule[edit | edit source]
- Daily
- no daily maintenance necessary
- Weekly
- gently dust with clean rag or duster. Charge batteries with USB-c charger as needed.
- Monthly
- clean with a rag and a gentle cleaning solution
- Yearly
- no yearly maintenance required
- Every 4 years
- replace batteries
Conclusion[edit | edit source]
Testing results[edit | edit source]
Several iterations of each components were made before deciding on the final designs.
A strength test was done on a dodecahedron, and it broke when dropped from 1 meter. To reinforce the structure, a new CAD design was made that allowed for the placement of 1/8 inch metal rods inside the wooden structure. This increased the strength of the dodecahedron. We also struggled to get the wooden pieces of the dodecahedron cut with the CNC without any cracks. The madrone wood used had many cracks to work around. After many attempts, we decided to switch to walnut wood that did not contain any cracks and allowed us to CNC them without flaws or weak points.
The wooden base cutting took several tries of adjusting settings on the CNC to get the mitered corners to meet perfectly.
The 3D printed hands went through several versions, trying different 3D printer filaments as well as making adjustments for the metal conduit to pass through them.
the 3D printed sphere took many attempts to properly design in CAD before a final design was chosen. The flower of life geometry does not naturally fit over a sphere shape. Similar to a soccer ball, the hexagons contained in the flower of life leave blank spots around the sphere, which is why typical soccer balls either use a mix of hexagons and other shapes, or simply all pentagons. After some adjusting within ACAD, a design that met our needs was created that filled in the gaps between hexagons.
While assembling the electrical components, several versions of the changing light patterns were tested along with various voltages / light intensities before deciding on the final voltage and color changing pattern.
Discussion[edit | edit source]
During the strength test, we found we needed to reinforce each of the sides to make the dodecahedron stronger.
Lessons learned[edit | edit source]
We learned to split up tasks and to trust the other people on our team. We learned that due to time constraints on the project, sometimes we needed to make adjustments to our plan to remain within the project deadline. These adjustments often were not our first choice, and involved letting go of our expectations and going with plans that could be implemented on schedule.
Next steps[edit | edit source]
The next step of the project is to present the trophies to the client and then attend the award ceremony in the Spring.
Troubleshooting[edit | edit source]
| Problem | Suggestion |
|---|---|
| Lights not working | Charge the batteries over night with a USB-c charger. If this doesn't work and it's been several years, it might be time to replace the batteries. |
| Does not turn on | Make sure the toggle switch is at the "on" position |
| Complex Issues | Contact team Above and Beyond: cl394@humboldt.edu kh19@humboldt.edu igc12@humboldt.edu ibs9@humboldt.edu |
Team[edit | edit source]
The team Above and Beyond is comprised of:
- Isaac Crockett
- Chloe Hammond
- Chris Larsen-Gould
- Ivan Sanchez
References[edit | edit source]
- ↑ Pellis, Stergios. 2022. “Poincaré Dodecahedral Space Solution of The Shape of The Universe.” papers.ssrn (Journal). Accessed 11/23/24. https://ssrn.com/abstract=4316617