MyMachine Global is proud to announce a new and unique international collaboration between MyMachine Flanders (Belgium) and MyMachine Slovenia.
During this academic year the 3 educational levels in Belgium (Kortrijk) and Slovenia (Ljubljana and Nova Gorica) will cooperate both offline and online as one international team with one goal: the making of a working prototype of one common dream machine! Meanwhile they will share ideas, experiences and aspects from their own culture and everyday environment.
What happened so far
On 20 October this unique MyMachine international collaboration started. Pupils from an elementary school in Belgium (De Sprong in Kortrijk) and in Slovenia (Frana Erjavca, Nova Gorica) were pleasantly surprised to welcome higher education students in their classroom.
The Product Design students from Howest University of Applied Sciences (Kortrijk – Belgium) and a team of Engineering students from the University of Ljubljana (Slovenia) and Arts students from the University of Nova Gorica – School of Arts) organized each in their own country a creativity approach to help the children to invent and draw and tinker their very own dream machines.
Then the children could present and explain their own dream machine for their class and choose on each side of the Alps, 3 favourite ideas of dream machines that they want to see build as a working prototype.
This is the video from the creativity approach in Belgium:
This is the video from the creativity approach in Slovenia:
The children in Slovenia and Belgium have chosen their favorite 6 dream machines
Elementary School pupils from Belgium and their peers in Slovenia exchanged their favorite 3 ideas and drawings of each class. The result is a list of 6 ideas of the “BELSLO class”. You can discover these smart inventions below. Soon the children from both countries will select one dream machine that they all want to see build as a working prototype.
- The sleeping machine
Jochen (Boy, 10) made a sleeping machine, especially designed for children like him who have difficulties falling asleep at night. If you cannot sleep, hang the sleep machine over your head. It has a lot of solutions for falling asleep fast and good. This machine can sprinkle magic sleeping salt in your eyes, there are pink clouds passing by that you will naturally close your eyes from and there is sleep music. If this doesn’t work the machine will try its hypnotic sleepy eyes and finally there are sleeping pills. With this machine, you will sleep like a little baby again! - The singing machine
Anouk (Girl, 10) invented a singing machine. This machine is made for children who can’t sing that good but still want to sing as if they were an opera singer or Elza from Frozen!
You enter the singing bubble, where you can choose between all kinds of buttons. Each button represents a different singer, for example Elza.
When you push that button and start to sing in the microphone all the way, outsiders will think that you can sing as beautifully as Elza! With this machine there are no bad singers anymore. From now on you can sing like a nightingale or Mega Mindy?!
- The Zombie machine
Saiko (Boy, 8) designed a zombie machine that makes real zombies, so everyone can have his own security-zombie. The zombie will stand at your doorstep as a piece of decoration, but if necessary he will become alive, protect you and ensure that you’re safe at home. And when you ask your zombie in a friendly way to open the door gate, he will do it, clever!
- The MirrorMakeMe
Nastja (Girl, 8) thinks the everyday morning routine of washing teeth and combing hair is boring and it takes too long. The Magic mirror machine solves that. Once you see your reflection in it, it automatically washes your teeth and combs your hair.
This mirror is activated only when you look at it. It would not be ok if it would brush your teeth and comb your hair every time you walk by it.
- The MagniShrinker
Aleks (Boy, 8) and David (Boy, 8) both want a machine that can adjust objects, people and animals to their favourite size. They combined their ideas and invented a machine that can shrink and magnify at the same time.
The machine has two portals, one of which makes things that you put inside to come out as smaller objects, and the other one makes them bigger. The machine looks like a spider: a smaller spider for the shrinking portal and a bigger one for the enhancing portal.
In between these 2 portals there has to be a trash can, because trash is strictly forbidden in the portals.
- The SSSuperBoots
Multi-functional flying, flame-casting boots are a combination of three dream machines which were first separately invented by Tomas (Boy, 8), Martin (Boy, 8) and Luka (Boy, 8), who then realized, that all ideas together make a machine, that can do all the cool stuff: the super boots machine can make you fly, jump, cast flame and let out stinky green gas while doing all that.
This invention is solving the issue on how to have more fun! It‘s also realizing a wish of the three boys who want to jump the highest, who all have a crazy dream of wanting to fly, followed by a sparkly, smelly spectacle. The Boots can slow down with a push on the button. A battery powers them, but if they get empty, they can be powered by electricity.
Participating schools in Belgium and Slovenia
Elementary school class
- De Sprong Kortrijk – Belgium, class PE 05
- Frana Erjavca Nova Gorica – Slovenië, class 3
Higher education institute
- Howest University of Applied Sciences – Belgium, Bachelor Industrial Product Design (http://www.howest.be)
- University of Ljubljana – Slovenia, Faculty of Engineering (http://www.fs.uni-lj.si/eng/)
- University of Nova Gorica – Slovenia, School of Arts (http://www.ung.si/en/study/school-of-arts/)
Technical middle school
- Provincial Technical Institute Kortrijk
- Technical Middle School Slovenia
