Project Icebreaker

Survey Result

Q: What Profession Do You Want To Pursue?

Common Responses:
● Engineer
● Medical field
● Acting
● Musician
● Doesn’t know

Analysis:
It seems that the vast majority of respondents have an interest in STEM and engineering fields.
This benefits our results, as STEM minded students, for the most part, would be able to look at the
integrity and quality of our idea from an engineering perspective. However, the participation of
non-STEM students is useful in seeing the appeal and thoughts of average people for our project.

Analysis:
The notion that a healthy majority of respondents know someone in the science field is helpful in
judging the quality of their responses. Knowing someone in the scientific and engineering field,
these respondents are more likely to be familiar with the steps of creating a product and could
offer more insightful and thoughtful advice in shaping the direction we take our project. It might
have been useful to ask how many people knew someone solely in the engineering field.

Analysis:
This question helps demonstrate the relative obscurity of pykrete, justifying our explanation of
the alloy. This is the result we expected, with the team expecting a lower number of respondents
to know what pykrete is. To market our product, we would need to make a push to explain what
pykrete is and why we have decided to use it for building tools. In a marketing sense, this
obscurity would also work to our advantage, making our product more unique and novel
compared to more conventional tools.

Q: Does a tool made out of what is essentially just ice be cool and fun to use or
would it just be a hassle. Explain.

Common/Notable Responses:
● It would be fun and novel
● Would be too cold
● Some responses assume the handle would be made from pykrete, and think that would
make it a hassle
● It would be a hassle if you live near the equator

Analysis:
The general consensus is that this would be a tool that would be fun to use, a result we expected.
However, it’s clear we didn’t explain this question clearly enough. Many of the respondents
assumed the handle would be made from pykrete and stated that aspect would make it too hard
to use. Our plan is to use a traditional tool handle, but this misunderstanding could have been
avoided with a more detailed explanation of how the pykrete tools would work. This question
may have worked better later in the survey, where our idea would be more fleshed out. Some
responded that it would be too much of a hassle in warmer areas. While the tools are primarily
aimed at colder areas, the tools could be used for temporary fun in warmer climates.

Analysis:
With a near-even split, we would need to work on taking into consideration the people who chose
durability and their concerns. Since pykrete is an ice alloy, it is not incredibly durable, even in
colder environments. A failure of this question is that it doesn’t ask why people would choose one
over the other. That information would be useful for our project and our marketing to address the
concerns of people who selected durability. With the people that selected comfort, we are already
taking that aspect into consideration with our tool handle.

Analysis:
The overwhelming support for modular tools bodes well for our project. For customers in warmer
environments, we could advertise this fact to get their support for the temporary nature of
pykrete. We will continue to pursue this aspect and increase our attention to it due to its increased
popularity over other aspects of our project. We would also need to consider what tool heads we
decide to make, due to the two respondents that inquired about that.

Analysis:
The support for DIY tools helps with the marketability and appeal of our tools. However, it would
be a good idea to figure out why a quarter of respondents are opposed to the idea. That
information is, unfortunately, missing from this question and would be useful in shaping the final
product. It would also have been helpful to figure out the biggest reasons for DIY tools being
popular, as we could have used that information to figure out what aspects of our project to
double down on.

Analysis:
Knowing that most people do not mind waiting for their tool to freeze helps reaffirm what we are
doing. For the marketing of the product, it would be useful to know why 43% of people thought it
would be too much work. It might be a good idea to figure out what mold materials would help the
freezing process quicken, to reduce the total amount of waiting. Asking a follow-up question to
figure out more about this demographic could help alter the direction we take our project in to
make it more universally accessible.

Q: If you traveled to a freezing environment, such as Antarctica, would a tool that

doesn't require many resources be helpful to you? Why?

Common/Notable Responses;
● Yes because:
○ Simplicity
○ Resources in those areas are hard to find
○ The tools wouldn’t melt easily
○ Takes up less space/travel light
● No
○ No reasoning given besides joke answers

Analysis:
The wide consensus for this question was a yes for reasons that we already anticipated.
Simplicity was something that we did not expect people to say, but it is true that these molds and
design itself aren’t extremely complex and wouldn’t be hard to 3D print for instance. Resources
are very scarce and that makes objects that don’t use much into a commodity, all you need is
sawdust and water. In these very cold environments, the tool would last for a very long time and
maintain its shape almost indefinitely, which means that you wouldn’t have to take very much
with you in terms of tools to begin with, allowing you to stock up more on other materials.

Q; Why would or wouldn't you support tools specifically designed to aid scientists
doing research in very cold locations?

Notable/Common Responses:
● Yes, because they are practical and inexpensive for researchers
● I don’t as they should be focused on more important studies
● Would help further our collective knowledge
● It would enhance their innovative capabilities
● Scientists are the backbone of our society and need more support

Analysis:
The general consensus here is yes, most people would support tools designed to aid scientists.
The best reasoning for this would be that their practicality and how inexpensive they are make it
easier for them to research and further our knowledge on less studied locations. It also enhances
their ability to innovate and think up new ideas with the materials that they have at hand.

Q: Where are some other locations that a frozen tool may be helpful? Think of
places with little resources or extremely cold temperatures.

Common Responses:
● Areas with generally cold temperatures on Earth such as Russia, Alaska, or Siberia
● Space
● Third world countries, places where people can’t afford buying normal tools
● Other planets

Analysis:
This is a question where we got similar answers to what we were thinking about in the first place.
Focusing in on areas with cold temperatures where scientists will do research, such as northern
Russia, Alaska, or Antarctica, was our plan to begin with. This could include other planets as well,
such as the Moon and Mars, both of which have very frigid temperatures and can easily keep our
tools frozen, as well as reduce the number of resources brought there. One that we didn’t think of
was third world countries. This would have to be in cold locations sadly as the lack of any
freezer or refrigerator would make it hard to create the tool in the first place, however, it is just a
thought and could easily become something bigger.

Q: Do you know of any metal alloys or composites that can stand up to low
temperatures and stress? If so, please list them.

Notable Responses:
● Steel
● Titanium Steel alloy
● Cobalt
● Carbon Fiber

Analysis:
This question didn’t give too much information other than what we already knew on what
material to make the rod out of. Cobalt alloys are interesting to consider because they have high
wear resistance and corrosion resistance, but other than that the answers were quite generic. We
had many people answer with things along the lines of “I don’t know” due to the question being
pretty specific and not many people having knowledge in such things. Still, it was helpful to see
many people think of carbon fiber first, which is a good material that we should look more into.

Analysis:
We didn’t do a good job clarifying this question in the beginning and only made the “greywater”
change until after a few people responded. This would explain some of the “ew” and “no”
responses that show up. Generally however, a majority of the people said that they wouldn’t be
bothered using something out of greywater, which opens up many possibilities for a recycled use
of this water on other planets where there is little water.

Q: Do you think there would be any problems using a tool made out of pykrete to do
work?

Common Responses:
● Durability
● Slippery while holding
● Time to freeze
● Limited work time
● Strength, as in how well it can do its task, not just its durability
● Melting in warm environments

Analysis:
The problems of durability would be the focus point of the project. Pykrete is quite durable on its
own, being able to withstand bullets, however, if we could add in certain chemicals, we might be
able to make a much more sturdy material. The handle itself is not made out of pykrete, so being
slippery isn’t much of an issue. A good point is brought up in terms of the time to freeze, we will
be talking to our mentors to figure out ways to speed up the freezing speed of water. The limited
work time and melting in warm environments is something that we just have to deal with. We are
focusing specifically on certain locations and types of people to offer the product to, so those
parts aren’t much of an issue in the areas that we are looking at. Strength of the pykrete itself vs,
for instance, steel, would also be something that we have to test side by side to see major
differences.

Q: Would you like to add anything else?

Notable Responses:
● Are you going to break things with a pykrete sledge?
● Pykrete is for buildings not tools
● This is not a very good idea for public use
● Why sawdust?
● Ice based tools may be interesting, but they are simply too unpredictable

Answers:
Yes, hopefully we will be able to break things with a pykrete sledge or at least hammer a nail
with a pykrete hammer. No, pykrete is not only used for buildings, it is just a material. They used
it to create a prototype aircraft carrier in the 1940s. I think that materials can be used for many
things, you just have to be creative. Yes, I agree with the fact that it’s not a great idea for public
use, this is why we are specifically catering it towards scientists, researchers, and engineers.
Sawdust is necessary for the creation of pykrete itself, it strengthens the water turning into ice
and creates the strong material itself. Yes! Ice based tools are extremely interesting, this is why
we are dedicating this entire project into making the tools themselves less unpredictable and
more convenient to use.

Final Thoughts:
The results of this survey were about what we had expected as a whole. Our class came up with
somewhat similar ideas to what we had and even came up with some helpful thoughts that we
didn’t originally have. We probably should have written more information and informed the
people taking our survey about our product a bit better, as it would have given us more concise
results, but we are satisfied with the information that we obtained. Moving forward, we will be
focusing on creating a durable and strong pykrete head that freezes quickly and melts slowly,
with a handle made with a strong metal alloy that can easily withstand the elements. This will all
be targeted towards scientists, engineers, and researchers in extreme low temperature
environments such as Antarctica, other planets, or even space itself in order to help make their
work more convenient and lower the amount of resources and transportation space used.
Updated Demands and Wishes List