🎓 Ages 15–18 · Grades 9–12 · Engineering Design

ProtoForge

Engineering is choosing under constraints — and there’s a logic to picking well. Here you read a real design challenge, predict the best option, and see the reasoning worked out — no jargon, no lectures, nothing sent anywhere.

The Design Bench ★ the main event

Read a real challenge — a drone frame, a load-bearing cable, a phone’s battery-vs-thinness — predict the best design under its constraints, judge which options are genuine trade-offs, or check the factor of safety, then see the worked-out answer and why. A pure engine scores every option, so the reasoning is exact.

Open the Design Bench →

Who you’ll meet

Not mascots — everyday engineers, each one showing a single design idea in action. You’ll run into them at the Design Bench.

  • Cade — optimizes a design against a weighted objective
  • Rhea — shows how the winner changes when the weights change
  • Tori — filters out designs that break a hard constraint
  • Bex — spots the dominated option no one should pick
  • Dagny — maps the Pareto frontier — the real trade-offs
  • Iggy — checks the factor of safety before it ships
  • Mala — catches the under-designed part that’s too close to the edge
  • Sy — filters feasibility FIRST, then optimizes
  • Dov — knows a trade-off can’t be erased, only chosen
  • Enzo — the mentor — sets the challenge, works the numbers, guides reflection

Check what you know

Sixteen short kits — from the design process to constraints, trade-offs, materials, and testing — anchored to the engineering-design standards. Hints when you want them; your progress stays on this device.

1. What Is Engineering Design? the design process · 25 questions 2. Define the Problem criteria & constraints · 25 questions 3. Requirements & Specifications measurable specifications · 25 questions 4. Concept Selection brainstorm & choose among concepts · 25 questions 5. Trade-offs & Optimization balance competing criteria · 25 questions 6. Modeling & Prototyping model before you build · 25 questions 7. Testing & Data test + collect data · 25 questions 8. Failure Analysis why it broke · 25 questions 9. Iteration & Redesign improve + retest · 25 questions 10. Materials & Tolerances pick materials to spec · 25 questions 11. Forces & Loads structures: stress & load paths · 25 questions 12. Energy & Efficiency systems: energy + efficiency · 25 questions 13. Cost & Budget design within budget · 25 questions 14. Systems & Interfaces parts must fit + work together · 25 questions 15. Human Factors & Sustainability users + environment · 25 questions 16. Design Challenge Capstone design + defend under constraints · 25 questions

How it works

ProtoForge is written to trust you — it’s about the reasoning, not memorizing terms, and a wrong prediction is just a place to learn. There’s no single "best" design, only best-for-a-purpose. Your progress is saved only on this device: no accounts, nothing sent anywhere.