As the evenings grow longer and the air becomes chillier, the urge to wear masks and share candy with tiny witches and ghouls returns. The Colorado Department of Public Health & Environment advises that we “take kids on an outdoor, distanced treasure hunt to look for candy” and that we “use a plastic slide, cardboard tubes, or plastic pipes to deliver candy from a distance”. All of the methods listed above imply a couple of design requirements: a candy delivery mechanism that can be touch-free on the part of the recipient and one that allows for the deliverers to be distant from the recipient. And despite the suggestions, pipes can clog especially when there are multiple pipes joined together. The ideal candy delivery system can be troubleshot and repaired from the deliverer's side of the system. The system should also lend itself to a properly thematic design which can be integrated with other appropriately spooky decoration.

Starting from these requirements, a design project is born. Project codename: The Claw. Based off of an apparatus from a claw machine arcade game, the claw will deliver candy by traveling down wire to the recipients and releasing the treats without the need for interaction on the part of the recipient. The claw requires 5 watts of electrical power to power the solenoid which keeps the fingers closed tightly around its candy bounty, which will require 2 conductor power cord which can stretch all the way to the delivery target. Here is an animated gif (below) of the project's delivery mechanism.

I know this design is not very technically advanced, but I hope you enjoyed reading about it and that you have a wonderful and safe Halloween. Call CEPD! We can help you design your product per our design process to ensure a quality finished product. -CP

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