My design was infulenced by a couple of things. The first being the guidlines for the compitition, and second taking apart your typical umbrella. needles to say I wanted to make a simple and strong umbrella, that was designed to use 'smart' materials in an effecient manner. The umbrella is made of only 14 seperate pieces of which 10 are the same, and only one is a moving part. The concept of how it works is simple, from the close position you slide the collar down and snap it to the handle. As you do this the spring steel arms slowly deploy giving you protection from the elements. To close slide the collar up and snap it to the spring caps(on the tips of the springs). The materials would be completly recycled. The canopy would be made from 100% recycled poloyester, coming from old umbrellas. The handle,cap,and spring caps would be made from HDPE poloymer, coming form old mike jugs,pop bottles, etc.The springs are made from carbon steel they would be molded into the handle. The real world advantages of the Prodigy would be that it is simple to use,compact,opens at the speed you desire, closes inside out leaving the user and surroundings dry after use,can be made from recycled material and recycled after it's life, the ergonomics allow for comfortable, and easy control in adverse conditoins.

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