The problem identified in this video was that the bird feeder, placed by Mark Rober, was intended to feed birds that would come into his yard so he could observe them, however, squirrels saw this bird feeder as a new source of food. With each new birdfeeder, the squirrels outsmarted these ‘Squirrel Proof’ devices. Rober wanted to find a way to stop the squirrels from using the birdfeeder as a food source and decided to build a bird feeder obstacle course to deter squirrels. I believe the problem was solved in two ways. The first way being through the obstacle course to make it hard for the squirrels to get to the birdfeeder yielding a reward of walnuts at the finish line. The second solution was the specialized squirrel size picnic table that would release walnuts at a specific time. This solution allowed the squirrels to target this source instead of the birdfeed.

I do not think I would have had the creativity or patience to have built a complete obstacle course for the squirrels. Although it was clever and imaginative, the squirrels were able to bypass the obstacles after trial and error. Instead I would have followed the latter approach in the video of creating a specialized feeder just for the squirrels to eat. Additionally, similar to the launching pad which was pressure activated, I would try to integrate that onto a bird feeder so that instead of launching the squirrel, it would sound a dog bark or growl to scare off the squirrels. I enjoyed seeing how each squirrel reacted and learned how to overcome the challenges present. It was also funny to see the squirrels caught in the Tourist Trap posing for the camera while eating. 

I can see this video relating to the Engineering Proposal Assignment because of the creativity behind it. Our group can choose a problem so common or trivial and find an imaginative solution to describe such as this one. Additionally, this video explains clearly the organization and process of the entire operation. With this information, our group can have more ideas to approach different problems.

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