One thing that can sometimes be a challenge is improving the organization of various objects because it can seem dull and boring. But, there are ways to make this activity more interesting, fun, and engaging. One way that works with plush toys is for each of them to have jobs and pay rent to their “toybox” like you would pay rent for an apartment. Then the money is there to pay for improvements, so why not?
So, now that the motivation is there, the question comes down to, how do you do the improvements? What kinds of improvements should be made?
The first improvement relates to, well, the plush toys all having jobs. If they all have jobs, chances are each of them are going to want to get out of the toybox more to work, play, or otherwise. Alas, when this happens in a disorganized toybox, the result is… virtual chaos. Everyone is bumping off of everyone else when one scrambles to get out to the “door,” the top of the toybox. Then if one wants to be able to get out quickly, they must make sure they sit at the top of the toybox, not the bottom.
The traditional layout of an apartment looks something like this. There is ample room for multiple hallways, stairs, elevators, even a utility closet. Depending on the layout of a particular building, there may be common areas for bathrooms and lockers, or these any be included in each individual room.
But, there are very simple improvements that can be made to solve this problem. At the very minimum is the construction of separate “floors.”
The goal, succinctly stated in technical terms, is to minimize the number of different combinations of unordered objects within a single partition. The most robust way to achieve this is to build smaller partitions that will guarantee that objects will stay in their assigned locations.
One tradeoff in making such changes is the “population density” of the toybox. Methods that effectively increase the space around plush toys will decrease the population density, which means a toybox will probably need to be expanded with more interior space.
Another particular problem is that not all plush toys are the same size. In the human world, this is largely not a problem since humans have ample space in their rooms such that the differences are negligible. But again, this can also come at a considerable expense if it means greatly expanding the interior space of a toybox.
Here is a ranking of methods for improving the ability of plush toys to enter and exit the toybox, from cheapest and easiest to construct, to most expensive and most difficult to construct.
First method: Use separate 11 x 11 inch bags for separate floors. Each floor is about 2.4 inches tall. For a 12 x 15.5 x 12 inch toybox dominated small 5-inch tall plush toys, 5-10 such plush toys can live on one floor, maybe somewhere closer to 20 if you can fit two bags on one floor. For simplicity, suppose there are 50 plush toys in a toybox, and we assume 10 plush toys can live on one floor, then such a toybox can be seen like a 5-story apartment building. Likewise, this makes navigation much easier for picking a random plush toy: (1) pick one out of the 5 bags, (2) pick one out of the 10/20 plush toys in the bag, looking through the easy to see transparent bag. The width, height, and depth of such “floor” constructions is also comparable to the standard dimensions for a 2.5 inch thick ream of 500 sheets of 8.5 x 11 inch printer paper.
The use of separate bags for each floor also allows for exceptions to the standard dimensions with ease. Taller plush toys that must span multiple floors can simple sit outside the bags, and the bags can simply bend and flex as needed for the non-regular layout.
Second method: Rather than using bags for floors, each floor can be a grid layout of buttoned pouches. This allows for specific, labeled rooms for each plush toy. The disadvantage, of course, is that for plush toys that are tall enough to require spanning multiple floors, special such spaces must be built.
Other considerations for the bags or partitions. Generally you’re going to want a soft material that will not rub or scratch. Plastics with low coefficients of friction are good for this, such as low-density polyethylene (LDPE) and polyethylene terephthalate (PET) work well for this. Cotton cloth can also be used. The advantage is that it allows air through and is not a suffocation hazard, the disadvantage is that it is opaque. Also, there are multiple ways to build the button fastener on the pouches: plastic sewn buttons, metal snap-on buttons, cardboard tabs, etc. Again, one consideration is to set up the construction proper so that scratches are not a hazard.
Additional Enhancements
Beyond simply enhancing the navigation inside the existing toybox, the toybox can also be expanded. Why not double the height vertically? While we’re at it, we can also decorate the outside and make it look a lot more sophisticated, like a tall glass skyscraper, a nice homey front entrance, and fancy interior decor that can be seen through the amply available external windows. With a toybox this big, there ought to be double front doors at the least, maybe even a row of 4 doors at the front.
Additionally, you can see there are potted plants in the hallways, and someone’s got to water them since they’re owned by the administration, so that means more jobs. And janitors, facilities maintenance for the fire alarm system, illuminated exit signs, hallway lights with battery backup, RFID keycard security system, maybe even surveillance cameras.
Oh yeah, but the security system, that costs extra.
This is the simplest to implement electronically: Individual rooms, one “tactile switch” style sensor in the floor of each room as an “occupancy sensor.” This should be light-touch so that plush toys weighing 1 ounce or less can activate it by their own weight, and it could even be built out of aluminum foil and paper. Connect each such switch to a microcontroller, which can then connect to the computer network, via Ethernet or Wi-Fi. Additionally, there may be an intermediate microcontroller communications network such as RS-485, Zigbee, etc. between the microcontroller and the computer network, mainly as a cost-saving implementation. Unfortunately, although this is electronically simple to implement, it requires the most expensive room construction up-front.
This is the most expensive to implement electronically: individual RFIDs for each plush toy as their “keycard” access. This does not require individually built-out rooms, so it is cheaper to construct, but the required electronics are more expensive.
Internet access. Wired access works best with full built out rooms, otherwise it’s only available for those who are positioned at the exterior walls or otherwise special interior locations with wired access. Or, if people just run wires any which way they please in the open space, but this can contribute to a greater mess for everyone. Otherwise, wireless works best if anyone can be anywhere because there are not well-defined rooms.
Actual surveillance cameras are still pretty expensive for toy land, although the prices have gone down considerably. Maybe only one actual camera for the entire toybox.
What is not included
What’s not included?
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HVAC and gas. A “smart thermostat” is as much toybox needs under most circumstances. It monitors the temperature and humidity conditions and sends out an alarm if conditions are out of bounds. Typically, it’s not necessary if the external environment is already climate controlled. No need for active heating, air conditioning, and humidity control. And no need for ventilation since plush toys don’t actually breathe.
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Water, sewage, bathrooms.
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Lighting fixtures. These could be installed as orange LEDs inside the toybox to help illuminate the interior better when opening it up, but typically this is not needed since there is sufficient light simply by opening the toybox.
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Electricity.
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Recycling and garbage removal services.
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Internal mail distribution.
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Lockers.
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Cafeteria.
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Vehicle parking.
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Active landscaping services, i.e. lawnmowing, snow removal.
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Garden.