Back Pack Bed

This is my March engineering project for my senior year in high school. The idea is that you can bring an entire sleep experience with you inside the accessibility of a simple back pack. It features a pillow, sleeping mattress (backpacking size), and a blanket. You use it by rolling everything out of the backpack, and then laying on top of it with your head inside of the back pack (to simulate a dark room).

You will need the four following things:

1. A back pack (The size determines the size of the rest of your things)

2. A small pillow (small enough to fit inside your backpack comfortably)

3. A blanket (Big enough to cover most of your body, but small enough to easily fit inside the backpack)

4. A small pad to lay on (I used a self inflating backpacking bed roll)

[OPTIONAL]: You will also need:

1. Sewing equipment

2. Velcro

Almost every back pack has an outer pocket to use, and we will use it for this step. All you have to do is put the blanket inside the outer pocket and then roll it up so it fits completely. The space should be tight enough to hold the blanket in without assistance.

[OPTIONAL]: If you really want the blanket to stay in, use the sewing gear and sew it into place at the base of the blanket.

The bed roll is the trickiest part to include. Using the main pocket, put your bed roll inside and make sure it fits. Optimal size is that it is just small enough to fit, but also just big enough to be a tight fit so that it doesn't get pulled out. You want to make sure that when inserting the bed roll, you still have enough room to fit the rest of the pad and enough room so that it can roll out properly.

[OPTIONAL]: If your bed roll is too small and comes out easily, then use some Velcro at the bottom of the bag to Velcro it into place.

This is by far the easiest part. Just slide the pillow into the back of the bag and you're good! The pillow should be small enough to fit inside the bag and have your head rest on it, but big enough to actually feel like a pillow. IMO, the pillow should be free to move around and it will be kept in place by your head anyways.

[OPTIONAL]: If your pillow is moving around too much for your comfort, use some Velcro or sew it into place at the bottom of the bag.

Now you are done! Yippee!