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Assignment
Two
For your second assignment your team is asked
to choose a specific design concept and fabricate/test a functional prototype.
The embodiment of your chosen design should be in the form of detailed
sketches, drawings, an a functional prototype. Your team will present this
design in class and submit a final comprehensive final project report that
encompasses your work for the entire quarter.
Team
Project Presentations
Tuesday, March 9, 2010
Your team will describe your project work in
a 30-minute "podium-style" presentation using Powerpoint slides in the
classroom. Your presentation should include the following elements:
- Introduction of team members
- One sentence project
description
- Statement of problem and user population
affected
- Discussion of interviews with project
suggestors and users
- Statement of need
- Identification and limitations of existing
solutions
- Magnitude of problem addressed by this
project
- Description and analysis of all design
concepts considered
- Description of and rationale for selected
design including its key benefits, comparative advantages over existing
solutions, performance, user testing and acceptance, safety considerations,
etc
- Project visualizations: photographs,
videos, sketches, drawings, models, prototypes
- Device demonstration
- Future work and challenges for continuing
the project, including technical feasibility, engineering difficulty, and
estimated cost of a commercial product
Course staff, your classmates, and others in
attendance will judge your project on its overall design solution and your
presentation on its overall quality and the following metrics:
- Content - what was overall quality
of the information you presented?
- Clarity - did the audience
understand your presentation's content?
- Conciseness - was your presentation
short and to the point?
- Completeness - did you include all
major elements?
- Convincing - did you provide a good
reason for your decisions?
- Creativity - how inventive /
innovative was your design?
More about the
project presentation
Team Project
Report
Due Friday - March 12, 2010 at 5pm
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Your report should include all your
background research, user interaction, evolution of ideas, etc. Your team's
report should be at least 10 pages in length.
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Provide a concise and accurate overview
of preliminary design concepts (at least 3) your team considered to address the
identified problem. Describe the general design objectives, the rationale for
the design concepts selected, how these concepts address a specific project
problem, and features / potential benefits of each of the specific design
concepts. Include any models, mechanical engineering analyses, calculations,
drawings, and sketches you have developed as well as any feedback from
potential users or coaches.
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Comment on the chosen concept's
technical feasibility and engineering difficulty, estimated cost of materials,
and safety considerations.
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Describe the project responsibilities and
how they were divided among team members.
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Assuming this project will be pursued in
ME113 or as directed study, identify future challenges and include a timetable
of major tasks to produce and test a functional prototype.
- Suggested format for your team's Final
Report:
- Cover page - include course
name & year, project title, team name, team member's names, and team
member's photos
- Abstract - one paragraph
summary of objectives, approach taken, and results of the project
- Introduction - problem to be
addressed, problem background
- Objectives - project goals and
rationale
- Design criteria - project
background research, interviews with project suggestors and potential users,
project specifications
- Methods - what did your team do
and why - include prototyping, model building, preliminary testing,
analyses
- Results - discuss specifics of
your design solution such as features, benefits, aesthetics, cost, safety,
reliability, usability, test results, feedback from users, etc.
- Discussion - include challenges
and suggestions to further develop and refine the project
- References - bibliographic
citations
- Acknowledgements - mention
individuals and facilities who helped you
- Appendices - detailed
calculations, testing notes, relevant vendor information, etc. that are
referenced in the main body of the report
In addition to a printed final
report, please submit an electronic copy.
Individual
Reflection
Due Friday - March 12, 2010 at 5pm
Reflect on your class and team experiences.
Each project team member will provide a discussion (one page minimum) of the
design process, what you learned, and what was most valuable to you
individually. Here are some items to address:
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You have spent the past quarter hearing
from different professionals and users, interviewing community members,
brainstorming with your team, doing background research, looking at prior art,
etc. Please comment on the relative value of the different parts of this
process toward your design.
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How did the different interactions in the
class (with users, community members, speakers, professionals, etc.) contribute
to the results of your design? Was any particular interaction especially
rewarding or helpful? Why?
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If you were to go through this process
again, what would you do differently? Was there support from the teaching staff
or course content that was helpful or that you felt was missing? What advice
would you give to future students?
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Other questions you can reflect on can be
found here.
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Learning through
Structured Reflection article
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