Weekly Progress Reports (see sidebar), the Gantt chart, and this Project Management page should be printed out before meetings with the sponsor and instructor.
All team members should be able to explain all items on the progress report.
Place a "*" at the beginning of the title of the active week Progress Report (see * in sidebar).
Overview of Project Context
The sponsor is a consumer with a need for a versatile car cart that could be used at locations (grocery store, park, beach, etc.) and stored in trunk of car to increase the efficiency of packing and unpacking to and from the car. The car cart is limited to consumers with none to a few step of stairs from home to garage. The car cart is designed to fit into either the trunk of a 2010 Toyota Prius or 2005 Toyota Sienna Minivan which the sponsor currently owns. With the car cart, packing trips could be done more efficiently and limit the multiple trips to unpack one’s trunk. An efficient family should own two of these carts, one for grocery and another for outdoor vacations.
Project Objectives
Concisely list and prioritize the project objectives and constraints
High Priority Objectives
A prototype that will fit in trunk of either car.
Second Priority Objectives
Optimization of wheel design (currently considering design of drop down wheels similar to ambulance gurney)
Test different constraints between different types of materials.
Optimize adaptability of design.
Other Constraints and Issues
Consider weight of entire cart and adjust to reasonable weight one can lift.
Design for solution to store dirty wheels of cart in trunk.
Consider addition of brake to lock cart in place when parked uphill.
Consider manufacturability of cart,
WOW Design Solution
Design a car cart that is a replica of the owner’s car.
An addition of a baby seat.
Risk Reduction Objectives
The design of the drop down wheels are currently the biggest concern for the sponsor.
Intermediate Milestones
Deciding on an ideal wheel design for the car cart.
Confirm that car cart fits within trunk of either car.
Individual Component Analysis Topics
The individual component analysis is part of the risk reduction effort. Each student will select a component of the project to investigate. Common topics are evaluation of a component that the team would likely have to purchase during the project. Other components may be evaluations of different software or analytical methods to use. List component topics below:
Back bar slider - Samantha
Ground wheels - Rebecca
Trunk wheels - Christina
Front bar lock mechanism - Sean