Element C: PRESENTATION AND JUSTIFICATION OF SOLUTION DESIGN REQUIREMENTS

Design Statement

The product must reduce the amount of plastic that reaches and pollutes the ocean. The product will keep the plastic from reaching the ocean by collecting various lightweight plastic pollutants that transport on the oceans' surface. This will likely happen in large gateway bodies of water that carry pollutants into the ocean, and portions of the ocean itself.

Target Population

The target population for this product is any organization, company, or individual adult consumer with means to clean a body of water, who believe that plastic pollution in the ocean is a serious issue. Presumably, not many individual consumers will have permissive rights or means to use this product in a public body of water, but that option is still on the table, and is encouraged by any consumer or organization who will do so.

Design Criteria

In order of importance:

  • Helps solve the issue

      • Product needs to be able to collect lightweight plastic pollution from a body of water, effectively cleaning up that area

      • Lightweight plastics are most commonly on surface levels of water, so device needs to be able to successfully remove contaminants from these surface layers

  • Implementation capabilities

      • Product needs to be versatile enough to use in both oceans, and large gateway bodies of water such as rivers, to maximize pollution collection

  • Impact of product/Environmentally conscious

      • Product needs to successfully reduce the amount of waste in a body of water, while minimizing its adverse impact on the surrounding environment

      • Design needs to utilize sustainable and environmentally friendly materials, such as solar power, to minimize negative impact and maximize successful impact

      • More pollution needs to be removed than is left behind

  • Meets target audience

      • Device needs to successfully cater towards individuals who acknowledge issue

      • Device needs to be able to be used by any consumer and require no special skills or prerequisites

  • Aesthetics

      • Product should be appealing to the eye for consumer market to encourage consumer use

Design Constraints

Communication Constraint: because the team isn’t meeting in person, we have to work virtually and be sure to collaborate through this roadblock. The team has to divide and collaborate on tasks individually through technological resources.

Materials Constraint: when designing the solution, the team won’t have access to many materials and will need to take that into consideration as far as availability goes.

Time Constraint: the solution and individual tasks need to be completed by a deadline.

Budget: if the project were to be created in real life, costs of materials and production would be a factor since certain resources or materials would be too expensive for reasonable use.