Engineering Design VI

[Week 1 | 2/01 ] For the first class we reviewed course website and course materials (syllabus/course structure, lesson 0 slides, hardware/software requirements), installed Thonny IDE, updated Google Site, looked through IEEE Editorial Style Manual

[Week 2 | 2/08] This week we went over the slides for lesson 1. The lesson covered what it means to be an engineer, and common practices in engineering. Much of the lesson was devoted to the engineering design process and discussing the necessary skills an engineer must have. Also, a number of important figures in the history of engineering were also covered. Lab 1 was completed by using SSH to connect to my Raspberry Pi and clone the IoT repo.

[Week 3 | 2/15] No Class

[Week 4 | 2/22] This week we went over the lesson 2 slides, which discussed the origin and applications of the "Internet of Things" (IoT). Another overarching topic of this lesson was the use of technological development to help others, including inventions that facilitate accessibility and general ethics. Finally, the concept of product design around the needs of the end user was discussed. Lab 2 has not been completed yet due to a lack of supplies at present.

[Week 5 | 3/01] This week we went over the lesson 3 slides. This lecture discussed the concept of properly finding a problem to design a product around. This included how to recognize a problem by asking the right questions, avoiding misdiagnosing a problem, and iterating on an existing solution with a product/customer focused mindset. I also met with my group (Vincent Schlenker, Sean James, Zach Raina), and we came up with several options for potential design proposals. I was unable to complete most of lab 3 due to a lack of materials.

[Week 6 | 3/08] Lesson 4 covered what is probably most engineers' primary focus; searching for a solution once a problem has been recognized. This was done using a series of examples that exemplified creative and innovative solutions to problems. These examples ranged from writing in space, to taking selfies, to dark mode on phones.

[Week 7 | 3/15] The lesson for week 7 primarily discussed intellectual property and the different forms of protection for it. The main types of protections for IP rights are copyrights, trademarks, and patents. Each one has different circumstances in which they are used. Trademarks protect commercial identifiers (i.e. logos), copyrights protect creative ideas like books and movies, and patents protect inventions and discoveries. As patents are the most relevant to engineers, a number of famous patent holders were discussed, along with their inventions.

[Week 8 | 3/22] This lesson was about the importance of abstraction and modeling and its application in engineering. Abstraction is an important skill because it allows a problem to be viewed from a non-specific perspective. This can allow one to view key pillars of a problem without the specific technical burdens that may be a roadblock. Abstraction is also useful for pattern recognition, which is an important tool for understanding data. Modeling is also a product of abstraction. By being able to mimic the important features of a system, data about a problem can be captured without the expense, difficulty, or time constraints of doing the tests in real time. Examples of practical models and abstraction tools were discussed as well.

[Week 9 | 3/29] Lesson 7 discussed synthesis as an approach to problem solving and development in engineering, as well as some alternate approaches. Synthesis is a key part of engineering design as it is the most reliable method of approaching a problem, and is necessary when solutions don't present themselves as obvious. Synthesis can be difficult for a variety of reasons, both personal and systemic, and observing these obstacles is important is key in completing the process. Accidental discovery and repurposing products that aren't desirable for their original intention were also discussed. Advanced methods of problem solving were also introduced, including morphological analysis, automated discovery, and design based on nature. -My group (Vincent Schlenker, Sean James, Zach Raina) met to discuss potential names for our project, as we picked which of our original concepts we wanted to continue forward with.

[Week 10 | 4/05] The lesson for this week was about ethics and liability. Various ethics codes were reviewed, namely those that apply to engineers (IEEE, NPSE). The lesson also encompassed importance of ethics, legality surrounding ethical practices, and examples of product designs intended protecting consumers. Ethics of certain technology like automated vehicles and deepfakes were also emphasized as they present serious ethical concerns for the future, particularly as they become more accessible and widely available. The lesson ended talking about consumer protection laws and practices in engineering for ethical design.

[Week 11 | 4/12] This lesson was about Failure and Hazard Analysis. First the different types of failures were covered, and where in the design process they could occur. These failure types includes errors in the mindset of the designer, flaws in their approach to a problem, and tangible issues with the design itself. Methods of identifying failures were introduced, including Root Cause Analysis, A3 Problem Solving, and Fault Tree Analysis. Examples of major failures in engineering were discussed as well. The types of hazards were identified, as well as methods of finding known and unknown hazards. Safety standards and tools to prevent hazards with products in the future were shown, as well as ways to protect those who build them.

[Week 12| 4/19] This week's lesson discussed the abstract concept of design analysis and how designs can be evaluated and changed to meet certain restrictions. The first step in this process is to identify what the priorities of a design are, including cost, ease of use, appearance, and more, as well as comparing them relative to each other. Designs can then be compared to their alternatives using a similar process, and creating scores for each as a way of having a definitive benchmark to weigh them against on another. This allows the design process to be more focused going forward, as the designer has a clear hierarchy of priorities.

[Week 13 | 4/26] Lesson 11 was about the implementation of designs. An important part of implementation is preventing a design from never being completed and disappearing. Ways to prevent this are to keep design goals in mind by making sure the product fulfills certain criteria to make it worthy of sale. It is also important to figure out what the most basic version of the design that could be released, known as the minimum viable product, would look like. Important information for manufacturing, including materials properties and design software were discussed.