Step 4

Introduction

For step four of the capstone project, the objective was to create a report that revealed the lifetime of our product, design new infographics, and plan detailed experiments. These assignments were assigned to help us evaluate different criteria, constraints and reliability of our boat. The products life cycle report helped our group gain a better insight into the manufacturing and transportation of our individual materials in our boat. 

One of the most important assignments to date was the experiments/tests plan and setup report. Creating an experimental plan helped us produce data to serve as the basis for evidence for our design. When designing the experiment, we focused on the accuracy of the data needed to produce reliable measurements and we considered limitations on the precision of the data  (number of trials, cost, risk, time). We ended up testing the functionality/durability by testing different scenerios. The data from our Young's Modulus led us to picking the best materials and updating the schematic of the boat.

Content

Durability: the ability of an object or material to resume its normal shape after being used multiple times. We used a wood and screws in our boat. 

Experiment: a scientific procedure undertaken to make a discovery, test a hypothesis, or demonstrate a known fact. We plan to run two experiments on our boat which will help us work on what we need to.

Infographic: a collection of imagery, data visualizations like pie charts and bar graphs, and minimal text that gives an easy-to-understand overview of a topic.

Life cycle report: analysis for reporting potential environmental loads and resources consumed in each step of a product or service supply chain. In the life cycle report we focused on materials such as the wood and screws for out boat.

Reflection

When this step of the project first started, I thought the team and I did a good job of communicating and working together. By splitting and conquering the many stages of the process, we were able to complete our work quickly. We did our best to work with each person's skills, and in the end, that produced incredibly successful work. Step 4 of the Capstone design process helped us each gain valuable insights into what working in the real world will look like. By working together to meet deadlines and consumer interests, we have a really good headstart on what this project will continue to develop into.