Capstone Design Step 4

The premise of the entire second semester is to demonstrate our advanced understanding of the engineering and design process through our Capstone Project. We are being tasked with producing, and promoting, a product or service and to develop this idea through the eight steps of the design process. We have just complete the fourth step of the design process, experimenting and modeling.

Content

We have already determined the problem we wanted to resolve, homelessness in our town. However in order to properly resolve our issue, we must test and prove that our solution is the best. In order to do this we created a experiment to test the integrity of our building.

Plans and Set Up

In order to test the stability, we planned a weather simulation experiment. We built a simple shake table using wood, PVC, and rubberbands in order to create an earthquake. We used a squirt top water bottle, as well as a water bottle with holes in the bottom to create a passive and aggressive rain flow.

Copy of Sydney Dollaghan Martinez - Detailed Experiments/Tests plan and set-up

MiZauni Reese - Lab Report

Lab Report

After planning our experiment, we were able conduct it. By simulating an eathquake and two different rain streams we determined our structure is sound, but it will not withstand any rainy weather conditions without some improvements.

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Time Management

Lastly, we created a team plan for the week in order to establish an appropriate time frame for our week. With a schedule, we were able to not only keep track of what was done, but ensured our efficiency.

Nicholas Goodin - Week 04/11 to 04/15 team plan

Reflection

As we finally enter our Capstone project, I am truly beginning to feel like an engineer. All of our assignments have relevance to our project and my group and I are becoming more productive. We are now better able to work on our assignments productively and complete them timely because it feels essential to our understanding of engineering. The work is also now more enjoyable because it feels as though we are working to complete something rather than to just do work. We as a group are now motivated, rather than just one member, so now everyone contributes somewhat to the assignments.

As for the content itself, it gives me a feeling of gratitude to know that not only am I helping homeless people, but I am taking their thoughts and feelings into consideration. It is all too important to be empathetic to the homeless and although a home in general is better than no home, it is still essential to take into account their needs in order to promote self betterment. These people must not only feel welcome, but safe in our community in order for our potential rehabilitation and therapy services to provide any real benefit. The more research we do regarding how best to help homeless people, the more tangible our idea becomes and it is a feeling of great satisfaction to help those who do not necessarily have the means to help themselves. Our only concern now is funding because in reality this will most likely be about a $10,000 project to build one home.