ENGINEERING DESIGN

ROLE PLAYING ACTIVITY: UNDERSTANDING USER NEEDS AND DESIGN CONSTRAINTS

As part of our exploration of the design process, we engaged in a role-playing activity where we took on the roles of both users and designers. This exercise gave us the chance to approach product development from two perspectives: understanding the user's needs and preferences, and then, as designers, addressing those needs while considering practical constraints

ENGINEERING DESIGN 2 :

In the second session, we advanced our work on a real-world project an automated musical bot . We began by building function trees and creating a morphological chart to break down the robot's design into essential functions and possible solutions

Function Tree

Morphological Chart

MOTOR SELECTION AND BATTERY SELECTION :

We learned key concepts of mechanical and kinematic movement in this session. We explored what makes a machine, the definition of a mechanism, and the elements of links and joints. We studied Gruebler's criterion and learned about simple 4-bar mechanisms and their inversions, providing a solid grounding in the mechanics of motion.

ENGINEERING DESGINE 3

Our third session focused on concept evaluation, where we explored the importance of having a reference concept, called a datum, for evaluating new ideas. We were introduced to Pugh charts, a systematic tool used to compare and evaluate multiple design concepts based on their performance against specific criteria. .

We concluded this session by working on our individual bot designs, sketching out rough ideas for our musical bot based on the knowledge we’d gained. Additionally, we discussed product architecture and defined what makes up a system, exploring how different components and subsystems interact to form a cohesive whole.

MATERIAL SELECTION (BASED ON SUSTAINABILITY)

Building on our discussions of embodied energy and carbon footprint, we explored how material selection plays a crucial role in sustainability. Choosing materials based on their environmental impact, durability, and recyclability is key to reducing a product's overall footprint. We discussed how sustainable material choices can not only minimize embodied energy but also contribute to longer-lasting, more eco-friendly products.

This session reinforced the idea that, we engineers have a responsibility to prioritize sustainable materials, ensuring that our designs align with global goals for reducing environmental harm and thus contribute in building a green and healthy Earth.

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