Week 1:
In the first week, we talked about what it is like to be an engineer and what attributes make up a good engineer. Few of these attributes include problem-solving skills, communication skills, and computer literacy. We also discussed the engineering design process and the 5 different phases that are a part of it. The 5 phases are needs assessment, problem formulation, abstraction and synthesis, analysis, and implementation.
Week 2:
In this lesson, we focus on the needs assessment part of the design process. When assessing your idea, product or project, you must always ask questions and breakdown all the different aspects of it. Figuring out things like the objective, background, methodology, expected results, and cost. Technical problems can be classified into 3 categories problems of prediction, problems of explanation, and problems of invention.
Weeks 3:
In the third week, we discussed about finding the real problem during the design process. A lot of the time, the problem you start out with trying to fix ends up being completely different at the end of the process. Using diagrams like the Why-Why diagram and Fault tree diagrams help you determine what the root problem is. Some methods that we discuss in this lesson are benchmarking, fresh eye approach and KT problem analysis. The Kepner-Tregoe analysis is a series of tables asking questions like what, when, who, where, why, and how.
Week 4:
During the fourth week, we talked a lot about how to develop your solution. This lesson stresses the importance of design goals and how they are qualitative whereas design specifications are quantitative. Some more general goals for design solutions include safety, reliability, performance, ease of operation, and minimum cost. Some modern solutions that are being implemented and tested in today's world are Amazon's no checkout line stores, dark mode on most phones, and self flying cameras using drones.
Week 5
In the fifth week, we discussed about protecting your intellectual property through patents and copyrights. Some of the objectives were to explain the importance of scientific and technical knowledge, learn about the different types of property (real, personal, and intellectual), and find encouragement that not everyone that has a patent has technical training background. We looked at some of the most important people with the most patents like Marie Curie, Thomas Edison, and Jerome Lemelson. We finished by looking into all the details of filing a patent and where to find all the patents that are already filed.
Week 6
The sixth week is when we switched to zoom meetings due to the coronavirus outbreak. Class still went well and the lecture slides and demonstration was still effective. We discussed abstraction which is analyzing problems and using models to try and find possible solutions. You must first break down the problem as much as possible to get an effective bundle of solutions. Different types of models include mathematical, symbolic, graphical, and computer based. There are also three main types which include iconic, analogical, and symbolic.
Week 7
The topic for this week was synthesis. This is creatively combining ideas and things into new, meaningful, and practical forms. There are some barriers to synthesis which include knowledge, perceptual, emotional, cultural, and expressive.
Week 8
This week was all about the ethics and liability that comes with engineering design. As an engineer, you are legally and morally responsible for the consequences of your work. You must heavily consider these factors before designing or releasing your work. Basic engineering moral guidelines are available to read and to get a license, these guidelines must be fully understood and followed. Examples of what these guidelines are as follows: encourage engineers to behave according to the accepted standards of the profession, provide guidelines about these standards and their application, and assure lawmakers that engineering societies can be trusted to regulate the actions of their own members.
Week 9
This weeks lecture was about analyzing failure and hazards. Specific failures to look at are physical features, errors in process, and errors in perspective or attitudes. There are three levels of failure: level one is physical flaws, level two is errors in process, and level three is errors in perspective or attitude. Level one examples are electrical faults, exposed moving parts, and excessive noise. Level two examples include carelessness, errors in calculation, errors in judgement, errors in assembly, and many more. Level three failure examples include unethical or unprofessional behavior, lack of motivation, or overconfidence. The 5 whys are an important technique to understand the root problem causing problems.
Week 10
In this lesson, we discussed design analysis. We looked at topics such as evaluating alternative designs, rank-ordering the design goals, and economic analysis. There are tools available to help prioritize design goals and choose between different ideas or to improve on current designs. The KT decision matrix is often used to help determine the proper means to design something. Decision factor (D) = Weighting factor (W) x Rating factor (R). This formula is used for the KT matrix to determine wants. Threat (T) = Probability (P) x Severity (S).
Week 11
In our final week together, we discussed the final step and arguably the most important: implementation. This is all about turning what we have been talking about all semester into an actual product that can be tested and eventually sold. Fabrication and construction often require a series of tasks to be performed with great precision and consistency. A MVP or minimum viable product is a version of a product with just enough features to satisfy early customers and provide feedback for the future product development. This is super important for product development because it can provide real feedback with a physical product from suppliers, consumers, and higher management.