Thursday, January 5, 2012

engineering ground zero

1)What different "trades" (types of construction work) are featured in this video? Name at least three.
  • construction workers
  • engineers
  • designers
  • carpenters
  • cement workers
  • steel companies 2
  • glass company
  • electricains



2)What aspect of the project is most interesting to you? Why is that?

the aspect that was most interesting to me was the designing of the tower and the monument.  designing the monument to look beautiful and yet in a void.  with the tower trying to make it look beautiful and to be safe with concrete blast walls and then adding slots to make lights come in to make the tower glow.

Saturday, November 5, 2011

deep dive

1. “From the buildings in which we live and work, to the cars we drive, or the knives and forks with which we eat, everything we use was designed to create some sort of marriage between ____form_____________ and ____function_____________.”



2. The folks at IDEO state that they are not experts in any given area. But, they do claim to be experts on the _________process of how you design things ___________, which they apply to the innovation of consumer products.



3. After the team of designers is brought together, told the problem, and informed they have five days to “pull it off,” what phase of the design process do they immediately engage in?

Brain storm and good ideas






4. Give two examples of what the team members did during this phase.

a. Team work


b. Brainstorm





5. List five rules-of-thumb that IDEO employees follow when they share ideas during the brainstorming phase:

a. One conversation at a time


b. defer judgment


c. No criticism


d. Building on others ideas


e. Stay on topic





6. Why should wild (and sometimes crazy) ideas be entertained during the brainstorming phase?

because they could come up with that one great idea or they could build on other team members ideas 








7. After the brainstorming phase was over, the team narrowed down the hundreds of ideas by ___voting__________ for those ideas that were not only “cool” but also _____build able____________ in a short period of time. What phase of the design process is this called?

Enlighten  Trial and Error



8. IDEO believes that the ideas and efforts of a ____Team__________ will always be more successful than the planning of a lone genius.



9. Once the ideas were narrowed down and divided into categories, the group was split into four smaller teams. What phase(s) of the design process was each of these groups responsible for?

  • Shopping
  • Safety
  • Check out
  • Finding stuff you need



10. The leaders at IDEO believe that ______Playful______ behavior and a _Fun        environment are two important reasons why their employees are able to think quickly and creatively to produce innovative results.



11. Sometimes, people come up with great solutions that work by trying their ideas first, and asking for _____Opinion____________ later.


12. Design is often a process of going too far and having to take a few steps back. What phase of the design process would the critique of the four mock-ups come under?

refinding and communicating there results
13. Upon critique of the four teams’ models, it was obvious that none of the teams had developed an optimum solution. However, the people at IDEO believe that it is important to fail often in order to _____succeed________ sooner.



14. What percentage of the entire week’s time did it take to fabricate the final prototype?
 20% one day




15. Instead of showering his design team with a tremendous amount of praise, what did the boss require his employees to do with their new design?

Improve on there design



16. Of all the things that we are surrounded by every day, what has not been placed through the design process?
  • Human Body
  • Nature
Conclusion

1. What did you find to be the most impressive part of the team’s effort?

  • There commitment to the team
  • there commitment to the project
  • there overall final product






2. What advantages are there to having a design team with members that have non-engineering backgrounds?

  • Crazier ideas
  • better enviorment





3. There was a point in the process where a self-appointed group of adults stepped up, stopped the ideas, and redirected the group to break up into teams. Why was this done?

to set the team back on course if they hadn't the team wouldn't meet the deadline or they would have rushed the project and done something wrong




4. At the end of the video, Dave Kelly states, “Look around. The only things that are not designed are the things we find in nature.” Can you think of anything that would contradict this statement?

Thursday, November 3, 2011

Happy Halloween

Energy Sources!







1. Describe one thing that surprised you about the energy source that you researched and presented.
  • it was one of the cleanest energy sources
  • accounted for 45% of the worlds green house gasses
  • doesn't pollute water or ground
  • by product of oil drilling
2. Describe one thing that surprised you about an energy source that another team presented.
  • solar power is not used that widely
  • hydro power was used very early on in the world
3. Describe and defend what you believe to be the most important technological need regarding energy.
  • the most important is solar
  • why?
  • enviormentaly safe
  • inexhaustible energy source

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

The 2nd Annual CHS Cardboard Canoe Challenge!

• Define the Problem and Brainstorm Solutions - State the problem you are designing a solution for. List at least 20 ideas you have regarding your solution

  •  build carboard canoe

• Criteria & Constraints - List or reference the specified Criteria and Constraints you're designing for. List at least one implied criteria. List at least three implied contsraints.


Criteria• Build a watercraft that allows you to traverse the CHS swimming pool.
• Your "boat" must float at least one student through the course of the competition.
• Protect your workspace from damage!



Constraints• You may only use Cardboard and Duct Tape for this event.
• All Staples or other foreign material must be removed from your cardboard. If we trash the pool, we will not be invited back for other activities during the year (yes, we have other activities in mind for 2nd semester).
• Cardboard must meet our quality standard and be approved by the instructor (more info to follow)
• Each boat must have a minimum of a 3" tall "sidewall" (no completely flat designs).
• All exposed cardboard must be covered in duct tape (this will reduce cardboard disintigration in the pool).
• Each team will be provided one "versa table" cardboard box piece and two 60yrd rolls of duct tape. Any materials beyond this (likely need more cardboard) need to be resourced by your team


• Select an Approach - Generate feedback (+, change, ?, !) and make a decision matrix regarding your sketches/prototypes. Specify the approach you've chosen and justify your selection.


+:
·         Was the longest to float
·         Very little water came in
·         Very stable
·         Watertight

?:
·         Why was the Balance of the boat wobbley

Delta:
·         Better oar
·         More duct tape in the inside of the boat

!:
·         Way of duct tape layering
·         Flat bottom
·         Angled front and back
·         High sides












• Build It! - Build your watercraft. Document it with a presentable photo.


 















• The Early Bird Gets the Achievement - Awarded to the team with the fastest build.




are boat was finished a day before the due date


• The Farthest - Awarded to the team that can travel the furthest (laps)
are boat was the longest to stay afloat and did many more laps in the water


The Longest - Awarded to the team with the watercraft that floats the longest (multiple teams may be awarded this achievement if multiple boats remain afloat at the end of our competition period).
are boat was the longest

Balance Master - Awarded if you can have at least one person stand for 5 seconds in the boat (you must conduct this away from the edge of the pool so that non one falls over and hits their head)
joe lee stop in the boat for over 5 seconds


• Feedback - Generate ten items of feedback for your effort (from the design/build process and/or the actual product). Make sure you include at least one item of feedaback in each of our four feedback areas (+, change, ?, !)


+:
·         Was the longest to float
·         Very little water came in
·         Very stable
·         Watertight

?:
·         Why was the Balance of the boat wobbley

Delta:
·         Better oar
·         More duct tape in the inside of the boat

!:
·         Way of duct tape layering
·         Flat bottom
·         Angled front and back
·         High sides




• How Low Did You Go? - How low in the water did your canoe sit (roughly)? Was it suprising how little your boat went down in the water? What is the unit weight of water in pounds? How much did your pilot weigh (roughly)? Use math to help explain the depth that your boat sat in the water.
our boat went 3inches down

Saturday, October 8, 2011

Rules of the Road

what Criteria (rules) would you add to the Mousetrap Racecar Challenge to help "level" the playing field?
  • the use of rubber bands is either used by all the teams or none of the teams
  • a specific number of parts is give to each team to create a car
  • all cars have to go through a series of obstacles

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Simple Machine Challenge pt I - Mousetrap Racecars!

my team earned 7 achievements


Criteria:Design, build and compete with a Mousetrap Race car (A "car" uses at least two axles).
Maintain a clean workspace.



Constraints:
One mousetrap
No more than 12" of masking tape
Fischertechnique robotics parts
No more than 24" of string
You must work through the stages of the event (see Achievements below)
Additional materials by Instructor approval



Achievements (by stage):
Post your results for the Simple Machine Challenge pt I to your blog. Tally your total number of Achievements earned and justify each within the post. Your grade is the total number of Achievements you earn curved against the number of Achievements your classmates earn.



1)
 Build:"Build It" - Build your design. Document it with a photo.
"The Price of Glory" - If each part you use costs $1, generate a total cost for your build (This info will be used to generate "cost" data to add a pricing element to the game next year).
  • our car generated 25$ dollars
  • had 25 parts



2)
Test (Compete):Each car will compete on its own. Everyone will take 3 turns and use their best result. Cars are evaluated on acceleration and total distance covered. Generate your design accordingly.
  • our car went a total of three squares          1sqauer equals 30centimeters
  • second try it went 20 squares                     equals  600 centimeters 
  • third try it went 21squares                          equals 630 centimeters   




3)"Competitor" - Compete in the 2nd Annual Mousetrap Race car Challenge.

our final tally was 21 a grand total of 630cedntimeters



4)
Feedback" - Collect feedback (at least one each of +, change, ? and !) from yourself or your classmates.
  • +: had the fastes acceleration time
  • delta: less wight, more compact and more string
  • !: axles need to be smaller
  • ?: why did we have are body so low to the ground
5)  Clean Up:"Leave It Cleaner Than You Found It" - Did you leave your workspace cleaner than you found it? Explain.
  • cleaned up all parts 
  • broke down all parts 
  • left workspace as found



 6)Reflection:"Design/Build" - What is a "Design/Build" process? How did your experience with this challenge relate to that? Why might you experience this in a career related to technical innovation?
  • the 12 step process
  • ideas
  • designing
  • prototype
  • final product
  • can be used in a technical inovation enviorment