Throughout the course of the semester, I was instructed to create rough sketches of products that could be made to solve a given problem. Each of these designs were sketched in a way that was easy to understand, clear, and could communicate the idea without the need for verbal explanation. These exercises were useful in practicing the first steps of the design process: brainstorming and getting ideas down on paper. Some artistic ability was needed in order to made a decent sketch; it will always amaze me at how a few lines can come together to make a picture. Further, these exercises were meant to refine sketching skills as the professor would give us tips and notes on how to make well made sketches.
In addition to sketches, I also took part in various discussions based on the topics mentioned during the course of this semester. These discussions were brainstorming-type sessions where we conceptually designed a solution. Sketches were not necessary for these types of discussions as the solutions offered for these problems were based more in logistics rather than material. These discussions were useful in reinforcing the ideas touched on during the semester as well as to develop a greater understanding of the versatility of the engineering design process.
All of the sketches I made and discussions I had in this class are documented below.
In addition to sketches, I also took part in various discussions based on the topics mentioned during the course of this semester. These discussions were brainstorming-type sessions where we conceptually designed a solution. Sketches were not necessary for these types of discussions as the solutions offered for these problems were based more in logistics rather than material. These discussions were useful in reinforcing the ideas touched on during the semester as well as to develop a greater understanding of the versatility of the engineering design process.
All of the sketches I made and discussions I had in this class are documented below.
---Sketches---
The Salty Shoes Solution
Picture this: After a long day of work, you look forward to coming home and relaxing. Being able to put the stresses of the day aside for a few moments sounds like the perfect evening. You make it home, along the way you observe that the roads and sidewalks are covered with dirt and salt from the recent snow storm. You open the door and are appalled at the sight before you: your housemates have tracked in salt and dirt from what their shoes gathered from the ground outside. Footprints composed of dirt and salt can be seen everywhere and you are now salty that you have to clean it up.
The problem: Shoes can pick up a lot of debris from outside and deposit it on floors inside. This is not ideal in many settings, be it a residential setting, laboratory setting, office setting, etc.
|
The goal: I must design something that could prevent people from tracking dirt and salt debris inside. How I achieve this is up to me.
|
A solution: After 10 minutes of brainstorming, this is the design I came up with for a product that would solve this problem. In essence, it is a small shoe washer that could be placed near the entrance/exit of a room. The user would step inside of the shallow container that can accommodate someone standing inside of it. Pressing the button on top of an attached water tank would fill the container with water, just enough to cover the soles of the user's shoes such that the fabric of the shoes would not get wet. This would help loosen up the dirt and salt debris on the shoes. Bristles that line the container could be used to scrub off the remaining debris. When done, the water would drain out of a drainage pipe located on the edge of the container. The user can then step out of the container and pat dry the bottom of his/her shoes on a mat. The water tank has door that can be used to refill it with water. Further, a small hose can be attached to the drainage pipe in order to direct where the waste water will go.
Finding Purpose
Picture this: A question that commonly comes up whenever someone does anything is "Should we do this?". This questions often gets glazed over however, as people are too focused on if they can do something. A great example of this is in Jurassic Park, the scientists of the park were so dead set on seeing if they can resurrect dangerous animals that they never stopped to consider if the should be doing it in the first place. This phenomenon carries across the fictional world into the physical world, sometimes companies develop these very cool and interesting technologies to show off that its possible to create, however there is no application for it. These companies did not consider if they should spend the time creating a new technology: without an application the technology becomes a novelty.
The problem: Samsung in 2016 created a very cool piece of technology, a transparent OLED monitor. The monitor can display an image as a regular screen can, but also it is perfectly see through like a window. While it is very cool to look at and play with, there is no good application for it that justifies the cost of the screen.
|
The goal: It is my job to develop some product that incorporates this new technology. The resulting product should utilize the full capabilities of the screen (i.e. take advantage of the fact that it is transparent as well as the fact that it is a screen).
|
A solution: After some time, I determined that a product that used the transparent OLED monitor effectively would be a Virtual/Augmented Reality Headset (VR/AR). The design is similar to that of the HTC Vive or Oculus Rift, two very popular VR headsets on the market today. The tracking software and hardware will be the same of that of the aforementioned products as a motion/tracking sensor will be located on the forehead area of the headset. The transparent monitors will be placed in front of the users eyes similar to how the screens of current VR headset are placed. A set of shutters are located in front of the headset and can be closed over the transparent monitors. For VR applications, the shutters can be closed via a switch on the side of the headset; the headset will function as a normal VR headset. However, games and software can now be developed for AR applications. With the shutters opened, and the proper software, the headset can be used to created an augmented reality environment. Think of Google Glasses but with the technology of and software of virtual reality. This headset will share the market with the current VR headset companies, or even be incorporated into their future designs. This ultimately expands the functionality of these headset, which can be used extensively for games, therapy, art, etc. Further, it will help explore the realm of augmented reality.
---Discussions---
Crosswalk Catastrophe
Picture this: When we are traveling, we seek the shortest path from our current location to our destination. This is called the desired path and is an important concept when designing infrastructure. Examples of the desired path can be observed everywhere. For example, have you ever seen a worn path of grass running diagonally next to the corner of two sidewalks? At that location, the desired path is the shortest path between the perpendicular paths and people have ignored the paved section of path in favour of this unpaved section. Sometimes, the desired path must be changed due to safety concerns; the quickest route is not always the best route. In this case, an engineering solution must be properly implemented to change the desired path in order to preserve the people involved.
|
The problem: At a local elementary school, there is a problem of students jay-walking across a busy street. This is a danger to the students as it puts them at risk of being struck by a vehicle; additionally this is a huge liability for the school. To solve the problem, the school built an above ground walkway in order for students to safely cross the street, yet no one seems to be using it.
The goal: It is my job to look at the situation, identify the problem with the current solution, and then propose a new solution.
|
A solution: After a bit of analysis of the situation, the problem seems to be that in order to access the sky-way, one must first walk to the staircase which is away from the street and then double back as he/she walks along the sky-way to the other side. This path is VERY undesirable because it is both long and takes significantly more time than simply running across the street. Because the city has already built the sky-way, the investment should be put to use. Therefore the proposed solution would be somehow changing the desired path such that it becomes the sky-way. Once such way to do this would be to fence off the division between the road and the school such that it forces the students to use the sky-way in order to cross it. This would make the current desired path impossible to use and force another one to be utilized. Another way would be to have a monitor outside of the school and as school ends he/she catches any students trying to cross the street and forces them to use the sky-way. This would discourage the students from using the unsafe desired path. And yet another way to ensure that the sky-way is the desired path is to make it more enticing, maybe by adding a slide such that after the students cross it they can slide down back onto the street level. Any of these solutions would ensure the safety of the students while putting to use the already built walkway.
Fancy Faucets
Picture this: Companies stay alive only if they can continuously innovate and improve. Take the example of Apple. This is a company that has been in the technology game for a few decades, known primarily for their computers and smartphones and music devices. Almost every year, you can see an add for a new product that they are bringing to market. Whether it be an entirely new product or an update of their old one, the company tires to innovate and improve on what they already have made in order to keep the people interested. And this has clearly been a good strategy as their market share has been generally increasing. This outlines an important lesson: Innovation is the key to continued success.
The problem: You work for a company called Friendly Faucets that manufactures and sells faucets commercially for use with sinks, bathtubs, and other similar water systems. Unfortunately , the the past few years, sales have been steadily declining; a new product can stave off this downward trend. It is your job to come up with such a product that is new and innovative; this will boost the company's business and end the downward trend.
|
The goal: In ten minutes I had to come up with two new and innovative faucets designs meant for kitchen use. The only other information I am given is the following market research:
|
A solution: When coming up with innovations for the faucet, a couple things had to be considered. The first was the function of the faucet. Faucets for different environment serve different functions. For faucets designed for kitchen use, some of its functions include providing clean water for cooking, supplying a high enough pressure for cleaning, and regulating temperature for temperature sensitive tasks (i.e. dethawing). Next, the market research was covered. It seems that currently, customers would like to see the price of the product be more favorable. This could come in the form of cheaper faucets or more functionality for what they are already paying for. With these two things in mind, the following two designs were thought of:
- The first design is an innovation that targets the temperature application of a faucet. While the water temperature can be controlled, there is no way to actually determine what the water temperature is without touching the water. This can result in scalds if the water is too hot, and if the water is not the proper temperature, any temperature sensitive foods or objects are at risk of damage. Therefore, a proposed innovation would be to include a small temperature sensitive ring that surrounds the opening of the faucet. As water flows out of the faucet, the ring would react to the temperature of the water by changing color. It could be tailored to turn red if its above a certain temperature and blue if below one. All other temperatures in between would exist in a spectrum of colurs between red and blue. This innovation would be a useful and safe way to determine the water temperature without the need to touch it at all.
- The second design deals with how the faucets are made. One way to reduce the price of a faucet is to reduce the cost to manufacture it. This can come in the form of reducing the cost of converting the raw materials into the product or by finding cheaper materials to make the faucets from. An idea could be to use a different, cheaper metal that is just as durable or even a chemically inert plastic that would not dissolve into the water and resist temperature fluctuations. Changing the material while retaining the other properties would keep customers happy while reducing the cost needed to manufacture it which in turn would lower the sale price.
Purchase Process Overhaul
Picture this: The key to a successful system is efficiency. If mundane things can be done quickly and accurately, then a company or group can focus on more pressing matters. After all, time is money. Any company jobs are focused on just that, find ways to better use its time by reducing the amount of time needed for simpler tasks. Sometimes, to achieve this you need the mind of an engineer.
The problem: When items needed to be ordered on the behalf of the Mechanical Engineering Department at BU, the process of ordering is in depth. Typically, all orders, deliveries, and pick-ups are recorded in a spreadsheet in order to ensure purchases make it to their respective clients. The downside to this process, while reliable, is that one person must sit down and input all of this information, which is both boring and time consuming.
The goal: It is my goal to find a way to make this process more efficient. Having a person doing this input work is not a good use of their time nor a good use of the universities money.
|
The solution: This is a situation where automation is key. According to the flow chart, there are three major things that are documented on the purchase order spreadsheet: the details of the purchase, the details of the delivery, and the details of the collection. With a proper use of software, all of these things can be autonomously updated in a master database. Here is the solution that I propose which is based on how on-campus residences here at BU handle student mail:
- When someone needs to purchase something through he department, they must fill out a form where he/she inputs all relevant information of the purchase.
- This form, once submitted, is sent for review by someone in the department in order to ensure that the purchase is valid. If it is, the reviewer accepts it which both adds the purchase details to the database and the database automatically sends a notification to the client saying that it was accepted. If it is not valid, a notification gets sent to the client saying why it was denied.
- At the end of each week, any new purchase requests submitted are made. This will have to be done manually. Additionally, a barcode sticker would be printed out for use later on that also contains relevant information of the purchase (i.e. name of client, date, etc.).
- Whenever the purchase is finally delivered, the front offices will receive the packages. The stickers that were printed when the purchase was made will be matched and put on their respective package.
- A barcode scanner that is connected to the database would be used to scan the stickers. Once scanned, the confirmation of the delivery would be added to the database and a notification of the delivery would be automatically sent to the client.
- When the client comes to pick up the package, they must give their university issues ID to the receptionist. This person finds the package based on the name on the ID, and scans the package once more to confirm the pickup. The package and ID are given to the client.
GSU Overhaul
Picture this: You attend a university and have early morning classes. You wake up just early enough to shower, brush your teeth, and put on clean clothes for the day. Not having time for breakfast, you head over to your first class of the day. By the time this class finishes, you are very hungry and only have half an hour until your next class. You decide to head over the the student union to grab some food. To you disappointment, you see that the lines are very long and that it would take at least 15 minutes to get through them. You decide to chance it anyways and finally get through the line after 20 minutes. You realize that you only have 10 minutes left so you scarf down your food and sprint to class, only to arrive late and the professor gives you a dirty look. Defeated, you take your seat to realize that you missed an important part of the lecture. If only those lines weren't so long!
The problem: The George Sherman Union (GSU) at Boston University has many food places where students can grab a bite to eat without having to go to the dining hall. However, wait times there are atrocious, you need at least half an hour of free time to get food here. This is an issue for people that cannot spare that much time, such as having classes around lunch time. For many, the only two options here are going to class hungry or going to class late.
|
The goal: It is my job to rework how the GSU runs. No matter what form this maybe, the end result should be a way that students can get food without having to wait in long lines.
|
A solution: A possible way to reduce wait time in the GSU could be taken from a system already implemented in the dining halls on campus. At many of the dining halls, students have the option to order food online the night before. The next day, all that the students need to do is to show their student ID and then they can receive their food. This type of system can be implemented at the GSU as well. An online system can be designed that allows students to order food and pay for it online the night before. The next day, students can show up to the GSU, pick up their food from the place they ordered it from, and then show their student ID to ensure that they picked up their food.
The GSU allows people to pay with money stored on a student's student ID or with a regular payment method. The difference between these two methods is that using a student ID is significantly faster. Therefore, another possible solution would be to split up the lines into ones that are student ID only, effectively making them express lines. Either proposed solution would cut down the average wait time at the GSU and allow students who are on a tight schedule to get food without worrying about being late.
The GSU allows people to pay with money stored on a student's student ID or with a regular payment method. The difference between these two methods is that using a student ID is significantly faster. Therefore, another possible solution would be to split up the lines into ones that are student ID only, effectively making them express lines. Either proposed solution would cut down the average wait time at the GSU and allow students who are on a tight schedule to get food without worrying about being late.