The Engineering Process (5.3.12)

I decided that, instead of cutting my boring carabiner, I would attempt one that looks lie Totoro, from Japanese animator Miyazaki's film My Neightbor Totoro.   In this image, Totoro is the large grey creature who protects and helps the two young girls visit their mother, who is in the hospital.

 

http://www.fanpop.com/spots/the-random-creatures-of-anime/images/13722533/title/totoro-photo

Here you can see the stark contract between my hand-drawn attempt and one drawn with Bezier curves.

My design was cut onto Delrin, but the material began to cool and melt back together, so Totoro's mouth and nose did not punch out.  I'm still pleased with the results, especially for having drawn the design in under 20 minutes.

Here's a screenshot from a video I made of the carabiner being cut!

We made our transition from experimenting within the realm of electrical engineering to considering the general process engineers use to approach problems and find solutions.  Each of these three process represents different theories of engineering and its purpose.  The first process is an older method that neglects to include the product's users in the equation.  This can lead to engineers creating very technically advanced products, but ones that users couldn't easily use or a product that doesn't exactly fulfill a user's need.  The third method is encouraged at Olin because of how it integrates the human side of engineering with the science and math.  The product is always seen in respect to how it affects the user.

Product

Research

↓

Concept

↓

Feasibility

↓

Requirements

↓

System Design

↓

Detail Design

↓

Manufacturing Design

↓

Manufacturing

Iteration

Problem Identification

↓

Requirements

↓

Ideation

↓

Selection

↓

Prototype

↓

Refine

User

Observe

↓

Analyze [personas (or the abstraction of users); framework; areas of opportunity]

↓

Goal [requirements]

↓

Ideate

↓

Represent [create a representation or model]

↓

Codesign [work with users to create the best possible product/function]

↓

Concept [specifications]

Lastly, Oscar gave us a diagram of the process with emphasis on how steps can be repeated many times, and  how the process is more continual rather than having a clear end.