Lessons Learned
Camille
Spring 2017:
Over the second semester of our project, I’ve learned the complicated nature of implementing a conceptual design in a physical prototype. We began this semester with a clear idea of what our prototype would look like and we end this semester with something completely different. This process has taught me the importance of prototype iteration and thorough testing. Through exploring new ideas and building on the successes of each prototype, we finally reached a viable solution that is actually very effective at solving our problem. I believe that the solution we have developed has the potential to make an impact if implemented on a large scale. As a whole, this project has taught me the importance of time management, careful planning, and effective communication. By improving all of these skills from last semester to this semester, we were able to complete the project and solve our initial problem. Fall 2016: Throughout the first semester of our project, I've learned about the key aspects of designing a product with human end-users in mind. With this, I have learned about the many conflicts and questions that come with a product like ours. We have spent months considering different alternatives for our design not based on speed or efficiency but on the ultimate experience and ease of use for our end-users in Rwanda. This experience has taught me to consider the ethical implications of every design choice, especially when considering a product for a developing nation. From an engineering perspective, this project has taught me essential concepts of heat transfer and energy consumption. Next semester, I hope to build on these lessons during the prototyping phase of our project. |
Yassi
Spring 2017:
This second semester of senior design really showed me the importance of continuous improvement. Even though we were technically in the “production” phase of our project, we still continued to research better methods and technologies for our product. This led to several prototypes, so I also learned about the importance of rapid prototyping. Once we started putting things together for the first prototype and started testing, improvements and iterations quickly followed. I learned that getting over the initial bump of starting the first prototype can be the most difficult and time consuming, part of a project. This semester, as we actually started piecing together our design, my biggest takeaway from last semester was reemphasized: you don't always need to use the latest and greatest cutting edge technology to make a design successful. Situational awareness is very important when designing for others, which is the bulk of what we do as engineers. Fall 2016: Our work over this past semester really showed me the importance of working at the intersection of function and simplicity. It definitely took a lot of time, research, and brainstorming to get to the point we are at now. Initially, we were looking at very involved, highly engineered solutions. Over the course of the semester, we found that a simpler solution could do everything we needed just as well, if not better. I have a new appreciation for all the time and work that goes into even the simplest things around us. My biggest takeaway from this semester's work has been that you don't always need to use the latest and greatest cutting edge technology to make a design successful. Everything has it's time and place. Going forward as an engineer, I'm sure I will encounter this in industry as well. |
Arianna
Spring 2017:
Before jumping into a project, research must be done to understand the project in its entirety. However, research is never really done. As the product evolves, and new ideas and designs come into existence, additional research on technology, user needs, and health & safety needs to be conducted. Engineers design amazing products using two abilities- using technical skills and using the ability to understand users and their need for a product. In this way, properly engineered products are successful and are a useful contribution to society. I hope to take the skills I learned this year about adaptable, flexible consumer research to the workplace with me. I believe the fast-paced, ever-evolving project worked on during these two semesters gave me confidence in my abilities to meld engineering design and consumer-focused solutions. Fall 2016: Our coursework is often 2-dimensional. Problems have a specific process and a clear solution. The professional engineering world is nothing like our traditional homework assignments. Real-world problems do not have clear-cut solutions. During our first semester together as a team, I learned much about the design process. When we brainstormed solutions, we had to take into consideration so much more. From our user's needs to ethics, the project was about as 3-dimensional as it could get. There is nothing more telling than calling your sample user in Rwanda over the phone, and hear him tell you what you thought the problem was- keeping fish cool on the way to market- was less of an issue than the community's true concern- keeping milk cool. This project has been a lesson in not assuming, taking down careful data, and doing our best to invent a solution that takes into all these considerations. |
Josh
Spring 2017:
Our work this semester re-enforced what I have been previously told about the importance of prototyping your designs. Even though our first design was ineffective, each subsequent design iteration produced noticeably better results than the previous design. By the end of the semester, we ended up with a much more efficient and effective system than we started out with, and this final design was completely different from anything we had considered at the end of our first semester. Our team did an excellent job collecting performance data from each of our designs, and this allowed us to quantitatively and objectively compare each new design to previous ones. This illustrated to me the importance of measuring your progress during a project, because it helps focus attention on improving the most critical features of the design. It gave us very clear feedback on whether or not our latest change to the design was an improvement or not. By the end of this semester, our design had become a very good proof of concept and has a lot of potential to become commercially viable. The success that we had this semester supports how effective rapid prototyping can be when trying to come up with an effective engineering design. Fall 2016: During the course of this first semester, I learned the importance of being able to rely on your team during a project as complicated as this. As one of the teams who proposed their own project, we were all able to select our fellow team members and it has been an incredible opportunity since we have been able to create an entire team of people who are excited to work on this project. Even though we are all either mechanical or electrical engineers, each of our team members brings a unique background and set of interests that gives us a wide range of opinions and viewpoints when discussing our project. This variety of skills allows us to evenly distribute the work needed for this project, with everyone playing towards their strengths. And while we have all been far from perfect team members while working on this project, I have gotten to see how having an entire team of motivated people allows me to never worry about everyone doing their own share of the work and allows us to meet the deadlines that we set for ourselves. |
Andrew
Spring 2017:
This semester taught me the lesson that waiting to implement a perfect idea is a bad idea. A number of times, I wanted to hold off on building some component until I was sure I had thought of every possible facet of the design. When I ultimately implemented and prototyped that idea, the problems I anticipated weren’t actually problems, and my basic assumptions turned out to be the source of the real issues. From these experiences, I found that engineering theory is far better at guiding macro level decisions as compared to micro level decisions. For these micro level decisions, implementing, prototyping, and testing are far more efficient uses of time. It was through the sessions of prototyping and testing that I truly learned the most about improving the project. In future design projects, I will start prototyping from the very beginning to kickstart this learning curve. Fall 2016: During this project, I have learned that the pursuit of progress must be balanced against the pursuit of understanding. As the team designed a product for a community we had never visited, that balance was critical. Due to delays in meetings with community members, it was tempting to make assumptions about their needs. It was tempting to guess what community members wanted in the pursuit of our deadlines, and in the pursuit of supposed progress to take leaps of faith. However, whenever progress was put before understanding, I almost always had to double back to redo my work. I have learned that while assumptions are often necessary, they must be made after making a significant effort to eliminate all unknowns. |