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Agenda for Monday July 16, 2007

0900 Welcome for the Day (BC/NG/HD and faculty)AIM for Stars overview (Neal)Lesson Idea List distribution (Neal)

0915 Bill and Jim’s Lesson Samples and Examples (Bill, Jim)0945 Engineering Design Tools (HD)

Objectives and ConstraintsSchedulingTechnical Writing

1015 Breakout (Observations/Questions) (HD?)Is engineering for everyone in the 21st century?Who would be good at engineering?

1045 Break 1115 What teachers should know about the TekBot™ (HD)

Sensors, Light, ForceSensors, Sound, Position

1200 Lunch1300 Hands-On

Assembly and Test of Analog Brain Board1530 Adjourn (adjourn directly from labs)

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SSilicon ilicon PPrairie rairie IInitiative on nitiative on RRobotics in obotics in IInformation nformation TTechnologyechnology

Engineering Engineering Design ToolsDesign Tools

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HeuristicsHeuristics A heuristic is anything that provides

a plausible aid or direction in the solution of a problem.

Heuristics are usually unjustified and potentially fallible.

Engineering design isis the use of heuristics.

Heuristics are used to cause the best change in a poorly understood situation within the available resources.

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Sample Engineering HeuristicsSample Engineering Heuristics Rules of Thumb and Orders

of Magnitude Attitude-Determining

Heuristics Risk-Controlling Heuristics Resource Allocation

Heuristics Miscellaneous Heuristics

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Rules of ThumbRules of Thumb

Ambient temperature 20 C Air 80% nitrogen, 20% oxygen Forward biased diode voltage 0.7 V

LED 1.5V One gram of uranium gives one

mega-watt day of energy Building construction scales as the

price of meat Screws have a point, bolts are flat

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Attitude-Determining Attitude-Determining HeuristicsHeuristics

Quantify or express all variables in numbers

Always give an answer Work at the margin of

solvable problems

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Risk-Controlling HeuristicsRisk-Controlling Heuristics Make small changes from

previous successful solutions.

Always give yourself a chance to retreat.

Use feedback to stabilize a design

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Resource Allocation Resource Allocation HeuristicsHeuristics

Allocate sufficient resources to the weak link.

Allocate resources as long as the cost of not knowing exceeds the cost of finding out.

At some point in the project, freeze the design.

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MiscellaneousMiscellaneous Break complex problems into

smaller, more manageable pieces.

Design for a specific time frame.

Always make the minimum decision.

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Conceptual Design5. Establish design specifications6. Generate alternatives

Client Statement(Need)

Preliminary Design7. Model or analyze design8. Test and evaluate design

Detailed Design9. Refine and optimize design

Final Design(Fabrication Specs& Documentation)

Problem Definition1. Clarify objectives2. Establish user requirements3. Identify constraints4. Establish functions

Design Communication10. Document design

Design Process

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Convergent (left brain) and Divergent (right brain) Thinking

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Problem DefinitionProblem Definition Methods

Objective Tree Pairwise Comparison

Chart Weighted Objectives

Tree Function-Means

Tree Functional Analysis Requirements Matrix

Means Literature Review Brainstorming User Surveys and

Questionnaires Structured Interviews

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Building an Objectives TreeBuilding an Objectives Tree

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Building an Objectives TreeBuilding an Objectives Tree

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Functional AnalysisFunctional Analysis What does the design DO? What functions must be performed to

realize the objectives? Put the language of the client and users

into the language of the engineer. Put things into terminology that helps to

find ways to meet objectives. Use terminology that can be used to

measure how well the objectives have been met.

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What are Functions?What are Functions? A relationship between independent

variables (inputs) and response or dependent variables. (outputs)

Mathematics:

Business Management Theory:

xfy

services

products

ylogtechno

materials

laborTransformation function

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Black and Glass BoxesBlack and Glass Boxes Like the mathematical and management

models - relate the inputs to the outputs

All ins and outs must be specified What happens to each input? Where does the output come from?

Remove the cover to see what's going on inside.

Black Box

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Black Box of a RadioBlack Box of a Radio

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Radio Glass BoxRadio Glass Box(the cover has been removed)(the cover has been removed)

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Function-Means TreeFunction-Means Tree A graphical representation of the design's

basic and secondary functions Alternating levels of function and means Begins the process of association of what

must be done and how we might do it. Can be used to separate and sort

secondary functions associated with the design.

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HeuristicsHeuristics A heuristic is anything that provides

a plausible aid or direction in the solution of a problem.

Heuristics are usually unjustified and potentially fallible.

Engineering design isis the use of heuristics.

Heuristics are used to cause the best change in a poorly understood situation within the available resources.

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Conceptual Design: Conceptual Design: Finding a Feasible Concept.Finding a Feasible Concept.

Break down the overall problem into subproblems. Find solutions to each subproblem Combine the subproblem solutions.

The aim is to start with the project definition and generate as many ways as possible of solving the problem.

Then select the most promising ideas that meet the design specification.

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Conceptual DesignConceptual Design Methods

Performance Specification Method

Quality Function Deployment (QFD)

Morphological Chart

Means Brainstorming Synectics and

Analogies Benchmarking Reverse Engineering

(Dissection)

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Convergent (left brain) and Divergent (right brain) Thinking