39-245  Rapid Design through Virtual and Physical Prototyping  

  Carnegie Mellon Spring 2000  

  Portfolio of Albert Song  

Toy Concept Sketches

    This project included exercises in 'toy dissection,' developing concepts that included specific goals and also public speaking.

    Toy Dissection

    The toy dissection activity helped me learn more about how simple mechanisms work such as cams and motors. It also allowed me to creatively determine how small toys function since each group had to hypothesize the way in which several small toys worked. Here's sketch of our ideas on how the toy worked.

    Developing Concepts/Sketches

    The toy concepts that we had to sketch had to demonstrate some sort of physical principle and we had to present one idea to the class.  You can view my project here. Below are portions of the the sketches I made for the project. In this part, I learned mostly about how to effectively communicate my ideas. I noticed afterwards that some of my sketches were too small and the notes I wrote were hard to read.  This hindered me from describing exactly how my toys functioned. Also, I had to think critically about different issues in toy manufacturing such as cost and safety concerns.

    Public Speaking

    I learned that my public speaking skills are adequate, but I still need to work on different aspect that would make my presentations more effective. One thing I decided to improve was my eye contact with the entire audience throughout my presentation.

Newspaper Structure Team Project

    This project's aim was to construct a structure that would enclose a group of people using only newspapers and masking tape. More points were given according to the number of sheets used, aesthetics, build time, etc. Clear instructions on building the structure had to be written because another group would build our design.

    Structure building

    In terms of building the actual structure, I learned that a pyramid shape provides enough strength to stay standing on its own.  However, for materials such as used newspaper, the strength deteriorates rapidly over time and additional supports had to be added in order to keep it standing.  Also, writing instructions for our design was critical to this activity and our group took careful steps to make our instructions as clear as possible. This is often the case in the real world and provided a good exercise in writing instructions for someone else to read and follow.

    Team Dynamics and Personality Tests

    I learned that there needs to people who take initiative in a group in order to move things along in order and efficiency. The personality tests that were done in previous class times allowed us to group ourselves so that there would be an equal amount of people that generate ideas, question ideas, keep ideas in motion, etc.  It turned out that our group performed very well together, mostly because there was a lot of idea sharing and teamwork in building the structure together. I came out to be more of a judger and extrovert. This meant that I was more like to be realistic in determining what would work or not work and be able to move things along if things got too quiet.

Below is a photograph of our structure with our group standing inside and the build team in front.

    Take 2!

    Later on in the course we were asked to do the project again, this time with fewer sheets of newspaper and a greater knowledge of what works and what doesn't. Admittedly, the project, this time around, wasn't as engaging and exciting the first time we did it. Perhaps this was good, though, because it made us get a little crazier and experimental with our ideas. We ended up using last time's winner as the base for our idea. Last time's winner used tape in tension as part of the structure and only used 4 sheets. Although a constraint put on this activity to not be able to use tape in tension, we worked around it by using newspaper strips in tension. There was some controversy involved in this design decision because so much tape was used to make the strips, but out structure did stand, and it had an interesting sail-like quality to it.  Also, build times were much faster since we had previous experience.

Role Mole Problem

Role mole is a fictional character for whom we had to design something that would keep him from losing his glasses by the time he had to go on a date.

    Working with restraints

    The role mole problem had several problem restraints such as he does not wear any clothes, he does not wear contacts, the item must be attractive, must be on time, etc. In this problem I learned mostly how to develop solutions quick enough so that I could reserve some time to actually create the object. I assembled an adjustable strap with a glasses pouch for role mole. I learned that it's good to generate several ideas and choose a few realistic ones to create since the major focus of this project was a working prototype.

    Presentation

    As for the presentation, I learned that I should prepare more carefully before hand what sort of things I want to say because I noticed many times where I would start an idea while talking and start another.

Rapid Manufacturing Process

    This project entails the research and rapid manufacture of a machine part. Our group was given a certain machine part and we had to decide on the best rapid manufacture process to create it. Several processes were discussed and researched including Fused Deposition, LaserCamm, CNC, Stereo Lithography and others. It was good to see tangible examples of the different processes. For example, seeing the lines in fused deposition samples made the process more understandable than simply reading about it.

    Division of Labor

    One thing I learned is that there needs to be a good division of labor in order to efficiently get work completed. It would take too much time and effort for one person to research all the different type of process and weight the pros and cons of each in order to decide on one. We had split up the research and then convened to discuss which one would be the best. 

    Iron Cad

    All the parts that were going to be machined were on file in IronCad. This 3d CAD program prooved to be very simple to use in contructing quick 3d objects. Two class sessions were spent learning the program's various tools to create a machine part. However, our class experienced many of problems when trying to modify the original parts. I personally had a lot of trouble with our group's propeller part which was very complex. Loading this model took awhile and making slight changes in it was a pain.  Although IronCad is easier to use than most CAD program, the unfamiliarity and machine tolerance issues arose which ultimately failed this project. We were unable to modify each of the parts as discussed in class and machine them in time.

Cardboard Cube

    In this activity we constructed a cube out of cardboard. It was a fun activity since I had never worked with cardboard before. The thing I learned the most from this was the fact that I didn't need to cut the cardboard in one stroke of the blade, which would often cause hand strain. Making several light cuts would work very well to cut the cardboard. This activity would help a lot for the Garfield 6-pack holder asssignment.

Cardboard Six Pack Holder

    This project involved creating a container out of cardboard that would hold 6 cans of pop. In addition to the requirement of holding 6 cans, it had to be built such that the cans would stay even when the container was swung in any direction. Also I tried to minimize the amount of cardboard used and make it as aesthetic as possible.

    Cardboard Cutting and design

    Since this was the first I would be cutting cardboard to make something, I knew I did not want to spend too much time experimenting with the cardboard physically. Most of the design process went on in my mind. The solution I came up with was made out of one piece of cardboard that essentially wrapped around all six cans creating a sort of basket. I chose this design because of its simplicity and ease of creation. This entire process took approximately 3 hours from conception to a working prototype. Thank goodness it worked on the first attempt!  I thought of cutting out portions of the bottom of the container, but I did not want to take the risk of having to build it again if it broke. Here is a picture of my holder.

Egg Drop

    This exercise involved the creation of a device that would keep an egg from cracking when dropped from the second story of a building. Several restraints were put on the creation of this project. A certain amount of tokens were given that could be used to purchase various materials in order to construct the device. Materials could not be experimented with or returned. Points were awarded for the integrity of the eggshell after it had been dropped, the aesthetics of our structure, the amount of tokens left over, and how close the egg landed to a target on the ground.

    Design Process

    Our group only had thirty minutes to design and create a device to drop the egg. Initially we threw out several ideas that might keep the egg shell intact.  Basically two ideas were considered - a parachute device and a padded container. We knew that some cushioning was required to keep the egg from cracking and air resistance would take an important role in reducing the force of impact. We constantly had to take the materials available and their cost into consideration during the entire design process. Much of the cushioning materials such as bubble wrap were very expensive so we opted on using air resistance as the principle mechanism for the device. We decided to use two paper plates connected with 3 stick as a parachute. We attached a cup with some padding to contain the egg.

    The Big Test

    When we were ready to test the device, we dropped it directly over the target as accurately as possible. The device floated down at a good speed, but when it hit the ground, the egg popped out and cracked all over the parking lot. We had forgotten to take the impact into consideration and put a lid on the cup. If we had taken this into consideration, I'm positive that the egg would have survived the fall. In doing this exercise I learned that it's important to look at every possible scenario in an engineering problem. Also I learned that we had to work around the available materials and we could not simply design whatever we wanted. We were constantly restricted by cost, which is often a real world restraint.

Moving 4th Into Engineering

    For this project, our group was told to create a presentation for children that would demonstrate some sort of engineering process. The project must use a rapid prototype material.

    Brainstorming

    Thinking of ideas for this project was pretty difficult. We wanted to create a problem that would be fun for the children to try to solve. We had to take the physical abilities and current knowledge of the children in to consideration while brainstorming. We threw out ideas that involved creating complex devices or structures. Also we needed ideas that one of us would be knowledgeable about. Since we have an architect in our group, we chose to create a structural problem for the children to solve. Structural engineering problems are great because there is never a single answer to what you want to do and structural principles can be easily taught and carried out through construction. However, these sorts of ideas are very common and it is difficult to create novel structural problems.

    Arches and Cantilevers

    We finally decided that doing a straightforward build-a-building problem was overdone and chose more exotic construction problems for the children to work on. Two ideas arose: arches and cantilevers. Making an arch problem could be difficult because it would involve making materials that would simulate the pressure involved in real arches. We had a hard time thinking of how we could demonstrate this with materials that students could easy construct. Our final idea involved the creation of cantilevers. We decided to teach the principles behind cantilevering and then ask them to construct their cantilever out of plastic drinking straws and scotch tape. We could see who could make the longest and sturdiest design with what we taught them.

    First In class Test

    The first test was run by using straws and tape. This seemed like a good idea because the tape would allow the participants to quickly construct the different ideas that they had in mind for a cantilever. It was somewhat unorganized, so we decided that it needed more strict guidelines and a more concrete goal. We learned that it wasn't enough to simply give out a set of materials and tell them to build something, so we added a story line to the activity in order to make it more interesting. Also, there were problems with building a base for the structure. The base would take a considerable amount of time since it required building something very sturdy and well crafted in order for the actual cantilever to be built well. This would take the focus away from learning about cantilever and more and craftmanship, so we decided to make a base for them.

    Second In Class Test

    We decided to run the activity by using a wooden block as the base for the cantilever. 3 holes were drilled into them where one could insert wooden dowels. These dowels served as the starting point for the construction of the cantilever. The had several straws and dowels with tape for the participant to create the cantilever. We decided to add a Star Wars theme to our activity. We though this would create a fun scenario for the children that would be involved in constructing the cantilever. The object was to get a little Star Wars lego man to stand on the end of the cantilever and reach a certain distance. However, when our tester was doing this, we saw that he simply went about haphazardly taping everything together in order to make it as long as possible. This was not what we intended. In order to solve this, we added a constraint to our activity that involved only using a certain amount of materials. This was inspired by the egg drop activity in which every item had a certain cost. We strung this into the Star Wars theme by saying that the "force" was limited and that the amount of materials that could be used depleted the amount of force.

    Take Our Daughters to Work

    On one day, the engineering projects that we designed were tested out on children brought in for the "Take Our Daughters to Work" day. This was a great opportunity for us to be able to see how well our activity would actually work out with children that had no idea what cantilevers are. Although the children we worked with were younger than we expected, the activity still worked as intended once we toned down some aspects. For example, we took out the part about having only a limited amount of resources, instead we focused on teamwork, cooperation, and sharing of ideas in order for the children to learn the most. I learned that it was important to keep asking them questions and provide a lot of encouragement in order to keep them engaged and excited about what they were doing. The activity was a success, measured by how much they wanted to get the cantilever to go as far as possible, I think they enjoyed it a lot. Here are some pictures of our activity in action.

    Meeting of the Minds

    Our project culminated at the Meeting of the Minds research day held in the University Center. We had created final teacher and student worksheets as well as a large presentation poster to display the mechanics and goals of our project.  Making the poster was fun because one of our group members is an architect who presents things like this regularly. I learned how to use FormZ to create 3D models of cantilevers to print onto our poster and we also used Photoshop to lay everything out and make finishing touches. It was disappointing to see few people show up for our room, but it was good to see a few people try out our project. One mechanical engineering student spent a lot of time constructing a nice truss that was very sturdy. It was fun and educational to look at other people's projects and participate in the them as well.

Playing With Food

    On this day, an assortment of food activities were presented in order to demonstrate different science principle. I chose to do a heat transfer activity with ice cream, most because it looked to be the tastiest one. The activity involved mixing ice cream ingredients (sugar, milk, vanilla, etc) in a canister and then freezing it. A heat transfer principle was used by surrounding the ingredient canister with ice and salt. The salt was used to lower the freezing point and make it colder than usual. After several minutes of shaking, kicking and abusing the can in order to mix it up really well, we were able to enjoy a tasty treat.

Web Pages

    Making this web page was fairly easy by using MS FrontPage. I've used this software before and because of it's interface, it's just like using MS Word. I regret not having more time to work on in to make it more attractive and well organized.

My Real Passion

    Learning about engineering as an electrical and computer major at CMU has been a great time for me while I'm still an undergrad. I've learned so much about computer engineering here and the way CMU classes take a project based approach, I get so much experience with real world tools and knowledge. Different projects that I've worked on have been very time consuming, but also very satisfying in the end. Some include designing and implementing a 32-bit RISC processor in structural Verilog, a 16-bit Saturating adder using .35 micron CMOS technology, and programming and constructing a digital audio recorder with a multitasking operating system.

    All these seem like such a fantastic opportunity and learning experience, but when I really see what my life is about, all of this is meaningless. My truest passion could never be the things I do or experience, because they will all just fade away over time, the only thing that matter to me is my eternal relationship with Jesus Christ. Jesus is the only way to salvation, that is, He is the only one that can bring us to good terms with the only living God and save us from death forever. Since man was created, all we have done is rebel and go against God's loving desires for us. How can you or I ever be free from our dark hearts? We can't do anything by ourselves. But because God had so much compassion on us who are so helpless, He gave us His only Son Jesus to pay on our behalf, all the wrongs we have done. Once we accept the truth of this through faith, we are free to have that relationship with God the way it's supposed to be.  I can't imagine living without Jesus, He is the one I will serve and love forever.