Engineering Design Process

The engineering design process is a method used to guide engineers through problem-solving.  It's one of those processes that's recurring where one can begin at any step, whether they move back or forth. For my team members, Sarah and Kassidy, we went through the 6 steps of the engineering design process. 

• Define -The problem or challenge was to build a model that'll transport a model from point A to point B, in this case, it would be across a table. 

• Research - We only had a certain number of materials we could use to build a mode of transportation. Some materials include: 4 tires, 1 rubber band, etc. We did not have to use all of the materials. We only had 3 team members with one goal, to design a mode of transportation. 

• Imagine - We envisioned making a bridge, car, or even trapezoid design for our mode of transportation.

• Plan - We ended up going with the trapezoid design. The materials would include: 4 tires, 1 long rod, 2 small blue rods, 2 medium yellow rods, 2 green semi connectors, 6 orange connectors, and 4 tan semi small connectors. 

• Create - Through this step, we ran into some problems, as most do. We began to reevaluate how we were going to make this trapezoid like model. We ended up redesigning the model all together, in the moment, and came up with the design below. 

• Test - Through this ideation and reevaluation, we tested ours and while it did work when we tested it, somehow it didn't when it came time to show the teacher and TA's. While we didn't really have time to accomplish step 7 and 8. We did try to improve and redesign in the little time we did have. 

Throughout the engineering design process, I learned that nothing can be perfect. Every step takes time, and every design strives for improvement. Even if we had accomplished said objective, we would still need to reevaluate our model to make it the best it can be. We ended up adding in additional materials we hadn't used before, like a long rod, 2 small blue rods, and 2 yellow semi connectors. These materials included the top portion of the design, as you can see the difference in image one and two. Through this modification, we determined a more steady and balanced mode of transportation.