MEC4701 Fall 2006

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ELM4701 Electromechanical Projects I Fall
2006 Instructors Andre St. Denis John
Kidder Green Hall 100 Morrill Addition
117 728-1370 728-1783 728-5744(home)
728-0031(home) astdenis_at_vtc.edu jkidder_at_vtc.edu
Course Overview The ELM4701 course begins the
capstone experience in the Electromechanical
Engineering Technology program which continues
with ELM4702 in the spring. The objective is to
introduce the student to the team-based
engineering design process and to integrate these
concepts with the technical knowledge and skills
gained from earlier courses to successfully
design, build, and test a prototype of an
electromechanical product. These skills are
applied in a design project which integrates
electrical, computer and mechanical technologies
into an automated system.
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Building a doghouse like a skyscraper Peter
Chapin read about this and mentioned the concept
a few years ago. The premise is this 1. it
doesnt take any special skills to build a dog
house (just collect some wood, nail the pieces
together measuring and cutting is optional the
customer (your dog) will be happy with
anything), 2. building a skyscraper requires
serious planning, financing, many calculations,
many meetings and presentations, proper
documentation, purchasing the correct materials,
scheduling, and so on it is very expensive and
nearly impossible to fix if a mistake is made it
must be engineered from the start! The goal in
this course is not just to build something, but
to engineer a product prototype - to design and
build a doghouse as though its a skyscraper.
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• Course Outcomes
• To develop the skills to function effectively as
  a contributing member of a technical design team
• To develop an aptitude for researching,
  organizing and evaluating concepts and ideas in
  order to develop a solution to a technical
  problem
• To understand how to integrate mechanical,
  electrical, and software components in a
  functional system design and to communicate the
  system concept.
• To be capable of planning and managing a
  technical project through group meetings, work
  plans and cost budgeting.
• To effectively communicate the technical
  functionality and development plan of an
  engineering design through oral presentations and
  written documentation.

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Mini Project Accelerated experience in
electromechanical engineering design (6-8
weeks) Main Project (20 weeks or more)

• Concepts emphasized in the Mini Project
• Understanding and defining a technical problem
• Brainstorming and developing and evaluating
  design concepts
• Team building and project management
• Engineering design diagrams - mechanical,
  electrical, state, and system
• Electronic documentation (web pages etc.)
• Presentation styles

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Tentative Mini-Project Schedule
Week 1 Lecture Course introduction Design
teams, brainstorming, and concept development Lab
Activity Miniproject problem Brainstorm
solutions, form teams. Introduction to
MARV Assignment Meet as a team, develop design
concepts, sketches, etc. Week 2 Lecture
Project management Teambuilding, meetings,
planning tools, etc. Lab Activity Time/cost
estimation exercise for completed systems (past
projects or MARV). Assignment Schedule and cost
estimation exercise Week 3 Lecture
Presentation styles and visual aids in
engineering design Lab Activity Develop
diagrams for existing systems. Students present
design reviews using old ELM project PPT
presentations Assignment Prepare preliminary
design reviews for mini-project. Week
4 Lecture Preliminary design presentations Lab
Preliminary design reviews/ in remaining
timeElectronic documentation lecture Assignment
Create team web page/electronic file
system Week 5 Lecture Systems engineering-
testing and analysis Lab Activity Project
work Week 6 Lecture Mini Project Design
Presentations Lab Activity Mini Project
Design Presentations
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Grading Policy
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ELM4701 Electromechanical Project I Fall
2006 Mini-Project Assignment Charging Station
for MARV II Problem Statement The mission
is to develop a charging station for the MARV II
robot units. The objective is for the robot to
locate and move to the charging station in an
automated fashion and electrically connect to a
charging system.
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• Brainstorming
• Guidelines from Tools and Tactics of Design,
  P.G. Dominick et al., (John Wiley, 2001)
• Criticism is Ruled Out
• Generate as many ideas as possible in the
  allotted time
• Do not critique ideas, generate them
• No idea should be squelched ? no idea is too
  silly or impractical
• Creative and Imaginative Thinking is Encouraged
• Free-wheeling and wild ideas are welcomed
• Think outside of the box
• A solution may evolve from an side comment or a
  simple idea that is initially perceived as a joke
• Quantity is the Metric
• Success is measured by the quantity of ides
  generated (not the quality)
• The goal is to generate promising ideas that will
  need much further refinement

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• Mini-Project Brainstorming and Team Forming
• Rules of Engagement
• Everyone has the problem statement
• For a fixed period of time (15 minutes) people
  make suggestions of solutions and write them all
  down (on the blackboard). No suggestion should
  be discussed other than to clarify its
  description no comments should be made about the
  quality or effectiveness of the suggestion.
• Dozens of suggestions and variants should be
  possibleand the process continues until we fill
  the board (the vast number of suggestions usually
  convinces everyone that something worthwhile has
  occurred).
• Take a break (5 minutes).
• Everyone returns to refine the suggestions and
  eliminate some it will be possible to start
  grouping the remaining ones into similar
  groupings and eventually get the number down to 3
  or 4 types.
• At this point let individuals or groups request
  to work on a solution of their choice.

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• The Design Process
• DEFINING THE PROBLEM
• FORMULATING SOLUTIONS
• Trade-offs between design parameters
• Research and data gathering
• DEVELOPING MODELS AND PROTOTYPES
• Building
• Testing
• Redesign
• PRESENTING AND IMPLEMENTING THE DESIGN
• Report Writing
• Presentations

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• Formulating Solutions
• Eliminating Biases/ Overcoming Assumptions
• Try to avoid preconceived biases
• - This thing needs wheels because how else
  would it move?
• - All robots use optical sensors!
• - This thing is a robot so it should be built
  like a robot!
• - Robots never use those!
• - Samco said thats how we should do it
• Avoid forcing design elements (parts, control
  algorithms) into a design because
• You have the parts
• Theyre cheap
• I like them
• Theyre cool

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• FORMULATING SOLUTIONS
• Research and Data Gathering
• What is the state of the art?
• What works and what doesnt? Why?
• What sensors are used in autonomous robots?
• What types of drive trains are used?
• Has anyone ever built something like this
  before?
• Are there typical control algorithms for robots?
• How much do things cost? Weigh? How much power
  do they require?