Silicon Prairie Initiative on Robotics in Information Technology

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Silicon Prairie Initiative on Robotics in
Information Technology

• Engineering Design Tools

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Problem Definition 1. Clarify objectives 2.
Establish user requirements 3. Identify
constraints 4. Establish functions
Client Statement (Need)
Conceptual Design 5. Establish design
specifications 6. Generate alternatives
Design Process
Preliminary Design 7. Model or analyze design 8.
Test and evaluate design
Detailed Design 9. Refine and optimize design
Final Design (Fabrication Specs Documentation)
Design Communication 10. Document design
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Convergent (left brain) and Divergent (right
brain) Thinking
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Heuristics

• 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 is 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 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 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 Heuristics

• Quantify or express all variables in numbers
• Always give an answer
• Work at the margin of solvable problems

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Risk-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 Heuristics

• 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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Miscellaneous Heuristics

• Break complex problems into smaller, more
  manageable pieces.
• Design for a specific time frame.
• Always make the minimum decision.

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Problem 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 Tree
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Building an Objectives Tree
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Functional 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?

• A relationship between independent variables
  (inputs) and response or dependent variables.
  (outputs)
• Mathematics
• Business Management Theory

Transformation function
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Black 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 Radio
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Radio Glass Box(the cover has been removed)
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Function-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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Heuristics

• 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 is 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 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 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