Reflection #1
February 8,2017
At this point in time our group has gone though a lot since the start. We have lost two members of our group and gained one. So far we have contacted and shadowed Tony who works for The Ohio State University. At this phase in the project we are feeling confident that we will be able to to come up with a good product in order to help the University’s recycling program. As of right now we are still feeling a little unsure of what exactly we are going to do for our design. The background research and job shadowing has helped point us in a direction of where we need to go but the path to get there is still vague to us. The challenges we see moving forward will be can we actually design something that will actually do the job as efficiently as we hope.
Reflection #2
February 21,2017
This last week we as a group created a mind map. We wrote down all of our ideas for possible problem areas that could be solved. The problem our group had come across was not going to broad. We as a group decided to work on designing a product the Ohio State University’s recycling programs, but we ended up going as far as writing down garbage trucks as a possible area of issues. After writing it down we did decide that it was a bit of a stretch but we left it there because we did not want to limit our options. If an idea came to mind we wrote it down and discussed it. What we learned about our project is that there are a few main sources of issues that seemed connected so we decided to start looking in those directions. This project helped us as a group to help each other collect our thoughts so everyone knows what everyone else is thinking. Getting all thinking on similar topics helps us all get on the same page as a group. We did not have any troubles forming a problem statement. Our mind map seemed to have topics that had a lot of connections to them so it was easy to find the problem areas and make statements about them. A concern we have right now is how innovated can we be in our direction? Right now we feel a lot of the problems would be solved easily but not in a creative fashion. With that being said it is still fuzzy in what all we could do. Maybe as a group we will in the near future find a direction that is exciting.
Reflection #3
March 2,2017
As a group, we all worked together to create various designs centered on recycling. The process was interesting as it forced all of us to push our imagination to create things. Since we had to create 10 different designs for each of our problem areas, we had to push ourselves in order to complete the assignment. We had some points where we stumbled to think of ideas, but this experience helped us come up with new approaches.
By the end of the assignment, our group was able to create the needed amount of designs. Of our four problem areas, we did not have as many good ideas for the Student Life. This area forced us to think differently in order to come up with our designs. Through this thinking we were able to advance some of the designs in our other problem areas. We now have a lot of different ideas to base prototypes off of. We plan to make a small amount of prototypes to bring some of our designs to life. This project is becoming more focused and we will soon be making something tangible. This will be fun.
Reflection #4
March 9,2017
Putting together these prototypes has allowed the group to come up with physical models to use for further project development. Each member came in with their own prototype model and this has allowed the group to see tangible examples of what can be possible. These models were roughly put together, but each member put in a good amount of effort in order to produce them. Each member was dealing with a limited timespan to create the prototypes, but we were all able to convey the features that we wanted to show.
Each of our group members made prototypes that concerned a trash can. With all of the different features our group was able to see the variety of possibilities. After going through the presentations, our group had a decent amount of visual and audio aids to provide in the designs. We could potentially use them, along with some of our more complicated features that we couldn’t put in our prototypes. These features could be used together to create a conceptual design of what an efficient trash bin could be like.
Our group also learned that we could change our project focus towards something other than a trash unit. One of the designs we discussed was a tool that could be used to assist in moving trash into dumpsters and removing trash from waste cans. These designs would aid in the process of moving the trash in uncomfortable positions. They would alleviate stress on the body and also prevent trash contents from dropping to the ground.
Looking further along at our project, our group is going to be deciding upon what would be the most effective and plausible design. Now that we have had some physical examples to look at, we want to create something that makes sense and is as effective as possible. Our next goal is to come up with a functional prototype that is able to accomplish our design tasks. We have some more work to do, but we’ll get it done.
Reflection #5
March 29,2017
When doing this prototype we had an idea of making one garbage can into two with a lid that covered half. This way everything by default will go to garbage and then when the lid was lifted you could throw things into recycling. It seemed simple enough at first when you just say it but there are several different ways to lift a lid. We had to discuss the pros and cons of the two we came up with at first, which was a rod mechanism, or have a string pull down on the backside. The reason why we needed a mechanism is because we don’t want to touch the lid with our hands. So we came up with a foot pedal design. We decided on the string because we felt that the rod mechanism would be too bulky and take up too much space. Before we even got started we learned that you must really plan things out and think them through because it will save you time and money to think ahead.
While building the new style garbage can we learned that the can we picked was not good for lids. It has sides that come together sharply and it in neither round nor rectangular but something between. It makes it hard to build a well-fitted lid with it being this way because the lid likes to rub the edges when it raises and getting the design of the lid to fit the design of the can was difficult too. We also found that using string is hard to keep tension in the line so we will need to use a flexible wire or cable. All of these problems that arouse taught us that when designing you must think on your feet because not everything will work as well as it does in your head. Such as we decided to turn the can to the side and mount the pedal there instead of the end because mounting it on the end of an ovalish shape would look funny and be really difficult.
To sum up what we need to do before the final product is, find a rectangular starting can base, create a shield for the string so nothing can pinch it to the sides and stop it from working, and do not use string but instead something a little stiffer. After these changes our can will become better but as we have learned, some problems might arise in these solutions.