The "Architecture Project" - Human Centered Design in Action!

Goals:
Develop a design that meets the following Criteria and Constraints...

Criteria:
-Develop an architectural solution that solves a specific problem for a client. Your end result will be an architectural model of your design.
-Create 3 sketches to support your brainstorming effort.
-Create 2 digital prototypes of your design.
-Physically construct a prototype (model).
-Collect feedback from the client at each stage of your effort.

Constraints:
-Utilize a design process to solve this challenge:
----Define the Problem
----Brainstorm Solutions
----Digital Prototypes
----Physical Prototype
----Portfolio Report/Summary of experience
-All students on a team must meet with the client... this is "human centered" design after all!
-Clearly identify the design need being met.
-Use our "four quadrant feedback" technique with your client between each stage of the design process (Define the Problem, between Brainstorming and Digital Prototyping, between Digital Prototyping and Physical Prototyping, After completing your Physical Prototype). Your meetings can be breif, but please solicit feedback and incorporate it into your efforts. Record and list feedback at each stage and list any changes made based off of it.
-Label at least 3 key features on any sketches you produce.
-Use Inventor (CAD) on at least one of your digital prototypes. You may use Minecraft to quickly simulate the second digitial prototype.


Consider the following as you make progress on your effort:
-Can you utilize any of the "Design Modes" from the Stanford Design School's "Design Thinking" process? Read our post on the "Bootcamp Bootleg" for more info.
-Can you incorporate any of the architectural concepts that were highlighted by our "Top Ten Architects" lesson?


The following process may help you achieve compliance with the above design criteria/constraints...

Process:
Identify a client
Discover a design need (interview the client)
Brainstorm solutions
-Create 3 sketches of solutions.
-Call out 3 key features on each sketch.
Prototype 2 solutions with CAD software
-Consider 'A/B testing' a key design feature.
Recieve feedback from your client
-generate "+", "change", "ideas" and "questions" from both your client and your team.
Rework/Iterate on your design
-incorporate feedback into your design.
-call out features you changed based on specific feedback.
Build an architectural model that incorporates feedback
Present model for review
-generate another round of feedback.
Write up experience on your online portfolio
-Share client feedback at each stage of the effort. Communicate how feedback shaped your next effort in the design process.

How to cut like an Architect

Influential Architects

In anticipation of our forthcoming "Architecture Project", please take a look at these breif videos:

Influential Architects

Play all:
Click here to watch all the videos in sequence!

TED Challenge 2012!

Go to TED.com and spend some time investigating the site.

Once you've had a chance to familiarize yourself with the webpage, answer the following questions:

1) What is the TED organization about?

2) What is the purpose of their website and how does the functionality of their site support that?

3) As Engineers and Problem Solvers, which topic areas (the choices from the "Show talks related to:" section on the sidebar) are of most interest to us? Justify your answer.

4) Based on your previous answer, what are 3 talks (videos) on the site that appear like they would be of most interest to you as an Engineer/Problem Solver? Justify your choices.

5) Each student will watch a unique video (clear your choice with me... first come, first served!). Watch the video. Embed the video in your blog post and create a bulletized outline of the key issues presented in the talk.

6) How could you get involved in the field/technology/issue you chose to hear about? What experience/skills/training/education would you need to learn to get involved with this field?


Part II of the TED activity will have you negotiate within a group to select the "best" video to represent the group. The student with the chosen video will recieve extra credit. The group will then prepare a short presentation that summarizes the talk and will present to the class. The class will choose the best presentation and that group will recieve extra credit.

2nd Annual Egg Drop Challenge!

We will conduct the 2nd Annual Engineering Egg Drop Challenge next week!

Your goal is to design and implement a solution for our client that allows us to drop an egg from our class balcony onto the concrete below without it breaking.



The PLTW 12 Step Iterative Design Process (click to enlarge):




Our agenda for Egg Drop Week (next week) supports an iterative design process:

Monday is "Prep Day"
Team up with a partner
Define the challenge, criteria and constraints.
Brainstorm solutions.
Identify materials to bring in for "Build Day" (block day)

You must bring in the materials you want to use for Block Day!


Block Day is "Build Day"
Use the materials you've brought in to realize the vision of your design.
Crash test dummy eggs will be provided.
You may test your design off the balcony


Thursday is "Test Day"
Click here to see correct drop technique.


Friday is "Iteration Day"
Redesign as necessary.
Reimplement your design.
Capture your experience in your portfolio.


Score
An Achievement System will be used to score your effort on this activity.
The number one priority in this effort is to not make a permanent mess (no Jello, materials that will stain, etc. If you have any question about materials, please see Mr. Olson).
Our next priority is to have a great time solving this challenge! :)
Please note that all materials used in your solution must be "delivered" from the launch location (you may not place additional material on the target from the ground for instance).

6th Period Fliers!

Ready to launch!:


Lexi, Jordan and Will built this remarkable aircraft that was designed with bio-mimicry principles in mind:


Blake and Jesse's airplane was perfectly balanced. Low and level flight gave it great distance results!:


The basketballs came out and it was all over for 6th period...

5th Period Fliers!

Some shots of 5th Period's balsa fliers in action today!

First!

Sammy showing off his glider, the first one I've seen completed. Nice job!:

Wild Wings

One of the challenges for our Model Aircraft fabrication project is to come up with the neatest decorations in your class.

Here are a few designs under way in 5th and 6th period:

Aircraft in Progress

Isreal and Chase papering the wing of their model airplane:

How Many Pieces are Possible?

We've had some great debates about how many puzzle pieces you can make with 5 cubes.

Here is one students start at a list of possible parts using 3, 4, 5 and 6 cubes. These are very nicely drawn (please use this as a standard to achieve in your part drawings):



I found the following list of solutions online. How many combinations are there with 5 cubes?

? - What math can we use to predict how many possible part combinations there are?
? - Do all of these parts meet our design criteria/constraints?

Puzzle Cube Challenge

Puzzle Cube Criteria and Constraints
• Given 27 wood blocks, assemble a 3x3x3 puzzle cube.
• The cube must be made of 5 puzzle pieces, no more, no less.
• Each puzzle piece may be assembled from 3 to 6 wood blocks.
• You may not repeat any of the puzzle pieces in a given cube.
• Make your cube as challenging to solve as possible! (we'll have a contest!)


Deliverables

1) Possible Puzzle Pieces
• How many individual puzzle pieces are possible for 3, 4, 5 and 6 cubes?
• Draw as many as you can with a 1:1 ratio of squares to cubes on isometric graph paper.
• Submitted and graded as a team effort.

2) 2 or More Puzzle Cube Solutions
• Use your 27 cubes and tape to model at least two possible cube solutions.
• Solutions must adhere to our Criteria and Constraints.
• Record the puzzle pieces for each of your solutions on isometric paper.
• Use the shading techniques we've learned for isometric drawings.
• Choose a solution and specify why you selected it.

3) Build Your Cube
• Use Elmer's glue to glue up the pieces of your chosen solution.
• Color each piece of your cube a distinct color using our class crayons.

4) Step By Step Instructions
• Using isometric paper, create step by step instructions that shows how to solve your cube.
• Each step must show the assembly from the previous step and how the next piece fits in with them ("x+y=z").
• Use the shading techniques we've learned for isometric drawings.

5) CAD Modelling
• Create an assembly of each of your pieces in Inventor.
• Create an assembly of your entire cube in Inventor.
• Create Multiview drawings of each of your pieces in Inventor.
• Create an explosion of your cube assembly in an Inventor Presentation (.ipn) file.
• Animate your explosoion. Make sure you sequence the movement of your pieces so that they don't overlap each other while in motion.
• Record your animation and post the video to your blog.

Lego Time!

We had some quality building going on today. Here are some of the guys from 6th Period hard at work:


Each student selected 25-30 pieces in turn from the available pool of parts. This meant it was more challenging to come up with a compelling design. Never the less, everyone seemed to create something interesting.

Will made an awesome chicken!:


Lexi made this neat tree that looks straight out of an 8 bit video game:


It's not easy making something from scratch. Nice job today 5th and 6th periods.

Lego Dims

These Lego dimensions will be helpful for a project we start after Thanksgiving (assuming the District gets our Inventor licenses sorted out!).

What is this below and what might we be doing with them?...

Example: Assembly Challenge Submission

The following is an example of what a student' Assembly Challenge blog post might look like. Use this as a reference for creating your post (hopefully you earn at least a few more puzzle piece achievements!):



I earned 3 Achievements on this challenge:

"First Assembly"






"Give Help"
I explained to Dane how to use three constraints to lock in one puzzle cube part onto another.

"Receive Help"
Tom explained how to use the dimension tool to create a perfectly square sketch for my cube part.

Inventor Basics: Assembly Challenge

Overview
We've learned how to make a Part in Inventor, now it's time to understand how we can combine Parts into an Assembly.

A Part is a collection of data regarding a single object. Because we're using a digital format, we can leverage the power of our computers to rapidly create multiple instances of a single object:



Constraints can be applied to lock the parts in relation to each other:






Process
• Create a part that represents a single wooden cube. Use a ruler to measure the wood cube and create the part to scale.
• Choose one of the puzzle assorted puzzle cube parts that we have in class (see examples available in image below).
• Use Inventor to create an Assembly of the chosen puzzle cube part using the single wood cube Part.
• Post a photo of the puzzle cube piece you chose to model (you may use your lap top or cell phone to capture an image) and a corresponding screenshot of your assembly.




Achievements:
Post evidence of all achievements earned to your online portfolio (click here to see an example). Tally the total number of Achievements earned and start your post with "I earned X achievements for this challenge" where X is the number you earned.
"1st Assembly" - Post a photo of a puzzle piece (use webcam or smartphone) and then a screen shot of an Inventor assembly of it.
"2nd Assembly" - Post a photo of a second puzzle piece (use webcam or smartphone) and then a screen shot of an Inventor assembly of it.
"3rd Assembly" - Post a photo of a third puzzle piece (use webcam or smartphone) and then a screen shot of an Inventor assembly of it.
"4th Assembly" - Post a photo of a fourth puzzle piece (use webcam or smartphone) and then a screen shot of an Inventor assembly of it.
"5th Assembly" - Post a photo of a fifth puzzle piece (use webcam or smartphone) and then a screen shot of an Inventor assembly of it.
"Give Help" - Help your classmates. Describe a specific case of help you gave someone else.
"Recieve Help" - Solicit and recieve help from a classmate. Describe who helped you and how.
"I'm the Assembly Master!" - Create an assembly of the monster tower of power below (this could be tough...):

The Deep Dive

In this activity, you will watch a group of professionals work to solve a design problem in just five days.

Copy and paste the following questions into your blog and answer them based on what you learn from watching "The Deep Dive". Use different color text for your answers to distinguish them from the questions:


1. “From the buildings in which we live and work, to the cars we drive, or the knives and forks with which we eat, everything we use was designed to create some sort of marriage between _________________ and _________________.”



2. The folks at IDEO state that they are not experts in any given area. But, they do claim to be experts on the ____________________, which they apply to the innovation of consumer products.



3. After the team of designers is brought together, told the problem, and informed they have five days to “pull it off,” what phase of the design process do they immediately engage in?







4. Give two examples of what the team members did during this phase.

a.


b.





5. List five rules-of-thumb that IDEO employees follow when they share ideas during the brainstorming phase:

a.


b.


c.


d.


e.





6. Why should wild (and sometimes crazy) ideas be entertained during the brainstorming phase?









7. After the brainstorming phase was over, the team narrowed down the hundreds of ideas by _____________ for those ideas that were not only “cool” but also _________________ in a short period of time. What phase of the design process is this called?





8. IDEO believes that the ideas and efforts of a ______________ will always be more successful than the planning of a lone genius.



9. Once the ideas were narrowed down and divided into categories, the group was split into four smaller teams. What phase(s) of the design process was each of these groups responsible for?



10. The leaders at IDEO believe that ________________ behavior and a ______________ environment are two important reasons why their employees are able to think quickly and creatively to produce innovative results.



11. Sometimes, people come up with great solutions that work by trying their ideas first, and asking for _________________ later.



12. Design is often a process of going too far and having to take a few steps back. What phase of the design process would the critique of the four mock-ups come under?





13. Upon critique of the four teams’ models, it was obvious that none of the teams had developed an optimum solution. However, the people at IDEO believe that it is important to _____________ often in order to _____________ sooner.



14. What percentage of the entire week’s time did it take to fabricate the final prototype?





15. Instead of showering his design team with a tremendous amount of praise, what did the boss require his employees to do with their new design?





16. Of all the things that we are surrounded by every day, what has not been placed through the design process?







Conclusion

1. What did you find to be the most impressive part of the team’s effort?









2. What advantages are there to having a design team with members that have non-engineering backgrounds?









3. There was a point in the process where a self-appointed group of adults stepped up, stopped the ideas, and redirected the group to break up into teams. Why was this done?









4. At the end of the video, Dave Kelly states, “Look around. The only things that are not designed are the things we find in nature.” Can you think of anything that would contradict this statement?

Inventor Basics: Brick Examples

These are some examples of CAD "Bricks" made out of Inventor parts for the ED "Brick by Brick" Challenge:

West Point Bridge Designer (WPBD) Challenge

This is a department wide challenge available for any Engineering student to participate in. Rather than devoting specific in class time for this event, it's an ongoing game that is an approved activity whenever you've completed your current coursework. Engage with this in place of non-engineering related activities.

The Challenge:
Build the cheapest bridge possible that successfully spans the gap (Your bridge must not only stand under its own weight, it must also support the weight of the test vehicle).

How To Get Started:
Click on the West Point Bridge Designer icon on your desktop to get the software going (If you are unable to find the icon, search for the software the traditional way using start>program files):




Proceed through each setup step to reach the bridge editor:




Build and test your bridge. The key way to reduce cost is by changing your bridge members to the smallest members possible. This is an "iterative" process. Fail early and fail often!

Achievements
You may earn the following Achievements. These are worth extra credit. Justification for each Achievement (screenshots and text explanation) should be compiled into a single post on your blog (remember, you can edit and update blog post to keep it current). You may be required to verify any results so keep copies of your files:

"Build it" (1pt) - Build a functional bridge. Display a screen shot and list the total cost. List one feedback item for each of our four feedback areas for this design (+, change, ?, !).

"My Best Result" (1pt) - Post your best result and your period in the comments section of this post.

"Best in Class" (1pt) - The best score posted in the comments section from each period may earn this Achievement.

"Best Bridge" (1pt) - The best score overall from any course posted in the comments section earns this Achievement.

Be In Here!

(Generaly speaking), it pays to volunteer to go first/early when a group of people have to present. Your audience has less of an expectation and greater level of attention.