Design Process
  • Brainstormed as a team about topics of interest
  • Decided a robotic hand would be a great year-long project
  • Needed to find problem that this would solve
    • Took a long time to get to silicosis in the denim industry as an appropriate problem to address

 

  • Our team took a less conventional approach in determining the topic of our design project because we started with a very specific idea for a solution and then had to go back to trace the problem it solved. A benefit of this was that we were able to have complete autonomy over the final product and had more time to research the best ways to implement our solution, since we knew from early on in the process that we wanted to make a robotic hand that closely mimicked a human hand and could be wirelessly controlled by a data glove. The main disadvantage was that we fell a bit behind schedule in some areas because we had a hard time finding the appropriate area that our hand could have an impact in.
    • As nice as it was to know the solution we would be spending the entire year developing was one that we all enthusiastically decided on, it was very frustrating and time consuming to find such a niche application for our idea. It would have been much easier to decide on a problem worthy of being solved first, and then brainstorm different solutions we were passionate  about pursuing.

 

Team Structure

Teamwork makes the dream work!

  • Combination of assigned sub-teams and a general sense of “go where you’re needed”
    • We split up into smaller groups based on our personal interests and skills, but still made sure to be involved in all aspects of the project
    • Constant communication amongst team members
    • Help other sub-teams with their own progress
  • Tasks were assigned based on each sub-team, but in our weekly meetings, we discussed every “assignment” as an entire group
    • Everyone contributed on deliverables and kept other sub-teams updated on progress
  •  Read more about the Team Dynamics!

 

Timeline
  • Used a Gantt chart to track the progress of the project in the fall
  • Started with a Spring semester Gantt chart, but ultimately decided it was easier to track tasks in more of a “check list” type of approach
    • For each deliverable, we made documents indicating what needed to be done and what team member would be doing it
    • Individual sub-teams tracked their own internal deadlines

Reflect on Evolutions
  • Team structure
    • Changed for the better when instead of just focusing on a single sub-team or component of the project, each member was involved in all parts of the project in some capacity, even if it was just providing feedback on an idea
  • Project timeline
    • Could improve schedule organization
      • Just because a Gantt chart wasn’t working for us, it would have helped us stay on track if we came up with another “timeline management” system so that the entire team was always on the same page
  • Overall project management
    • In addition to time management, we could improve delegating tasks and making contributions to things outside each individual’s comfort zone