Fabrication and Implementation
In Victoria, we were asked to create boats using limited resources – a sheet of plastic, rolls of duct tape and hot glue as well as a motor, battery and wires to create the necessary propulsion system. I was able to create an extremely strong boat hull out of the given materials, as it was meticulously tested before we put it out onto the water. While not particularly aesthetic, I tried taking a more function over form approach to it, as the duct tape helped with the flotation and balance of the boat. While the internal circuitry suffered from some bumping around and movement on the walk down to the beach and did not function as intended, the overall structure held up against the waves of the ocean quite well.
Iterative Testing and Refinement
Given my limited time after I had switched my project last minute, I did not have the same amount of time to go through the design cycle as others. However, I did manage to go through stages of iterative testing in two ways this year. During our planetary vehicle project, although we did not have many alterations when we reached the physical testing stage, we went through many designs on whiteboard and CAD. We originally wanted to go with more of a “van” like design to allow room for all our proposed ideas, such as two engines in a hybrid system, but things like centre of gravity just didn’t make sense. We ended up with a more sedan shape for the body and stuck with that after a couple iterations in between.
Final Design
Planetary Vehicle Project
For my personal project, the car enthusiast platform, iterative changes and refinement occured at many phases. For example, during that night we attended at uVic with all the engineering students, I recieved a lot of feedback and suggestions for the features in my app. For example, someone brought up the concern that the app would promote speeding. While true, this is never explicitly stated and has led me to develop some solutions for this issue: including a clear legal disclaimer that the app doesn’t promote reckless driving, but instead celebrates skill, sharing and routes. Additionally, a scoring system of smoothness could be added rather than time it takes to complete a route, rewarding users with a badge or “XP”. A report button for users to use to flag unsafe posts will also be included.
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