ME2101E Assignment on Design Process 2013

Problem Statement:
Imagine you are the chief designer of a design team in a design centric manufacturing company that designs and manufactures useful devices for profit. The market research department in your company has identified the following products that are potentially needed by consumers and hence may bring profit to the company. These products are: (1) A human-powered people moving system to reduce carbon footprint in transportation; (2) A device for first mile/last mile travel between home-and-work and work-and-home; (3) A multi-purposed device that helps parents take care of their babies/toddlers; (4) A mechanical product to enhance the life of the aged; and (5) A cloth-drying system for high-rise dwellers. Your design team is required to select one of these devices and finally submit a design proposal to the company management for approval by the due date stated below. As no further information is provided by the market research team, your design team has the responsibility but flexibility to identify the specific needs, prescribe your own constrains, establish the detail specifications, etc and to design the device chosen.

Notes:

(1) This is a small group assignment with group size of minimum two maximum three persons. You are free to form your own design team. (2) Your submission should include pictures of the product in the form of photographs or free-hand sketches or engineering drawings to illustrate your design and discussion. There should be sufficient details in your report to describe how the design works even though no detail design (like calculation of stresses, exact dimensions, etc) is necessary. (3) Your submission shall be graded as follows: i. How well designed is your product? = 50% ii. Does your design work? = 20% iii. What factors have you considered in the design of the product? = 20% iv. How well presented is your report? = 10%

Submission Details:
Submission date: by 12:00 noon Monday 4th March 2013. Length of report: The length of your report, with words plus drawings/diagrams/sketches/photographs, is prescribed as follows in terms of maximum number of pages: For group with two members 8 and for group with three members 10 A4 sided pages or equivalent. Cover pages and appendices, if any, are not counted in this page length restriction. Format of report: No format is prescribed, but wordy reports are usually not welcome. Please submit your assignments to designated locker outside BTech Office.