EML 2322L -- Design and Manufacturing Laboratory
Design Report 1
Team Number
Team Member Name (1) Team Member Name (2) Team Member Name (3) Team Member Name (4)
Instructor: Mike Braddock
Semester
Date
Introduction / Problem Statement
Note: Only one Intro / Problem Statement is required for each group; do not submit one for each team member.
Give the reader an overall introduction to what type of design problem you are addressing. State the overall goals and objectives of the design. Provide a detailed description of the problem, including an illustration of the arena. State all the specific design parameters that were identified. State the criteria used to evaluate the design; how will your device’s performance be evaluated, time penalties, etc?
[1-2 pgs approx length]
Background Information ( Team Member Name (1) ) Research the mechanisms you are considering using on your project, including the following: electric DC motors, mobile platforms (3 vs 4 vs more wheels, tank treads, etc.), steering (differential, front vs rear, rack & pinion, go-cart, etc.), tires, friction coefficients, ball manipulators, ball hoppers, gears/gearing, bearings, linkages, material selection, tennis balls, etc. Don’t limit yourself based on which idea(s) you feel will make it into the final design. Present relevant background information via such sources as text books, magazines/trade journals, the related work of others, company catalogs, web pages, etc. Ask if you can’t find info on your topic. What exactly was learned from the background search? Don’t be vague and just present a bunch of filler material. Conclude each section with a sentence on how each mechanism/concept might be of merit on your project. If you can’t explain exactly what you learned that might be useful in your conceptual design, you haven’t done enough research. Don’t present the history of these items but rather present practical technical information that will benefit your understanding of the use of these components in your design. Include drawings, illustrations or pictures to help explain the concepts you researched. Write clearly and to the point using your own words; don’t copy text off the internet or a magazine, as that’s plagiarism and is a serious violation of academic honesty. Below are some links to plagiarism, what it is, how faculty identify it and how students avoid it. READ AND FOLLOW THEM. o o o o o http://www.plagiarism.org/ http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_plagiarism.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/educational_tips.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_citation.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/printable_docs.html
You can certainly copy and paste pictures or illustrations off the web, out of catalogs, etc, but you must site the source of the information appropriately. This is discussed in the previous links.
[6-10 pgs, not including pictures or illustrations]
Conceptual Design Generation ( Team Member Name (1) ) Present and explain the each of your ideas that were generated to solve the design problem. Considerable time should be invested to really think through your solution and present the best idea you can at this point. Submit one set of drawings by each group member showing a design solution. Solution must be complete, showing ideas for an entire robot, not just a mobile platform, a ball retrieval mechanism or a ball hopper. At the conclusion of this report, each group will have as many possible solution ideas as it has members, giving the team a variety of ideas to evaluate when deciding on the final prototype to be built in the remainder of the course. Drawings may be CAD generated or neatly drawn hand sketches. Include necessary views to show the details of each mechanism. These drawings must clearly illustrate the ideas contained therein. Show A LOT of detail, i.e. wheels/casters, motors, motor mounting brackets, gears, linkages, control box, frame structure, bucket, balls, ball retrieval mechanism, ball hopper, etc. At this point everyone is expected to know (from EML2023) what a proper sketch and drawing look like, so invest the time to do this section of the report properly. Small, messy or unclear sketches will not be graded; if you can’t draw neatly use a ruler, compass, templates, CAD program, etc. for assistance in clearly communicating your design to the grader and ultimately, your group. Each drawing should be on its own page, have its own figure number and be accompanied by a description of how the idea works to solve the problem. Figure numbers should be numbered sequentially according to each member’s group number (ie Figures 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E for team member 1, etc.) and referred to in the written description. Place your name on each drawing as well. The written description should be typed and on its own separate page. At minimum, include dimensions showing overall size of robot, control box, bucket, ball hopper (if one exists), ball manipulator, wheels, motors, linkages, etc. Ensure your dimensions don’t violate the size requirements stated in the rules.
[6-8 pgs depending on detail & size of drawings]
Background Information ( Team Member Name (2) ) Research the mechanisms you are considering using on your project, including the following: electric DC motors, mobile platforms (3 vs 4 vs more wheels, tank treads, etc.), steering (differential, front vs rear, rack & pinion, go-cart, etc.), tires, friction coefficients, ball manipulators, ball hoppers, gears/gearing, bearings, linkages, material selection, tennis balls, etc. Don’t limit yourself based on which idea(s) you feel will make it into the final design. Present relevant background information via such sources as text books, magazines/trade journals, the related work of others, company catalogs, web pages, etc. Ask if you can’t find info on your topic. What exactly was learned from the background search? Don’t be vague and just present a bunch of filler material. Conclude each section with a sentence on how each mechanism/concept might be of merit on your project. If you can’t explain exactly what you learned that might be useful in your conceptual design, you haven’t done enough research. Don’t present the history of these items but rather present practical technical information that will benefit your understanding of the use of these components in your design. Include drawings, illustrations or pictures to help explain the concepts you researched. Write clearly and to the point using your own words; don’t copy text off the internet or a magazine, as that’s plagiarism and is a serious violation of academic honesty. Below are some links to plagiarism, what it is, how faculty identify it and how students avoid it. READ AND FOLLOW THEM. o o o o o http://www.plagiarism.org/ http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_plagiarism.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/educational_tips.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_citation.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/printable_docs.html
You can certainly copy and paste pictures or illustrations off the web, out of catalogs, etc, but you must site the source of the information appropriately. This is discussed in the previous links.
[6-10 pgs, not including pictures or illustrations]
Conceptual Design Generation ( Team Member Name (2) ) Present and explain the each of your ideas that were generated to solve the design problem. Considerable time should be invested to really think through your solution and present the best idea you can at this point. Submit one set of drawings by each group member showing a design solution. Solution must be complete, showing ideas for an entire robot, not just a mobile platform, a ball retrieval mechanism or a ball hopper. At the conclusion of this report, each group will have as many possible solution ideas as it has members, giving the team a variety of ideas to evaluate when deciding on the final prototype to be built in the remainder of the course. Drawings may be CAD generated or neatly drawn hand sketches. Include necessary views to show the details of each mechanism. These drawings must clearly illustrate the ideas contained therein. Show A LOT of detail, i.e. wheels/casters, motors, motor mounting brackets, gears, linkages, control box, frame structure, bucket, balls, ball retrieval mechanism, ball hopper, etc. At this point everyone is expected to know (from EML2023) what a proper sketch and drawing look like, so invest the time to do this section of the report properly. Small, messy or unclear sketches will not be graded; if you can’t draw neatly use a ruler, compass, templates, CAD program, etc. for assistance in clearly communicating your design to the grader and ultimately, your group. Each drawing should be on its own page, have its own figure number and be accompanied by a description of how the idea works to solve the problem. Figure numbers should be numbered sequentially according to each member’s group number (ie Figures 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E for team member 1, etc.) and referred to in the written description. Place your name on each drawing as well. The written description should be typed and on its own separate page. At minimum, include dimensions showing overall size of robot, control box, bucket, ball hopper (if one exists), ball manipulator, wheels, motors, linkages, etc. Ensure your dimensions don’t violate the size requirements stated in the rules.
[6-8 pgs depending on detail & size of drawings]
Background Information ( Team Member Name (3) ) Research the mechanisms you are considering using on your project, including the following: electric DC motors, mobile platforms (3 vs 4 vs more wheels, tank treads, etc.), steering (differential, front vs rear, rack & pinion, go-cart, etc.), tires, friction coefficients, ball manipulators, ball hoppers, gears/gearing, bearings, linkages, material selection, tennis balls, etc. Don’t limit yourself based on which idea(s) you feel will make it into the final design. Present relevant background information via such sources as text books, magazines/trade journals, the related work of others, company catalogs, web pages, etc. Ask if you can’t find info on your topic. What exactly was learned from the background search? Don’t be vague and just present a bunch of filler material. Conclude each section with a sentence on how each mechanism/concept might be of merit on your project. If you can’t explain exactly what you learned that might be useful in your conceptual design, you haven’t done enough research. Don’t present the history of these items but rather present practical technical information that will benefit your understanding of the use of these components in your design. Include drawings, illustrations or pictures to help explain the concepts you researched. Write clearly and to the point using your own words; don’t copy text off the internet or a magazine, as that’s plagiarism and is a serious violation of academic honesty. Below are some links to plagiarism, what it is, how faculty identify it and how students avoid it. READ AND FOLLOW THEM. o o o o o http://www.plagiarism.org/ http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_plagiarism.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/educational_tips.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_citation.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/printable_docs.html
You can certainly copy and paste pictures or illustrations off the web, out of catalogs, etc, but you must site the source of the information appropriately. This is discussed in the previous links.
[6-10 pgs, not including pictures or illustrations]
Conceptual Design Generation ( Team Member Name (3) ) Present and explain the each of your ideas that were generated to solve the design problem. Considerable time should be invested to really think through your solution and present the best idea you can at this point. Submit one set of drawings by each group member showing a design solution. Solution must be complete, showing ideas for an entire robot, not just a mobile platform, a ball retrieval mechanism or a ball hopper. At the conclusion of this report, each group will have as many possible solution ideas as it has members, giving the team a variety of ideas to evaluate when deciding on the final prototype to be built in the remainder of the course. Drawings may be CAD generated or neatly drawn hand sketches. Include necessary views to show the details of each mechanism. These drawings must clearly illustrate the ideas contained therein. Show A LOT of detail, i.e. wheels/casters, motors, motor mounting brackets, gears, linkages, control box, frame structure, bucket, balls, ball retrieval mechanism, ball hopper, etc. At this point everyone is expected to know (from EML2023) what a proper sketch and drawing look like, so invest the time to do this section of the report properly. Small, messy or unclear sketches will not be graded; if you can’t draw neatly use a ruler, compass, templates, CAD program, etc. for assistance in clearly communicating your design to the grader and ultimately, your group. Each drawing should be on its own page, have its own figure number and be accompanied by a description of how the idea works to solve the problem. Figure numbers should be numbered sequentially according to each member’s group number (ie Figures 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E for team member 1, etc.) and referred to in the written description. Place your name on each drawing as well. The written description should be typed and on its own separate page. At minimum, include dimensions showing overall size of robot, control box, bucket, ball hopper (if one exists), ball manipulator, wheels, motors, linkages, etc. Ensure your dimensions don’t violate the size requirements stated in the rules.
[6-8 pgs depending on detail & size of drawings]
Background Information ( Team Member Name (4) ) Research the mechanisms you are considering using on your project, including the following: electric DC motors, mobile platforms (3 vs 4 vs more wheels, tank treads, etc.), steering (differential, front vs rear, rack & pinion, go-cart, etc.), tires, friction coefficients, ball manipulators, ball hoppers, gears/gearing, bearings, linkages, material selection, tennis balls, etc. Don’t limit yourself based on which idea(s) you feel will make it into the final design. Present relevant background information via such sources as text books, magazines/trade journals, the related work of others, company catalogs, web pages, etc. Ask if you can’t find info on your topic. What exactly was learned from the background search? Don’t be vague and just present a bunch of filler material. Conclude each section with a sentence on how each mechanism/concept might be of merit on your project. If you can’t explain exactly what you learned that might be useful in your conceptual design, you haven’t done enough research. Don’t present the history of these items but rather present practical technical information that will benefit your understanding of the use of these components in your design. Include drawings, illustrations or pictures to help explain the concepts you researched. Write clearly and to the point using your own words; don’t copy text off the internet or a magazine, as that’s plagiarism and is a serious violation of academic honesty. Below are some links to plagiarism, what it is, how faculty identify it and how students avoid it. READ AND FOLLOW THEM. o o o o o http://www.plagiarism.org/ http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_plagiarism.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/educational_tips.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/what_is_citation.html http://www.plagiarism.org/learning_center/printable_docs.html
You can certainly copy and paste pictures or illustrations off the web, out of catalogs, etc, but you must site the source of the information appropriately. This is discussed in the previous links.
[6-10 pgs, not including pictures or illustrations]
Conceptual Design Generation ( Team Member Name (4) ) Present and explain the each of your ideas that were generated to solve the design problem. Considerable time should be invested to really think through your solution and present the best idea you can at this point. Submit one set of drawings by each group member showing a design solution. Solution must be complete, showing ideas for an entire robot, not just a mobile platform, a ball retrieval mechanism or a ball hopper. At the conclusion of this report, each group will have as many possible solution ideas as it has members, giving the team a variety of ideas to evaluate when deciding on the final prototype to be built in the remainder of the course. Drawings may be CAD generated or neatly drawn hand sketches. Include necessary views to show the details of each mechanism. These drawings must clearly illustrate the ideas contained therein. Show A LOT of detail, i.e. wheels/casters, motors, motor mounting brackets, gears, linkages, control box, frame structure, bucket, balls, ball retrieval mechanism, ball hopper, etc. At this point everyone is expected to know (from EML2023) what a proper sketch and drawing look like, so invest the time to do this section of the report properly. Small, messy or unclear sketches will not be graded; if you can’t draw neatly use a ruler, compass, templates, CAD program, etc. for assistance in clearly communicating your design to the grader and ultimately, your group. Each drawing should be on its own page, have its own figure number and be accompanied by a description of how the idea works to solve the problem. Figure numbers should be numbered sequentially according to each member’s group number (ie Figures 1A, 1B, 1C, 1D, 1E for team member 1, etc.) and referred to in the written description. Place your name on each drawing as well. The written description should be typed and on its own separate page. At minimum, include dimensions showing overall size of robot, control box, bucket, ball hopper (if one exists), ball manipulator, wheels, motors, linkages, etc. Ensure your dimensions don’t violate the size requirements stated in the rules.
[6-8 pgs depending on detail & size of drawings]
Selection of Design Concept Note: Only one Selection of Design Concept section is required for each group. Identify (as a team) which concept you concluded is 'best' and present your reasons why. Break your designs down into three major subsystems (mobile platform, ball manipulator & ball hopper) and evaluate each separately to select the best overall solution. Give good (unbiased) reasons how you selected your best concept and present these in a detailed written discussion. What were the criteria used to select the best concept and how was each weighed? Sample criteria (in no particular order) might include cost, reliability, simplicity, manufacturability, appearance, speed, size, weight, ease of driver control, styling, etc. Don’t limit yourselves to these criteria; decide what the most important design considerations are and use those as the criteria. Present 3 comparison matrices (mobile platform, ball manipulator & ball hopper) that show how each group member’s concepts score in all of these criteria. An example matrix was presented in the class Design Process notes, which can be downloaded from the course web-page; additional examples of comparison matrices are also included on the web-page. At this point it is common for many groups to conclude the best design is not any of the individual conceptual designs, but rather a combination of two or more. Alternatively, as a group, an altogether new concept might be generated. This is fine and is a crucial part of the design process. Just evaluate this idea against the other conceptual designs to decide which one really is the best to proceed to prototype. In other words, if there are 4 members in your group and you came up with a new combined design, your comparison matrix will now have 5 concepts evaluated based on the predetermined criteria.
[2-4 pgs including decision matrix]
Detailed Design Description Note: Only one Detailed Design Description section is required for each group; however the work should be distributed equally among all team members. Provide a detailed written description of how your FINAL design works (the one selected via the comparison matrices). Present the results of analyses that were conducted (analysis calculations should be included in the report Appendix). Basic analysis for EML2322L project should include calculation of motor torques, vehicle speed, turning radius, approximate time required to complete the task and ball launcher velocity. Present complete CAD generated part and assembly drawings. Hand drawings will NOT be accepted. Include detail drawings of all parts you need to manufacture or modify for the project, including all dimensions, tolerances and material types. You MUST have these part drawings before you begin manufacturing any parts for your project or your group will be penalized. The assembly drawing should contain a bill of materials (BOM) labeling all parts of the assembly. Provide a project schedule showing short term deadlines and resource allocation. In other words, who will be responsible for what and when should each task be complete? Examples of deadlines include (but are not limited to): completion of mobile platform, completion of ball manipulator, completion of ball hopper (if one exists), robot assembly, preliminary testing, necessary design changes and final testing. Include in this resource allocation plan who will manufacture what parts (ie motor mounting brackets, wheel hubs, etc.) and the dates when they should be finished. When performing this step, keep in mind failing to plan is planning to fail. Finally, present cost information. Include any items that will be bought with your group’s $50 budget as well as items provided by team members (if any). Remember that aside from the allocated amount of 80-20, wheels, motors and fasteners, all materials must be accounted for in this budget.
[15-25 pgs depending the number of detail and sub-assembly drawings]
Prototype Development and Testing Note: Only one Prototype Development and Testing section is required for each group, however each group member may submit his/her own copy if desired.
Show a photograph of the prototype and a close-up of any important design details. Discuss the results of building/testing and identify deficiencies in the design and any improvements that were made. Did everything work as intended the very first try or were adjustments and component modifications required? Be honest, as redesigns will not affect your grade. However, if it’s obvious your design did not work the first time and you omit this information, you will receive a grade penalty. (The TAs will keep notes and their observations should match what is included in this section on necessary modifications.) During this stage of development, remember that design improvements are an important part of any successful prototype and should be viewed as exactly that: improvements; it is wrong to feel that necessary changes are indicative of poor design skills. Experience greatly enhances your design and fabrication skills.
[2-5 pgs with photos]
Discussion / Conclusion Note: Only one Discussion/Conclusion section is required for each group, however each group member may submit his/her own copy if desired. Review objectively the strong and weak points of your design. Discuss how well your design solved the problem and what you would do differently if you tackled this problem again. Be objective and thorough. Pointing out weaknesses will help you learn what to do better next time around and will certainly not adversely affect your final grade.
[1 pg]
Appendices The appendices are used to organize your report(s) by placing the calculations in the appropriate section. Explain the analyses and calculations that were performed during the design process. Include all notes and calculations that are necessary to reproduce the logic behind all the important design decisions that were made during the project. Reproduce these notes and calculations in a neat and logical manner and use proper grammar so the reader can easily follow along. Group separate items in sequential appendices, i.e. Appendix A: Motor Torque Calculations, Appendix B: Turning Radius Calculations, etc.
Most Common Report Errors & Weaknesses 1. Poor problem statement. Be specific about what the design 'must' do and 'must not' do. Don't forget the obvious such as for example size or weight. Re-read your problem statement and make sure there are no generalities such as 'it should be easy to use', 'it shouldn't weigh much', or 'it should be safe'. 2. Background search results not summarized. Exactly what was learned from the background search? What might prove useful at a later date? Each member must be explicit in regards to their design. 3. Conceptual designs poorly presented. Do not simply write about the thought process used to arrive at your final design. Provide a description of several alternate ways of meeting the problem statement goals. Drawings and sketches are crucial in explaining different concepts. Give concepts 'equal time'. Don't quickly brush over the concepts that you didn't select as your final design choice. 4. Weak conceptual design selection criteria. Give good reasons how you selected your best concept; don’t just present the results/final selection. A complete comparison matrix must be included. 5. Figures not labeled. All figures must be labeled and must have captions. Refer to the figures in your text by figure number. Figure numbers are placed below their respective figure(s). 6. Poor description of design. Make sure that the text in the Detailed Design Description section clearly describes your design. Drawings and figures are extremely important. It is necessary to label your drawing(s) to show the different components of your design. Provide a bill of materials that lists the parts and components of your design. For each component include as a minimum the part description, source (vendor or custom manufactured) and material. 7. Poorly thought out design. Is the design actually realizable? How will the design be assembled? Can the design be assembled? How will specific parts be manufactured if they are not off-the-shelf components? Are required part tolerances obtainable? Have cost issues been properly considered? If you don’t know the answers to these questions, you need to conduct more research. Engage the laboratory staff as well as your group members. 8. Formatting. Although every person in the group should contribute to the design report, the formatting should be consistent throughout. All reports must use the Report Template that is on the course website. Do NOT change the formatting within. Reports submitted in other formats will not be graded. All drawings and figures should be computer generated. The only exception are the conceptual design generation drawings, which can be neatly drawn hand sketches, as long as they convey all the important details. Entire report should be single spaced. Do not assemble the report last minute with printers and hole-punches that don’t match. 9. Grammar. Proper grammar and spelling are vital and will count for up to 25% of your report grade. Use complete sentences, even in the appendix. Tell the story, for example 'The reaction forces at bearing location A were calculated from ...". Number your equations. Have your final draft proof read by another team member or by a student in the on-campus reading lab. 10. Style. Write in third person without exception.