A full semester_THE END

So this semester is at and an end I guess I'm going to take time out to reflect on what I learned from this class.

"Have no fear of perfection-you'll never reach it" -Salvador Dali

Reflection on MP3

Its over!! So many meeting and long hours doing research, contending ideas and narrowing down solutions. It was an effort well put forth. There were times were group members were not pulling there weight as they should have but we had deal with it and use the resources we had to finish it.


MP3 was the toughest and most time consuming mini project of them all. It required us to pull extensive research along with designing a solution using techniques we learned in class. For this we had to identify and design a section of urban infrastructure.

More details below:

Solving Problems

Engineers strongest trait is the ability to solve problems given to them. Throw in constraints, the problem, and resources and we can come up with what we feel the best solution is. Unfortunately the biggest issue is that there is no true correct solution. Theres trade off's that need to be made in reference to time and money and that can and will always affect the outcome of the solution. From a young engineers stand point I will delve into briefly how I've learned to solve problems.

Mini Project 3- Urban Infrastructure

Urban Infrastructure is the basic structures necessary for the operation of a society. This includes things from transportation, waste removal, streets, water distribution, sewers, electricity and other systems that  are governed by municipalities.

Our task is the same a MP1(problem) and MP2(design and choose solution) but with the added component of designing the choice we chose. So this involves a lot more extensive research into the infrastructure now and how it can be improved. We are to choose a component of urban infrastructure, design new, improve or replace a current infrastructure component, based on the embodiment concepts learned in class.

Design- From an Artistic Point off view

So Audi is releasing the A1 pretty soon and they are releasing a bunch of teaser videos, but there's one particular video which caught my interest.

Bad Design List

So things that people design, invent or engineer aren't always successful. But the number of those that make it to market and are terrible sometimes surprises me. It can be as small as a location of a pin to it missing something. If its missing that crucial thing its a bad design. At the end of the day it comes down to ergonomics and how they play a role in the usability of the item. (This of course is purely subjective and has no bearing on the amount of effort the company or firm put into designing the item.)

A reflection on MP2

Finally done MP2! I feel a lot more confident about this one. Worked a LOT harder and so did the rest of my group. A lot of challenges were faced but were overcome in the long term. I feel more confident in the grade we received and felt it was closely accurate to the effort we put in.