David - Our Engineer Mentor

This morning we were lucky enough to have Liam's dad, David, come in to talk to us. David is a mechanical engineer and works in engineering design. He worked for ten years in the US in Silicon Valley. He works with positioning based technology, like GPS.

He talks us through the engineer design process. We talked about what a design is, taking an idea into something that is real, then taking that design to building it, testing it and making changes.

Everything that is not in the natural world needs to be designed - books, buttons, tractors, food etc.

Design

• Specification and planning (what requirements you have, selecting your team, risks, breaking down into tasks, coordinate tasks and people)
• Concepting - brainstorming (this is FUN!!), selecting ideas - how many do I need to make?, designing concepts - colours, shapes etc.
• Learning - what are the gaps and what needs to be learned?
• Design phase - let's start putting this together, how do we need to work together? How can we avoid mistakes? Is it strong enough? 3D design (on a computer), 2D drawings (snapshot). Sketchup may enable us to create 3D designs online.
• Prototyping - used for functional testing and software development, 3D printing (we have access to two from David and Ida!) Some prototypes used to be built out of plastercene! What works, what needs to be adjusted?
• Testing - functional testing (in a lab), environmental testing (out in the real world), failure analysis - David brought along a rugged display tablet which is not yet on the market, it is able to be pressure washed, dropped etc. Digger drivers might use them in their vehicles. How long does it need to last? Do I need to test it in water, heat, sun, for being dropped?
• Design changes - what problems were shown up in the testing and what changes need to be made.
• Manufacturing - how are we going to build it? Manufacturers need to be in on the design right from the beginning to make sure it is do-able.
• Support - from engineering in case something goes wrong, maybe you need spare parts etc.

Prototypes

David showing some of his prototypes

Hugh, Payo and Jonah were in their element as budding engineers!

Rowan and Maya checking out the electrical circuits

Abby and Payo critiquing the prototype