Gold Team!
Mockups!
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Presentation Video
Demo Video
Concepts
HeatWave
A device that increases a victim's infrared signature to aid search and rescue at sea.
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Contributors
Chris Perrino: project coordination, device design, testingSophia Chen: Interviews, Talking to User, Background Research on Infrared and Exothermic Reactions, Presenter, Sourcing Kiddie Pool, Product ContractHannah Gazdus: interview; mechanism research, design, and CAD; 3D printing; mockup construction; demonstration poster designMelody Yu: Experimental design, testing, analysis, graphicsRihn: Chemical and equipment sourcing, experimental design, testing
Reviewer Feedback
Samuel Gollob
Concept
There is need to better define the use case for this product. Though the general need was clear (search-and-rescue in open waters), the way you design your product depends on how your user gets in this situation in the first place. Do they fall off a boat? Were they alone or in group? Is it light or dark? When exactly would the search team rely on heat versus normal visual approaches? Is heat the right way to make your user most visible?
Analysis
The analysis hit the key elements well - how big to make the target, how much temperature to increase. Though I think it missed the idea of resolution - would a cluster of four small dots be as visible as one larger disk by a camera? Is it better to go very hot in a small area or moderately hot in a larger area?
Execution
The mock-up was OK. You successfully tested a chemical reaction for visibility in water and showed how you might deploy it. Though if the idea is to throw a chemical in the water itself, you should have shown that you tried that in the pool part of the mock-up, and that you learned whether or not it would work (over using it in a concentrated basket).
Ben Nahill
Concept
This is an interesting problem which seems to have an enormous solution space. I'm not convinced the approach is a competitive one though.
Analysis
You know that a person is difficult to see and you found data suggesting a 2C temperature distance averaged over 2.5m^2 is detectable by IR imaging. That's a great starting point to be able to design and test something.
Execution
Great test! Seeing alternatives would have helped because at this point it doesn't quite seem viable (coming from a non-expert in S&R). At 8.5lbs (a gallon of water), heating on the surface of the water seems an extremely mass-inefficient (though maybe cost-effective) way to signal over the course of 10 hours. Compare to electronic units <0.5lbs which can reach SARSAT, transmit GPS locations on VHF (marine radio), and emit light in unreasonably bright, low-duty-cycle strobes. Why is IR so much better than visible light that it's worth using relatively inefficient means to produce it inside an unrelenting heatsink compared to electrical lighting? I don't mean to say that you aren't onto something that's about to turn the S&R world on its head. I just haven't seen the analysis to suggest that chemical heating is the solution that the industry has been missing. Assuming everything checks out and chemical heating is the way of the future, the specifications seem well thought-out and the idea of a floating array of heaters makes sense. Given that the premise is based on reduced visibility in choppy waters, it would be good to understand how waves may further degrade the resulting heat signature (e.g., by spreading out the effect, accelerating the reaction, or tangling up the whole array).
Josh Wiesman
Concept
The user and use case is clear based on prior presentations, but better clarity on proposed new solution would have helped. It was unclear how much (qty / weight) of an exothermic substrate would be needed to be useful in search and rescue. If this is on the person or close to the person are there any safety risks for chemical burn. How does the ocean waves / movement help or hurt the new solution? I know the team has talked with users / experts, it would be good for them to think about themselves as the user (develop empathy for the user) think about the panic on someone who is drowning, lost at sea. What conditions, specs should be built into the product?
Analysis
Risk Identification was lacking - considering the switch to chemical reaction that produces heat I would have expected a better hazard / risk analysis. The team did do a nice job on the preliminary contact from a product spec perspective, but it lacked the product human interface requirements. How long (shelf life) could we expect this product to have?
Execution
The demo was impactful, but would have been better it was set-up as a scaled experiment, ie, they had a 1/4 size life preserver / vest with proper ratio of chemicals required. It was hard to get a sense of how much and how effective this solution would be at proper scale.
Nate Phipps
Concept
How to increase the thermal signature of someone lost at sea, very clear and interesing albeit challenging question.
Analysis
Very tough problem when facing the worlds largest heatsink over 10 hours. If I am understanding the problem correctly you will need to increase the average temp of a 2.5m^2 area by 2 degrees celcius but I am not sure you directly answered this question with your mockup. You did show that you could use calcium chloride effectively for a small area but i was unclear whether a raft of these would increase the average of the area and how much reactant might be needed. The SOS concept and the breadcrumbs concept do not seem like they would sufficiently increase the average of the 2.5m^2 area unless very large. Someone mentioned 8lbs of reactant during the demo which makes me wonder what the best use of lifesaving equipment would be able to pack into the same size/weight package as you are proposing. I think it would be advisable to step back from the specific problem and look more broadly. With 8lbs could you also have a high powered radio beacon? Also what is the specific use story associated with the heat array? Would this be built into a life vest? A life raft? Aboard what type of vessel? These scenarios might all have vastly different solutions.
Execution
No feedback provided
April
Concept
You provide a lot of good background, but who exactly is your user? What type of person is motivated to carry this sort of safety device?
Analysis
Good jobs with specs. One thing to think about - how does a user know the device is working? How can they be assured it is doing what it's supposed to?
Execution
Good job demonstrating the temperature change and thorough job with calculations - it was helpful that they were displayed.
Rob Podoloff
Concept
Your real need here seems to be making a person lost at sea easier to find. To /that end, I wonder if thermal signature is really the way to go, Would some kind of radio beacon or GPS tracker facilitate finding the person even more than visually scanning for an IR signature?
Analysis
I think you estimated needing 8 lbs of CaCl to have a long enough reaction - seems like a lot of weight to carry?
Execution
No feedback provided
Sam Ihns
Concept
The concept was clear and articulated well in your presentation. It appears as if your understanding of the problem and possible solutions has increased dramatically since sketch models and this is illustrated by your mockups and potential product embodiments. Your mockup models and calculations did well to identify some potential strengths (you can successfully fill your 2.5m area) and challenges (10lb weight) of the design and I am excited to see how these will affect your product embodiment!
Analysis
Your product contract does well to highlight the functional considerations needed for the concept to function. However, there may be additional user needs related to form factor. Teams in the past that have explored other concepts in the PPE/safety industry have found that these products are only useful if they are fully adopted by the workers, and for this to happen the product must seamlessly slip into their work. Adding ten pounds to everybody's PPE will not only be unpopular with workers but potentially with the companies themselves, who may see the loss of efficiency from the weight to not be worth the added safety benefit. Trying to identify user needs in this human-centered space, and some creative workarounds to meet those needs, can ensure your product embodiment could tangibly be used
Execution
The models do well to illustrate the primary challenges you are facing and the calculations alongside them do well to put them in perspective. The elements themselves are technically simple/robust, which you can really lean into! This allows you to ~dive in~ to the user-centered design elements and ensure that the product is simple yet most effective. I am curious to see how your design evolves from the learnings from mockup.
Elizabeth Stevens
Concept
Heatwave: Vivid storytelling was effective to put us in the situation of searching for someone in the water - the user need. Great phrasing: "a human head is nearly invisible" powerfully exemplifies the concept.
Analysis
No feedback provided
Execution
From a communication standpoint, the product mechanism and value were clearly and quickly conveyed using your model. It quickly gets the point across, so the audience can dig into the finer details.
Safety Sander
A disc sander that can automatically stop rotation when human contact is detected via capacitive sensing.
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Contributors
Andrew Johnson: Capacitive sensing circuit/integration, carbon brush housing design/fabrication, product contract, market researchBen Owen-Block: Steel sanding disc fabrication & electrical isolation, capacitive sensing circuit/integration, capacitive sensing testing/data collectionRishi Kommalapati: Capacitive sensing research, Decoupling/braking mechanism design, decoupling model fabrication, energy dissipation calculationsDylan Ryan: Decoupling/braking mechanism design & sketches, decoupling model fabrication, disc braking calculationsPaul Portmann: Decoupling/braking mechanism design, energy dissipation calculations, presentation slidesWeixuan Li: Injury statistics report, clutch research, motor braking inductance calculations
Reviewer Feedback
Samuel Gollob
Concept
You established 1.5k injuries a year... to me that seems not bad from how many sanders are in use out there, but maybe a better number would be the rate of injury per year per sander. If you told me in Xyrs I would have a Y% chance of an injury with a sander, I'd consider the product more. You also weren't clear if the target user is an individual, a small shop, or a larger industrial shop.
Analysis
The identified challenges were clear - to ID a finger contact and to stop the disk, I'd agree those are the key questions in the design. A sense of what this would do to the purchase price *and* the reusability of a sander would be good (I'd picture this thing going off pretty often compared to a self-stopping table saw, and it might be a deal breaker if you have to replace a large part of the sander every time).
Execution
As mentioned, I think your mockup's purpose was good, as it covered the two main questions for the product. The stopping mechanism was a good concept, but for a more useful mock-up I would have wanted to see something spinning and stopping, or at least a breaking mechanism shown.
Ben Nahill
Concept
Safety sander hits a less-critical-than-tablesaws market but the injuries are real and, maybe in some lines of work, worth some extra insurance on. This seems like a stretch to me but if it could be done simply without impacting power and reliability I could see the appeal.
Analysis
The specs seem pretty sane! 0.5HP is definitely on the weak end, even for hobbyists.
Execution
I can't speak much to the braking mechanism, but that seems sound to a non-expert, as long as it can be miniaturized sufficiently. I like the idea that a lot of spinning mass can just detach and keep spinning rather than pretending that everyone has their sander securely to prevent the whole thing from flying across the room when the brake activates. The detection seems solid. I'm not entirely convinced you can deal with aluminum effectively but that's not the end of the world if you can work out a way to disable the brake.
Josh Wiesman
Concept
A question I asked during the demo, but would like to see further follow-up on: does the speed of the brake actually prevent or lessen damage when compared to the human reaction? One condition is when a hand / finger is jammed and held into place, but how often does that problem occur? As part of the analysis section: how much price increase will the user accept to prevent a relatively small chance of occurrence (is the tech worth the cost?). Is this a home use tool or industry / company purchased tool?
Analysis
Some comments written above. Further - your global market includes all sanders and polishers - I would like to see further breakdown to your SAM (attainable market). Often the value of time and safety in other countries is not the same as in the US. One thing I may have missed, how is the product reset after e-brake? This should be considered going forward. Can a "regular" user be expected to reset the product and or does it require any new components to continue with operation? A fault or false stop that renders the product unusable could really hurt user opinion.
Execution
The demonstration was effective, but as mentioned above, could have highlighted reset of the product after the e-brake / stop is triggered.
Nate Phipps
Concept
You mention one scenario of amputation resulting from a sanding disc, was this a bench mounted disc or perhaps an angle grinder? Wondering, how many of the 1480 injuries per year result in long-term impairment versus fractures and abrasions, this might correlate closely with demand from workplace customers. I personally have have accidental contact with sanding discs on many occassions with little to no resultant injury.
Analysis
Very nice modeling of your clutch and sensing systems. I am still a bit unconvinced that the size/space/complexity of an additional mechanical system (clutch mechanism) would be a better solution than additional braking power, especially since the injuries from a disc sander would not occur as immediatley as on cutting tools, a circular saw for example, you may have a couple milliseconds to play with.
Execution
Nice models!
April
Concept
It's good you were able to identify the number of specifically sander injuries (is this a large enough market?).
Analysis
It would have been great if you had talked more about some of the significant challenges of the capacitance sensors and how you plan to tackle those - reviews are a great time to learn from the significant expertise of the reviewers and be realistic about the technology you are working with. It's ok to be honest about a less-than-promising challenge in what you've built.
Execution
Good use of two different models.
Rob Podoloff
Concept
I can't say at the moment whether I really believe that a disc sander poses enough of a risk to justify such a device as you are proposing. Assuming you can justify the investment, I like the approaches you are taking relative to sensing and then reacting by decoupling the sand paper from the inertia of the wheel.
Analysis
No feedback provided
Execution
Nice models.
Sam Ihns
Concept
Strong concept. The OSHA quote was very impactful, alongside the 1500 injuries per year (1500 ~reported~ injuries!). During the demo I was a little bit skeptical about your ability to design an entire sander as well as this tricky safety mechanism, but after thinking about it more it seems feasible. A circular sander is pretty straightforward. One way you may be able to further strengthen your use cases/design impact is to focus in on a smaller user base, say home users versus industrial versus educational/shared spaces. If there are 1,500 injuries per year reported to OSHA by professionals, there's probably many more unreported injuries by inexperienced home users. This may afford you some design freedoms down the line, as these user bases will likely use the sanders in different ways (time spent, materials, etc). On top of this, a very quick google search for "glove stuck in sander" produces a scary amount of videos of people getting themselves threaded around the sanding wheel in grotesque ways. This is a sadly common injury/cause of death across machines. My assumption would be this causes the majority of serious injuries, rather than glancing your hand on the sandpaper. If your device could detect this (hair/cloth in the mechanism) that would dramatically increase the use cases!
Analysis
Your contract covers the user needs and specs well, with the exception of injuries due to clothing/hair in the mechanism as above (would be a nice thing to solve for) - somethign that may greatly strengthen the value proposition. I really like the decision to stick with "works with most materials" rather than all materials - it would be really cool though if the sander could still be used with metallic/conductive materials and the safety feature just turns off. Perhaps a manual switch to turn off the safety feature could help with this, or even an area on the sander that you can "tap" your material against before you start working to allow the sander to determine its baseline conductance. This could help not only determine if the user is using a conductive material but also help "zero" your sensor if necessary.
Execution
Great execution not only on your model but on your analyses CAD. Not much to say here. This could be an example for the class on how to approach mockup (explore a range of solutions, create high enough fidelity models to determine their feasibility, give yourself the information to make an educated decision moving forward).
Elizabeth Stevens
Concept
Safety Sander: It would have hit the point home to read the OSHA quote aloud. The user need (pain point) didn't jump out to me. Clear explanation of the problem of energy dissipation. Good authenticity in the presentation delivery. Rehearsing more can help make the talk more smooth.
Analysis
No feedback provided
Execution
From a communication standpoint, the product mechanism and value were clearly and quickly conveyed using your model. It quickly gets the point across, so the audience can dig into the finer details.
Motorized Miter Saw
A miter saw with motorized miter and bevel angles to improve accuracy and speed in workflows involving compound angles or long cut lists.
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Contributors
Josh Noguera: Motor sourcing and controlsLuke Woodcock: Bevel Angle Mechanism Design and FabricationMagnus: Miter Angle Design and FabricationMay Huang: Miter Saw Frame Design and Fabrication
Reviewer Feedback
Samuel Gollob
Concept
I think this was one of the more clearly-defined use cases/customers for a product, and it made sense. You identified that this technology would bump up the cost of the miter saw and that construction crews would be willing to pay that. Also would think about independent/small shops that make frames/furniture/etc - the less people a business has, the more willing they might be to automate repetitive tasks.
Analysis
Really liked that you identified that users would want to keep using their trusted saw band, and went for a base rather than a whole saw - good understanding of customer and eliminating a key product risk/challenge. Fast, portable, and precise - liked those specs. Would evaluate how much you should care about portability (at the end of the day, the construction crew really just needs reliability and time savings).
Execution
The mock-up was good to show the base mechanism and that it can move to a computer's command, but I think it needed to show wood moving through in a repeatable way for it to cover the important questions for the product - rate and precision. Even if that meant a separate assembly for the wood moving mechanism
Ben Nahill
Concept
The user seems a little nebulous because people use miter saws for different things and maybe only a few would get much value out of it becoming a robot. Regarding brand loyalty: A lot of what people look for when sticking with a tool brand is a consistent look, feel, and sense of quality (and battery compatibility). You're replacing so much of what makes a miter saw already (and anything that would make a miter saw GOOD), I doubt anyone would care if you replaced the rest of the saw (or paired it with a single specific saw). If it meant you could be more accurate or save a few hours of assembly or figuring out whether it can properly fit your tool, I'm sure this would be viable as a complete product rather than just an add-on kit. Such an add-on sounds like a nightmare as a customer, nevermind as a manufacturer to design and support. The user interface sounds like an important piece of the design. How useful is a 5s adjustment if it's another 10s to enter the specification?
Analysis
The specifications seem off. Even for the roughest of applications, an error of 1.15" on pieces that are supposed to be the same length is absurd. I would expect targets to be within 0.1", 0.25deg to approach being useful (ideally much better still). A common use case for obscure miter angles is when fitting crown molding. No angle is actually 45deg and all cuts are compound so many will measure the wall and cut the pieces precisely to fit. But when putting everything together, errors greater than 0.1deg over a few inch piece of crown will be visible from a distance. The length measuring bit seems potentially sometimes useful, but if the full length needs to pass under the wheel, the then thickness of the board needs to be taken into account unless the wheel starts out positioned right at the end of the board (which of course might not be straight). Optical flow sensors (maybe combined with an array of optical switches along an infeed table to avoid needing to run the whole board through?) might be easier, but it still wouldn't be useful unless one end were square. All in all the length measuring part seems hard. Maybe if some assistance in length must be provided, an optical system to line up perfectly with a drawn cut-line would be more practical? Lasers are pretty decent for that already though. Safety-wise, you might consider having a lockout on the power to the saw while it's in motion and lockout to any change in motor controls during a cut.
Execution
Good model! I don't think I caught what you learned from it, but it sounds like you have ideas for improvement already. The mechanisms in place for the compound miter seem pretty good! I would strongly recommend adding encoders to ensure no steps were lost. It's not hard to imagine unexpected interference (e.g., somebody bumped the saw) ruining a day's worth of cuts because the driver lost calibration. This is well outside of my expertise but the tilting belt seemed to have a lot of slop to it which would make it challenging to meet a competitive specification. I think you mentioned something about changing all of that out though. Sweet machine though! This was really entertaining to watch.
Josh Wiesman
Concept
Market size is still way-off even after we did a live walk through / analysis during class. Please update. While I understand the use case, for others in our group it was clear that they did not. The team needs to spend time grounding the audience in the who and why this type of semi-automated miter saw would be a solution. We need to understand the pain-point it is solving. Keep the demo focussed on the use case. We all believe you can automate a saw to move around for a demo, but what we dont believe (yet) is how it would work to make repeated cuts and why that would help productivity and performance.
Analysis
What are the safety (cut-assurances) built into the product. What is the user required to do after set-up? How often should the user check-in on operation and performance (accuracy). At what intervals should we expect maintenance and what does that look like. How does that compare to a standard miter saw?
Execution
See comments above - further, to set-up the demo it would be good to show actual cut examples (images) of the type of wood and cuts that are being made. Much of the audience has no concept of what this would be used for.
Nate Phipps
Concept
Great concept! Having worked as a carpenter I can attest to the utility of this tool, I will happily be your first customer. Your minimum viable product (mvp) concept is very compelling with just the angle automation. Simply having a digital interface to input desired angle would be a huge time saver for carpenter with any level of experience and would allow the saw to be set up for any number of tasks from roof framing to trim whereas adding the length measruement introduces many new variables. Take for example a roofer with 200 unique cuts, comound anlges at top and bottom of 2"x8"x20' boards. Do you make a 40' in-feed/out-feed table to support cuts on both ends or does the user flip the board? If the user flips the board how does this effect measuring length? Also do you now need a GUI to indicate the correct way to flip the board for the new cut orientation? Or in the case of crown molding, the same questions apply as well as how do you run the molding through the saw if you are holding it against the fence/deck at a 45 angle? If you are indoors do you have enough space for infeed and outfeed? For customer you mention "high-end and large scale contruction". Consider also competitor services which deliver precut lumber direct to the job site as a direct competitor for large scale, new home construction. https://www.buildwithbmc.com/bmc/s/ready-frame Where do you fit relative to such a service? Also regarding measurement there are some add-ons already on the market which may be useful in some scenarios and which the user can purchase https://tinyurl.com/mtv9hdnn If you haven't already seen this also there are a few products which will import cut lists and automatically set stops for proper lengths, i've used these before, very handy. They are typically used in a shop then lumber is transported to build site although they do make some on-site versions. Where do you fit relative to this tool? Would you partner with such a company to deliver compound angle cut lists? https://shop.tigerstop.com/products/tigerstops-cut-list-downloading-software-1 Lastly, regarding brand loyalty, yes individuals are certainly partial to brands, myself included, BUT very good contractors get the brands that are best for the job; this is most likely being purchased by a contractor (business) not a carpenter (individual). Moreover there are so many varying product architectures between various saws making a universal base would be incredibly difficult.
Analysis
Really nice model! I am sure you learned a lot from it. If you can get some contractors in to give direct feedback on it I am sure you will learn a ton more.
Execution
No feedback provided
April
Concept
You did a good job of describing who the user might be and narrowing it down. Also good work identifying brand loyalty as a key factor.
Analysis
How did you determine your specs? Would be good to check in with users if you haven't already.
Execution
Impressive and terrifying model. How realistic do you think it is to translate this form factor to a desirable product? The technology certainly exists to create an accurately actuated miter saw, but does the cost/labor of setting it up deter users?
Rob Podoloff
Concept
I recommend you talk to a lot more carpenters and building contractors to get more input on this idea. While its features certainly seem "nice to have", I think you need to identify a use case where it is truely needed. Maybe there are niche applications (frame making, window making,...) where its ease of adjustment features are really needed.
Analysis
No feedback provided
Execution
Nice mockup. I think it did a good job showing your concept and identifying areas in need of improvement.
Sam Ihns
Concept
Good work speaking with users and adjusting your design accordingly. That's what the class is all about! Doing so also makes it much more clear that this concept has a real user base out there rather than an abstract, imagined one. I am very curious as to how this product does not exist yet - it seems to address such a clear user need! Is there anything remotely close to it out there already that you can further innovate off of?
Analysis
Contract is solid. I would definitely start working sooner rather than later on your "ease of use:" I would imagine this product having a very simple/elegant UI that does not require the user to know any technical terms (or maybe no words at all/no English requirement! Like how the stop and go pedestrian signs are universal across language barriers). Teams have the tendency to treat these items as more of an afterthought, however since this is the part of the tool the user is directly interfacing with it is of utmost importance. The five second adjustment time would be very cool. The fast movement of the saw in the demo was actually a bit unnerving, so it may even be better from a user perspective if the movements are a bit slower/more controlled!
Execution
The mockup worked well to demonstrate the concept, and the wheel to measure the board distance was clever. I am interested in seeing if you can implement the automatic board feeding/length adjustment, but if your wheel design is robust enough having the boards be user fed may be fine and allow for a wider range of board lengths to be used (ie very long). One way you may be able to get a little bit more cut accuracy is to allow the saw itself to move a small distance along the axis of the board (there may be a way to accomplish this without adding another motor/driver if you can combine your existing ranges of motion?idk). This would mean that instead of the user/drive motors having to perfectly scoot the board in to the distance they want, they would only have to scoot it to, say, +/-0.5". Since your wheel would presumably be able to note how far off the cut would be from perfect, this extra dimension would allow the saw itself to account for the inaccuracy of the board feeding mechanism. Just a thought I figured I'd jot down. Great work across the board gold, excited to see what concept you choose :)
Elizabeth Stevens
Concept
Motorized Miter Saw: The narrative of how you adjusted the design based on user interviews was very clear and effective. It shows that the user needs are helping you improve the design. The delivery of the talk was well rehearsed and tight.
Analysis
No feedback provided
Execution
From a communication standpoint, the product mechanism and value were clearly and quickly conveyed using your model. It quickly gets the point across, so the audience can dig into the finer details. I have to say, seeing it move looks really cool!