New Winter Quarter 2007 Course Announcement:
E110/210: Perspectives in Assistive Technology
with Professor Drew Nelson (Mechanical Engineering)
and David L. Jaffe, MS (VA Palo Alto Health Care System)
Winter Quarter, Tuesdays 4:15pm - 5:30pm
Location: Main Quad, History Corner, Lane Hall (Building 200) , Room 030 (basement)

Assignment Three
Design Proposal

In Class Presentation: Tuesday - March 13, 2007
Report Due Friday - March 16, 2007 at 5pm
In Professor Drew Nelson's Office - Terman 517
(Please slide under the door)


For your third and final assignment you are asked to further research the need you have identified and to focus on a specific design solution. You will present this design in class and submit a final comprehensive project report that encompasses your project work for the entire quarter. This should include all your background research, user testing, evolution of ideas, etc. Your team's report should be 5 to 10 pages in length.

  1. Specific to this report should be a concise and accurate overview of your design solution. Describe the design objectives, the rationale for the specific design selected, how this design addresses the identified project problem, and features / potential benefits of this design over others considered. Include any mechanical engineering analyses, calculations, drawings, and sketches you have developed as well as any feedback from potential users or coaches.

  2. Comment on the concept's technical feasibility and engineering difficulty, estimated cost of materials, and safety considerations.

  3. Assuming this project will be pursued in ME113 or as directed study, identify future challenges and include a timetable of major tasks to produce and test a functional prototype.

  4. Reflect on your class and team experiences. Each project team member will provide a one-page discussion of the design process, what you learned, and what was most valuable to you individually. Here are some items to address.

    1. You have spent the past quarter hearing from different professionals and users, interviewing community members, brainstorming with your team, doing background research, looking at prior art, etc. Please comment on the relative value of the different parts of this process toward your design.

    2. How did the different interactions in the class (with users, community members, speakers, professionals, etc.) contribute to the results of your design? Was any particular interaction especially rewarding or helpful? Why?

    3. If you were to go through this process again, what would you do differently? Was there support from the teaching staff or course content that you felt was missing? What advice would you give to future students?

  5. In addition to a printed final report for Professor Nelson, please send an electronic copy to Alex Tung at tungsten-at-stanford.edu.

Presentation


Your 15-minute (approximately 10 minutes plus questions) presentation should include the following points:

  1. Introduction of team members
  2. Statement of problem
  3. Discussion of interviews with project suggestors and users
  4. Statement of need
  5. Identification and limitations of existing solutions
  6. Magnitude of problem addressed by this project
  7. Description of and rationale for all design concepts considered
  8. Analysis of considered design topics
  9. Description of selected design including its technical feasibility, engineering difficulty, estimated cost, user acceptance, safety considerations, etc
  10. Project visualizations: photographs, videos, sketches, drawings, models, prototypes
  11. Future work and challenges for continuing the project

Course staff, your classmates, and others in attendance will judge your presentation on the following metrics:

  1. Content - the overall quality of the information presented
  2. Clarity - did your audience understand your presentation's content?
  3. Conciseness - was your presentation short and to the point?
  4. Completeness - did you include all major elements?
  5. Convincing - did you provide a good reason for your decisions?
  6. Creativity - how inventive is the design?

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Updated 02/28/2007