For a class project in my undergraduate studies, I had to research plastics for use in the product we were designing. Plastics we researched included polypropylene, mylar, polyethylene, etc. I learned a great deal about different kinds of plastic and their specific properties, such as modulus of elasticity, tensile strength, melting point, and much more. During my first internship, I was tasked with designing various items such as cable clips, and air ducts. My knowledge and experience from the class project greatly came in handy during designing these items because of the potential benefits from using them.
For my senior design project in my undergrad our project team was working on developing a portable ultrasound device with micron position tracking to generate automated robust 3D images that can be used to diagnose scoliosis. Our project team had to use last years project teams' information and input it into our own work. This included using their calibrations and testing setup and protocols. Seeing as we had to use this information we had to integrate it into our own project and use it to advance our portion of the project. Within our project we had to integrate multiple parts into one. Including the Matlab coding that can filter and produce the shadow regions of our phantom spinal cord and then we can integrate that information into our micro position tracker to determine the coordinates of the spinal segments in real time. We also had to integrate components from the our project with another senior design project that was working on imaging. We coordinated and integrated both of our teams results to get the best images from our ultrasound device.
I’ve also experience something similar with my capstone project. We had multiple components or call them sensors, in order to finish our final project. Our project’s goal was to measure three different biometrics data (blood glucose, blood oxygen, and activity). The biometric data will then be transmitted to a UI. We distributed the task evenly at first, coding, design and software. Once we got each individual component working, our next task was to make them communicate with each other and send the data to the web. Later we realized that the UI and our sensors were not compatible and it was not possible to write to the UI. We had to go back and research a new way to transmit data using a different code language in order to transfer data.
I took a class called Intro to Engineering Design during undergad. It was meant to be almost a practice run for the capstone course. Our project was to create a device that worked like a lawn mower to shovel snow and dispense the snow salt at the same time. One of the sub projects was to build the frame and another was to make the mechanism to dispense the salt. When the time came to integrate all of the parts together the salt dispenser was a little too long to properly fit underneath the frame. Due to the fact that the dispenser was made of pvc pipe we had an easy fix which was to cut the pipe. We took a quarter of an inch off of each side and then installed it into the frame.
Project integration management is the coordination of all elements of a project. This includes coordinating tasks, resources, stakeholder, and any other project elements. Integrated project management is the collection of processes that ensure various elements of projects are properly coordinated. It establishes and manages the involvement of all relevant stakeholders and resources.
For my capstone, we had one main project of developing a mobile application. However, within this one project, we had different mini projects which were put together at the end to become one mobile application. One project was developing the three training games on the user interface side. Another project was establishing a communication between the phone and remote database. This would allow the game platform to send user’s data and call sounds from the remote database. The other project was developing the internal database. The last project was generating sound for different difficulties. At the end, my team integrated to allow the “mini” projects to create one mobile application platform. However, it was not a flawless integration. I was in charge of the establishing the communication between the phone and remote database. I had to conduct a mini test to check if I was able to call data from the remote database from the unity platform I integrated my code into the GUI programmer’s project. If I did not do these tests and a problem arose during the integration, there could have been many possible reasons why the problem arose. Thus, we managed this by ensuring if each individual component worked well on its own, then something was wrong with the integration itself.
Share an experience from work or school where you experienced integrating the project you worked with another project. How did you handle if the integration of two components did not work out?
As an Automation Engineer in a 3rd Party Contract Manufacturing company, I am responsible for designing and building the machines that make the medical device for our customer. A Project Engineer is responsible for the overall project, i.e making sure the customer receives the proper medical devices according to the specifications and quality agreement.
While the rolls may sound distinct enough, I am constantly at odds with the Project Engineer on where the lines between our jobs end. I expect that the Project Engineer provides me with the information from the Customer about the medical devices, and allows me to focus on the equipment design. In order for me to be efficient in the design process, I don't have time to order parts, track shipping info, etc. I expect the Project Engineer to hand that. However, the Project Engineer always pushes back stating that all they are responsible for is dealing with the Customer. The Project Engineer does not think of me as an internal customer.
This often leads to issues because I cannot have the equipment built and debugged by the time the Project Engineer promised the customer it would be done. I am bogged down with administrative and project management work, that I don't spend as much time as I should on designing the equipment.
For my capstone project we were asked to create a canine prosthetic adjustable limb. With this being said we needed to use CREO parametric for our entire project. To split the project up we divided up the prosthetic and each person on the team would have to create one part. There were four parts the socket, the length adjustable mechanism, the cheetah blade and the rubber sole. Once the parts were created we wanted to make sure they fit into each other. One issue that arose was when connecting the socket with the length adjustment mechanism. It took a couple tries before the exact measurements were reached for these two parts to integrate into each other perfectly. It was also difficult to integrate the cheetah blade and the length adjustable mechanism. Having to split up the prosthetic into four different parts yes made it easier so that each part can be worked on by one person but it also made it difficult when it came to putting the prosthetic together.
