Student Portfolio

 

Student Portfolio

Engineering Design and Communication ENG 1513

Lim Hong Koon (0319369) Lecturer: Dr. Leong Wai Yie B. Eng (Hons) Mechanical Engineering Semester 1 March 2014

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Table of Contents Personal Expectation .............................................................................................................................. .............................................................................................................................. 3 Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities ................................................................................................................ ................................................................................................................ 4

Personal Outcome..................................... Outcome........................................................................................................ .............................................................................................. ........................... 8 Learning Outcome ....................................................................... ................................................................................................................................. .......................................................... 10 Personal SWOT ........................................................................... ...................................................................................................................................... ........................................................... 11 Learning Outcome 1:............................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................. 12 Learning Outcome 2:............................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................. 13 Learning Outcome 3:............................................................................................................................. ............................................................................................................................. 15

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Personal Expectation What started it all was when we were told about the Engineering Fair that will be held on the month of July, and what we were supposed to accomplish for the event. As fresh engineering students that are just entering the course, we were asked to construct robots that are capable of playing pingpong against other robots. I immediately believed that this was not an easy task, as I have no technical knowledge for electronics and the like. Still, it was a task that must be done and I was assigned to a group of people that I have yet to meet. After a few discussions and getting to know each other, I was elected to be the group leader to handle this project. It turned out that none of us has any experience with things like this, so we had to come up with a simple way to do this project. The weeks went on and we were still quite lost and dumbfounded on what to do. Of course in the end, we were able to complete our project with satisfaction. Throughout the process of getting it done, we were faced with problems including busy schedules and personal problems. We had quite some trouble trying to meet up and discuss properly as a team. Nonetheless, my team members were very encouraging and were willing to put effort into making this a success. Overall, I am very happy with the way my group handled things.

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Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities  Capabilities  Overview

Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities (TGC) was created in 2007 to enhance

university-level education to meet the ever- changing demands of industry, community and globalisation. TGC outlines the core knowledge, skills, abilities and qualities that students will develop at Taylor’s University regardless of

their programme of study. In a highly competitive and challenging 21st century workplace, graduates who are skilled will be relevant, responsive and work-ready to start ahead and stay ahead in the global marketplace. A Taylor’s graduate who is equipped with TGC is not only r eadily adaptable to

the changing workplace environment, but he/she also has the ability to take on new tasks and jobs successfully. The teaching and learning approach at Taylor’s Tayl or’s University is focused on

ensuring that each student is able to acquire and demonstrate disciplinespecific knowledge, cognitive capabilities and soft skills.

Impact on students 

Every effort to instill TGC, whether in academics or extra-curricular activities, is significant in helping our students cultivate the competencies they need to be competitive in the working world upon graduation.

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Academics in each school are responsible for embedding TGC in their teaching and learning activities. This is implemented at the module and programme levels through curricular design that involves mapping learning outcomes in relation to TGC, assessing TGC achievement and tracking student development. Evaluation and review mechanisms will be enhanced through regular audits and curricular review processes. The university’s Student Support Services instils TGC in students at the cocurricular and extra-curricular levels. There are many opportunities for development university-wide, such as opportunities for development university-wide, such as international collaborations, fairs, community service

initiatives, sports and recreational activities, competitions, internships and other personal and professional development activities. The Integrated Teaching and Life- long Learning Centre at Taylor’s (INTELLECT) will monitor the implementation implementation of TGC, as well as provide support and develop resources for stakeholders within the university to drive the TGC plan to its fulfilment. With their valuable real-world input, employers in our Industry Advisory Panel, as well as our alumni network and business partners from varied industries also have a key role in keeping our strategic plan relevant, current and grounded in industry expectations. 5

 

Our students are at the centre of this plan. It is our hope they will take responsibility for consciously developing their own graduate capabilities and learning to demonstrate those important capabilities through reflection, portfolios and ultimately, a TGC Award. The 8 Taylor’s Graduate Capabilities 

DISCIPLINE SPECIFIC KNOWLEDGE 

Able to put theories into practice 

LIFELONG

Learn

LEARNING 

independently 

THINKING AND PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS 

Think critically and creatively 

COMMUNICATION SKILLS 

Communicate appropriately in various settings and modes 

Understand ethical issues in the context of the field of study 

Locate, extract, synthesise and utilise information effectively 

Understand professional practice within the field of study 

Be intellectually engaged 

Define and analyse problems to arrive at effective solutions 

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INTERPERSONAL SKILLS 

Understand team dynamics and mobilise the power of teams 

Understand and assume leadership 

INTRAPERSONAL SKILLS 

Manage oneself and be selfreliant 

Reflect on one’s  actions and learning 

CITIZENSHIP AND GLOBAL PERSPECTIVES 

Be aware of and form opinions from diverse perspectives 

Understand the value of civic responsibility and community engagement 

DIGITAL LITERACY 

Effective use of ICT and related technologies 

Embody Taylor’s  core values 

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Personal Outcome Mechanical Engineering PO1

Apply the knowledge of mathematics, science, engineering practices, innovation techniques, entrepreneurship and human factors to provide value-adding solutions to complex Mechanical Engineering challenges.

PO2

Identify, formulate, analyse and document complex engineering challenges to arrive at viable solutions and substantiated conclusions.

PO3

Conceive, Design, Implement and Operate solutions for complex engineering challenges that meet specified requirements with appropriate consideration for public health and safety, cultural, societal, environmental and economical considerations.

PO4

Conduct research and investigation into complex challenges using methods which include experiment design, analysis of data and synthesis of information to provide valid conclusions.

PO5

Create, select and apply appropriate techniques, resources, and modern engineering and IT tools, including prediction and modelling, to complex engineering activities, with an awareness of the accompanying assumptions and limitations.

PO6

Apply reasoning informed by contextual knowledge to assess societal, health, safety, legal, economical and cultural issues and the

consequent

responsibilities

relevant

to

professional

engineering practice. PO7

Explain the global impact of professional engineering solutions in societal, economical and environmental contexts and demonstrate knowledge of and need for sustainable developmen development. t.

PO8

Apply professional and ethical responsibilities of engineering practice. 8

 

PO9

Effectively communicate complex engineering activities, both orally and in a written form, in both technical & non-technical contexts.

PO10 Function effectively as an individual and in multidisciplinary

settings with the capacity to be a leader. PO11 Recognise the importance of lifelong learning and engaging in

continuous professional development activities in accordance with technological change. PO12 Effectively manage projects in multidisciplinary environments and

apply project management tools and techniques to one’s own work, as a member and leader in a team to satisfy stakeholders requirements.

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Learning Outcome In the completion of this module ENG 1513 Engineering Design and Communication, Communicati on, we will be able to obtain these learning outcomes: o utcomes:

 

 Learning Outcome 1 (LO1)   Produce useful ideas and concept using Brain Storming (C)

  Learning Outcome 2 (LO2)   Design a system that solves a complex engineering challenge using

the Design Process (D)

  Learning Outcome 3 (LO3)   Conclude findings from working in a team through technical

documentation documentati on (I&O)

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Personal SWOT 

Positive

Strength

Internal

Weakness

  Motivation – This project

  Laziness – I am easily

is very interesting and I am motivated to do it.   Theorycrafting – I often give out ideas and analysis towards my other members.

distracted and lazy.   Confidence – I often feel inferior compared to the designs done by other groups, as I feel our design was not impressive.

Opportunities   IT knowledge – There are

External

Negative

many chances to get to know how to use technical tools and more.   Ideas and concepts – I got to know a lot of physics concepts applied to reality and see how to work around it.

Threats   Time management – Each

member of my group has very busy schedules and are often unavailable.   Design flaws – The designs we tested out were not as successful as we thought.

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Learning Outcome 1: Storming (C) 

Produce useful ideas and concept using Brain

Student’s evidence: 

As this project began, concepts and ideas were heavily required to make it a success. Again, each one of us in the team has no technical knowledge about building robots. As such, we did our own research to come up with ways to get a practical yet interesting design.  

Brain storming sessions were held during meetings, and we worked together to think about possible designs to be used in our robot. Our ideas were focused heavily on utilizing physics principles to allow the bouncing of the balls, making ping pong possible.

Some early designs included encasing the frontal part of remote control cars with pieces of plastic, covered by elastic rubber padding as shown below:

Covering the sides as well as the top of the car also covers a wider area to ensure the ball gets hit. These are the early concepts that were thought to be utilized. Overtime, different concepts and designs were also thought up by other members to change its practicality and cosmetics.

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Learning Outcome 2:

Design a system that solves a complex

engineering challenge using the Design Process (D)  Student’s evidence:

A lot of questions rose from our process of trying to build the robots. What type of remote control car should we use? How fast must it go? What sort of materials should be used to ensure maximum efficiency? All these questions were dealt with throughout the construction of the robots. 

In the end, what we opted for was to try our best to use a non-technical design: one that required no usage of external motors, gears and additional wiring. This is to make it an easier project for us and to make it more accessible to others.

We began by purchasing two remote control cars of different size and frequency, to give a little more flexibility in designing and aesthetics. The photos of the cars purchased are shown as follows:

Car 2

Car 1

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Of course, both cars were obtained with the aim of not having any form of frequency clashing. This was very important to take note of. The next step was to remove the casings of the both cars. After the casings were removed, it was an easy task to attach materials to shape it however we liked it. We opted to use thin wooden planks as lightweight and sturdy materials. The first design we ended up with was a pyramid-shaped car:

The reasoning for the chosen design was to ensure the car is widely covered, giving us a higher chance of reflecting the ball. The second car was decided to be fitted with a plank of wood, removed from a ping pong racquet and attach it to the front of the car:

This design ensured practicality and simplicity in one. Through the design process, we were able to propel and reflect incoming projectiles (in this case, ping pong balls) to achieve our desired goals, which is to allow a game of ping pong, played with robots.

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Learning Outcome 3: Conclude findings from working in a team through technical documentation (I&O)  Student’s evidence:

As time went on, each of us developed ourselves significantly. Working in a team taught us strong qualities, such as punctuality, learning to accept the opinions of others, and working together despite our differences. 

As the team started out, some people having hard time voicing out our idea or opinion so we make use of modern technology such as facebook and whatsapp.

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We were able to separated work nicely and listed reminder on facebook. Everyone took full responsibility on what they did and put all their effort into what they do.

Then we compile everything into one piece of work and held a gathering to discuss and edit slightly. With these website and method, we do our job j ob more efficiently and time management problems are prevented.

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Challenges faced and Proposed Solutions

It is expected to have tons of conflicts in the project this complex. Challenges were faced and tackling these challenges is not that easy yet  we did come up with some solid solutions, solutions, it might not be the best but it put us at ease. The first and hardest challenge of all in this project is the dimension limit given for the robot we making. Limiting to a 15cm x 15cm x 15cm, iitt is hard to design let alone getting the materials for it. So we decided to make a square base as a limiter, and know that it is essential to limit our car (base) or our robot then as we set that as an example we get material and compartments smaller or similar to the size of the car. To be b e honest getting a car with that size and meeting all criteria we wanted was not an easy task. It was kind of time consuming and a lot of research was done to achieve the materials but it is worth all the while. Thinking how we had started, we encounter problem where own challenges are met. We wanted to dream big and make something big for this project. Our team PRIME is at first so excited and motivated for this but then with big outcome, we need big effort. Using a pressure compressor? It sure is not something you wanted to deal with. We planned to use that due to our high expectation and tons of challenges are faced. We design for a very long time and discuss overnight just for this and did a lot of trial and error, and in the end it seem to be able to function but it is not 100%. Air pressure is not focus on the ping pong ball. How to let the ball to the pressure gauge? How to shoot the ball over the net? A lot more questions are not answer in our mind. Every time we make a design we question our member the problem it might encounter and we tackle it and edit the design until it become slightly to our ideal design but making it was also no easy task.

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Radar Chart of Project Budget

Toy motor – RM120 Motor – RM 50 Gear – RM 30 Battery – RM10  Wheels – RM 15 –

Plastic Casing/Support  RM 20 18

 

# The list of shop visited to purchase your materials.     

  Fantasy Toys - Sungai Wang Pyramid     Toy R'us - Sunway Pyramid   7-11 - Taylor Univeristy      AceHardware - Sunway Pyramid Pyramid   Utama     Aeon – One Utama 

Radar Chart of LO Achievement

– LO1  30% 19

 

LO2 – 30% LO3 – 40%

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Final Evaluation NAME: Choy Kheng Hung

[email protected]   Email:  Email: [email protected]

Tel: 0102155366 Group Name:

Student ID: 0318966 PRIME

ME/CE/EE

Please rank (1, 2, 3, 4, 5) your team members accordingly , 1 refers to the BEST  Team Members Rank Comments / roles and responsibilities Yourself 3 Supportive role as in looking for material and IT works. Kishen 5 Supportive role as in looking for material. (driver ) Zheng Quan 2 Secretary, record money usage and planning Run Ting 1 More to theory work as in drawing and writing works. Ming Wey 4 Leader 1.  Please nominate the best Team Member. Explain why. Run Ting, he stay calm at all time and manage to get his work done and very understanding person. Even though he stay far away, he is willing to stay late at university for the project.

2.  Please name a passive member (if any). Explain why. *none* 3.  Identify the challenges and difficulties you have faced in this subject. Why. The major challenges I faced could say how people can change and how hard it is to handl handle e them during group project. (No offence just my thought)

4.  What are the most fun and interesting you have face in this subject? Why. It is the fun practical works where it is not what you could get easily. 5.  List down shops you have visited to purchase your materials. Briefly identify the materials. *listed above (page 19) 6.  What is your suggestion to improve this subject. No suggestion. It is great as it is.

7.  Please propose a Team Project for next semester (1 st Year 1st Semester). Explain.  Sumo Robot. I think football and all is too main stream or maybe I like more action.

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