In this class we learned about the design process and put it into practice in multidisciplinary teams. We were put into groups to develop animal enrichment for the Cincinnati Zoo and Botanical Gardens. The goal was to have an engineer and an industrial designer in every group. I took this class because my ultimate career goal is to work with industrial designers to design consumer products.
While I was originally placed in the little penguin group, the engineers and designers were not properly distributed between projects, so half way through the semester another member of the little penguin team and I divided off and started working with the cheetahs.
At the Cincinnati Zoo (and many other zoos), Cheetahs are raced using a lure system. The lure system was originally designed and sold as a lure system for dog racing. Essentially, it is a DC motor, solenoid, and voltmeter connected to a spool of string. The system is run off a 12V car battery.
There are two big issues with this system. First off, there is no braking element. Even when the pulse switch is let go the motor still runs on momentum, so the keepers use their foot to stop the string on the ground at the end of a run or in an emergency. The second big issue is what the zoo calls 'backlash'. When the pulse switch is not on and the motor is running on momentum, a substantial amount of resistance (friction) will switch the angular direction of the spool of string. This results in a yo-yo effect and the string wraps itself around the spool the opposite direct from what is desired creating tangles. Some other issues include solenoid failure without fail safes, the weight of the system, and wearing down the battery terminals with the alligator clips on the system.
Our project has two goals: fix the existing brake that zoo maintenance installed and design a new system that would eliminate as many issues as possible.
While I was originally placed in the little penguin group, the engineers and designers were not properly distributed between projects, so half way through the semester another member of the little penguin team and I divided off and started working with the cheetahs.
At the Cincinnati Zoo (and many other zoos), Cheetahs are raced using a lure system. The lure system was originally designed and sold as a lure system for dog racing. Essentially, it is a DC motor, solenoid, and voltmeter connected to a spool of string. The system is run off a 12V car battery.
There are two big issues with this system. First off, there is no braking element. Even when the pulse switch is let go the motor still runs on momentum, so the keepers use their foot to stop the string on the ground at the end of a run or in an emergency. The second big issue is what the zoo calls 'backlash'. When the pulse switch is not on and the motor is running on momentum, a substantial amount of resistance (friction) will switch the angular direction of the spool of string. This results in a yo-yo effect and the string wraps itself around the spool the opposite direct from what is desired creating tangles. Some other issues include solenoid failure without fail safes, the weight of the system, and wearing down the battery terminals with the alligator clips on the system.
Our project has two goals: fix the existing brake that zoo maintenance installed and design a new system that would eliminate as many issues as possible.