Engineering Design Process

The LASA Robotics Engineering Process is a general series of steps and tasks that guide the creation of a successful design. This process helps LASA keep on track, stay focused, and be efficient through the build season. LASA’s engineering process entails three major components: the design, the prototype, and the deployment.

Design

The first step in the engineering process, the design phase, is to create an initial concept for the product. In order to create this design, it is essential to first fully understand the ultimate goal of the product and any rules or restrictions that the product must adhere to, so as to better conceptualize a plausible design. Moreover, a general game strategy must be developed, so that the design will have a more concrete set of goals. Then, a brainstorming session is held to decide on a final design. In a brainstorming session, individual concepts are considered, analyzed, modified, or combined, until a workable final design is reached. The idea’s merit and ability to accomplish the given task is then tested and corroborated through mathematical analysis. Once the idea has been at least conceptually and numerically validated, the design phase is completed, although the design may be revisited later. LASA Robotics fulfills this portion of the engineering project by dividing into design subteams after kickoff, and developing five distinct candidate designs. Then, at a brainstorming session called Drop Dead Design Day, or D4, the team considers the candidate designs and slowly narrows the choices by listing pros and cons. The candidate designs are illustrated by mock-ups, made of cardboard and foamboard. These serve to give a visual representation of concepts, and better enable an accurate critique. Once all but two designs have been eliminated, the team votes on the final design.

The second step in the engineering process is to construct a prototype. Even though analysis has shown the design’s credibility, it is very important to base the design in reality. This involves creating a scale or actual mock-up of the design under test, usually one part at a time. Each segment of the design is unit tested – or tested individually - and then integrated into the overall prototype. If an individual part doesn’t work as it was originally designed, the part is modified until it does work or is redesigned. Also, the prototype phase includes the selection of materials for each component, based on the durability, sturdiness or flexibility necessary for a component to function correctly. LASA Robotics builds prototypes on a full scale, so as to model the conditions required as realistically as possible. LASA’s prototypes are made of the actual selected materials, and are integrated into an overall prototype. In many cases, the prototype becomes the actual final product; only components that have been shown not to function are redesigned and reconstructed. Once the prototype has been shown to have the potential for success, it moves into the deployment phase.

Deploy

LASA’s engineering process culminates with the deployment of the device, with the major concern being the overall specification adherence of the device. The design is tweaked until it meets the initial goals and requirements. If this functionality is not possible due to problems in the concept, the design must be reevaluated. Otherwise, the product is complete and ready for use. Due to the time constraints imposed by BEST, LASA spends the majority of the build tweaking the robot. Once the prototype components have been shown to work, they undergo a series of minor changes to improve consistency and performance There is rarely enough time to completely redesign the concept during build season, and therefore, such a drastic change is viewed as a last resort. After the robot has been tweaked enough to function well, the engineering process concludes, and the final product is complete and ready for competition.