Exploring Sea, Space, & Earth: Fundamentals of Engineering Design
Study Materials
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SES # |
TOPICS |
LECTURES |
MATERIALS |
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1 |
Class overview Introduction to engineering and the design process, engineering drawing, sketching, back of the envelope calculations |
Overview (PDF 1 ‑ 4.8MB) Engineering design (PDF 2 ‑ 3.6MB) |
Introductory questionnaire (PDF) Concept quiz (PDF) Slocum, Alexander H. "Design Is A Passionate Process." Chapter 1 inFundamentals of Design. (PDF) |
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2 |
Basic design analysis Free body diagrams, Newton's laws |
Engineering analysis (PDF) |
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3 |
Electronics and water: two great tastes that don't taste so great together… Exploration with instrumentation |
Circuits (PDF) |
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4 |
Hydrostatics, pressure and water proofing |
Fluid effects and forces (PDF ‑ 3.1MB) |
Hydrostatic pressure effects and Archimedes' principle (PDF) |
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5 |
Holiday - no lecture |
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6 |
Design brainstorming, project ideas, Solidworks repository development |
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7 |
Motors and electronics Guest lecturer: Prof. Steven Leeb |
Gears & linkages (PDF ‑ 1.7MB) |
Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems, RLE, MIT Electrical Engineering & Computer Science |
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8 |
Design analysis, error estimation, data presentation Propulsion: power vs. thrust and efficiency |
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9 |
Engineering ethics and using your best judgment |
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10 |
Communicating engineering design Promoting your ideas/inventions |
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11 |
Exploration on the Moon: mission planning for EVA and geology, part 1 Guest lecturer: Prof. Dava Newman |
Prelab (PDF ‑ 4.5MB) (Courtesy of Dava Newman. Used with permission.) Lab (PDF ‑ 2.0MB) (Courtesy of Dava Newman. Used with permission.) |
Man Vehicle Lab, MIT Aeronautics & Astronautics |
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12 |
Exploration adventure part 2 Guest lecturer: Prof. Dava Newman |
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13 |
Student presentations: in-class design review |
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14 |
Design iterations, recalculations |
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15 |
Cool robots and bomb disposal |
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16 |
Bio-robots, gecko feet, and cool stuff! |
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17 |
Engineering and society |
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18 |
Guest lecture |
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19 |
Pool testing at the Z-Center |
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20 |
Engineering at MIT: choice of majors |
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21 |
No class, optional Boston Harbor Day trip + lunch |
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22 |
Guest lecturer: Prof. Steve Dubowsky, mobile robots |
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Field and Space Robotics Laboratory, MIT Mechanical Engineering |
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23 |
Guest lecturer: Prof. Sangbae Kim, bio-inspired design |
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Biomimetic Robotics Lab, MIT Mechanical Engineering |
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24 |
Engineering after MIT: grad school, consulting, FE exam, professional engineers certification, internships |
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NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering Exams ASME Ethics Code (PDF) |
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25 |
Guest lecturer: Dr. Sheri White, underwater exploration |
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Dr. White's research, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution |
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26 |
Guest lecturer: Prof. Jeff Hoffman, aerospace engineering design |
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Massachusetts Space Grant Consortium, MIT Aeronautics & Astronautics |
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27 |
Final student poster presentations |
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28 |
Lab clean up, evaluations |
Labs
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SES # |
TOPICS |
LABS |
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1 |
Class overview Introduction to engineering and the design process, engineering drawing, sketching, back of the envelope calculations |
Introduction to the OETL (PDF) Solid Works tutorial Machine shop skills and safety (PDF) |
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2 |
Basic design analysis Free body diagrams, Newton's laws |
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3 |
Electronics and water: two great tastes that don't taste so great together… Exploration with instrumentation |
Light banks (PDF) (Courtesy of Kate Thompson. Used with permission.) Electronics Assembly (PDF) (Courtesy of Kate Thompson. Used with permission.) Solid Works tutorials/parts library |
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4 |
Hydrostatics, pressure and water proofing |
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5 |
Holiday - no lecture |
Instrumentation panels introduction and construction (PDF) Information on sensors (PDF) |
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6 |
Design brainstorming, project ideas, Solidworks repository development |
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7 |
Motors and electronics Guest lecturer: Prof. Steve Leeb, MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science |
Waterproof sensors/lights Design brainstorming |
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8 |
Design analysis, error estimation, data presentation Propulsion: power vs. thrust and efficiency |
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9 |
Engineering ethics and using your best judgment |
Motor building and testing Team development and brainstorming |
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10 |
Communicating engineering design Promoting your ideas/inventions |
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11 |
Exploration on the Moon: mission planning for EVA and geology, part 1 Guest lecturer: Prof. Dava Newman, MIT Aeronautics & Astronautics |
Testing sensors in lab Design analysis Brainstorming! |
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12 |
Exploration adventure part 2 Guest lecturer: Prof. Dava Newman, MIT Aeronautics & Astronautics |
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13 |
Student presentations: in-class design review |
Build Revise analysis Parts list submission |
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14 |
Design iterations, recalculations |
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15 |
Cool robots and bomb disposal |
Build, build, build! |
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16 |
Bio-Robots, Gecko feet, and cool stuff! |
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17 |
Engineering and society |
Dunk-test vehicle (Pool) Complete electronics |
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18 |
Guest lecture |
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19 |
Pool testing at the Z-Center |
Troubleshoot Data analysis from dunk test (Pool) and/or field test at Sailing pavilion (River) |
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20 |
Engineering at MIT: things to think about... choice of majors |
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21 |
No class, optional Boston Harbor Day trip + lunch |
Off site testing (River) |
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22 |
Guest lecturer: Prof. Steve Dubowsky, MIT Mechanical Engineering, mobile robots |
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23 |
Guest lecturer: Prof. Sangbae Kim, MIT Mechanical Engineering, bioinspired design |
Off site testing (TBA) |
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24 |
Engineering after MIT: things to think about... grad school, consulting, FE exam, professional engineers certification, internships |
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25 |
Guest lecturer: Dr. Sheri White, Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, underwater exploration |
Further data analysis (PDF) Design review poster preparation |
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26 |
Guest lecturer: Prof. Jeff Hoffman, MIT Aeronautics & Astronautics, aerospace engineering design |
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27 |
Final student poster presentations |
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28 |
Lab clean up, evaluations |
Assignments
This page contains the writing assignments for the course. Details about the final group design project are on the projects page.
Lab Notebook Review
Design notebook guidelines (PDF)
Notebooks will be collected in lab approximately every other week.
CI Reports (2-3 pages each)
Both of these reports should be well-structured, with introductions, body and conclusions. Points will be taken off for grammar and spelling mistakes, so proofread before handing them in.
a. Review of a current (major) engineering challenge and why it's important to society today. Stories taken from current news and events, and popular magazines (Popular Science, Science, Nature, Scientific American, New Scientist, Time, US News and World Reports, etc) related to major engineering challenges facing society today. These should be challenges that warrant new engineering technology (that needs to be developed/designed!). You should discuss critically why it's important, how it will benefit society and the environment, and what the major challenges are (engineering, societal and/or political!). Report should be 2-3 pages.
b. Ethics position paper (PDF). This position paper will convey your personal opinion relating to the ethical dilemma presented in an assigned reading. You will not be graded on your opinion, but how you convince the reader that your opinion is valid and should be considered. This should be approximately 2 pages.
Perelman, Les. "Writing a Technical Report." (PDF) (Courtesy of Les Perelman and Mya Poe. Used with permission.)
Required Readings
Kent, Adrian. "A Critical Look at Risk Assessments for Global Catastrophes." Risk Analysis 24 (2004): 157-168.
Calogero, Francesco. "Might A Laboratory Experiment Destroy Planet Earth?" Interdisciplinary Science Reviews 25 (2000): 191-202.
Overbye, Dennis. "Gauging a Collider's Odds of Creating a Black Hole." New York Times, April 15, 2008.
Optional Readings
Jaffe, R. L., et al. "Review of Speculative 'Disaster Scenarios' at RHIC." Reviews of Modern Physics 72 (2000): 1125-1140. arxiv:hep-ph/9910333v3
Johnson, George. "Physicists Strive to Build a Black Hole." New York Times, September 11, 2001.
Overbye, Dennis. "Asking a Judge to Save the World, and Maybe a Whole Lot More." New York Times, March 29, 2008.
Nizza, Mike. "Hawking Anticipates Collider's Start." New York Times, September 9, 2008.
Overbye, Dennis. "A Giant Takes On Physics' Biggest Questions." New York Times, May 15, 2005.
Dar, Arnon, A. De Rújula, and Ulrich Heinz. "Will Relativistic Heavy Ion Colliders Destroy Our Planet?" Physical Review Letters B 470 (1999): 142-148. arXiv:hep-ph/9910471v1
AssociatedPress. "Particle Collider Fires, No Black Holes Form." September 10, 2008. YouTube. Accessed August 3, 2009.
Oral Presentation
Your team will make a presentation to the class on your design ideas and how you plan to construct your vehicle. This presentation should be made in Powerpoint (MAC/Windows) or Keynote (MAC OS) and a PDF should be printed and posted to the course Web site. Each team member should present some aspect of the design.
Rethinking the design of presentation slides (PDF) (Courtesy of Michael Alley. Used with permission.)
Presentation template (PDF)
Technical Reports (3-5 pages each)
Both of these reports should be well-structured, with introductions, body and conclusions. Points will be taken off for grammar and spelling mistakes, so proofread before handing them in. These are more technical in nature than the CI reports.
a. Technical report 1 (PDF): This TR will detail the data obtained from testing the motors. Highlight the pros/cons of the motor/prop combination and present your data for thrust, etc.
b. Technical report 2: This TR will detail your data collected in the Charles River Basin and Boston Harbor areas.
Projects
Final Poster Session
Each team will create a poster that will be printed on large format in color by the teaching staff. The poster should convey your design ideas as well as any data you collect. Several sample posters are presented here, with permission of the authors.
"The Winged Avenger." (PDF)
"Designing an Underwater ROV." (PDF ‑ 4.8 MB)
"Designing Nemo." (PDF ‑ 9.1 MB)
"The Sea-Saw." (PDF ‑ 2.3 MB)
"To Sink And Swim." (PDF)