ITERATIVE DESIGN
This page was created to showcase iterative design in my work. Some projects I choose to show are impactful, some are whimsical, some are incredibly complex, and some of them have been simple. All of them have been fun.
AUTOMATA PROJECT:
This project was completed for a Design Engineering course at the Colorado School of Mines and spanned several weeks. Students were tasked with making “automata” - or moving robot. I started off with the idea of creating a moving fish that swam when a crank was turned.
I started off by drafting several quick preliminary designs on paper before building a rapid prototype using cardboard, springs, string, hot glue, and a paperclip. We often find unexpected issues whenever we build small before overdesigning, and when the initial prototype was built I quickly discovered that a simple crank if placed in the center of the fish. I put the crank in the front segment in order to build quickly, and had to redraft options for building a crank in the center of the fish.
This project showcases drafting abilities for quick and small-scale designs with attention to flow of information, clarity in documentation and incorporation of aesthetics into design engineering problem solving.
FINAL AUTOMATA
I built a final prototype out of sheet tin, rivets, solder, rivets, eyelets, and fishing line. The crank in the middle of the fish's body could be rotated in order to make the fish swim and cause the mouth to open and close.