I'm looking to CD for Inspiration.
 

Hello all. I'm sure majority of you have heard of Project Lead the Way(http://www.pltw.org/). If not, it is a orginization that sets the curriculum for the engineering classes in my high school, and many other schools.

The final course is supposed to combine all of your gained knowledge, and put it into one capstone project. You are to find a general problem, research it, and then design something to fix the problem (invention or innovation).

I'm currently drawing a blank on what to do, because I'm in to mindset of "what can I make" instead of "what can I fix." I came here because I'm looking for people who have taken this course (Engineering Design & Development) and for people who have a common problem that needs fixing.

Past students- How did you get in your mindset to find a problem? Did it just come to you? Did you ask people? Or did you just sit around one day listing out problems?

Common Problem "havers"- What is your problem? Have you yourself taken any steps to solve it yourself? Do you know others with the same problem? Did someone already invent something to try and fix it, but did not solve it 100%?

All feedback is appreciated, and I thank you all for helping me out. --Ralf.

Re: I'm looking to CD for Inspiration.
 

One project I remember a team of students doing in our school was a module that sensed the presence of emergency vehicles by picking up the same signal they use to control the traffic lights and then automatically turned down the radio volume so the driver could better hear the siren. As I recall they had to get special permission to interact with that traffic light control signal. There was some concern that they could build a device on their own that would give themselves green lights with the knowledge they possessed.

Re: I'm looking to CD for Inspiration.
 

Try contacting a physical therapy or rehabilitation center. Talk to the therapists about equipment they might like (or tools they like that have issues).