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Originally posted by M. Krass
I'm interested in learning how many "100% Student Design and Built" teams began the process with any sort of master plan.
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M, while I wouldn't say my team is "100% Student Designed and Built," we're pretty darn close. To say that students can't do a proper design and build process is an affront to our efforts. We spent just as much time designing, planning, cadding, and prototyping our designs as anybody. I should know; I did most of it. Yes, we had some trial-and-error. But that's what we like to call "prototyping." We make drawings on the blackboard, then do a CAD or Inventor model of how we think it should go, then make a mock-up out of something easy for us to work with. If it doesn't work, we fix it so it does, then make a new one based on our final prototype. We've found over time that sometimes, that model you drew up in CAD just doesn't quite work the same way in the "real world."
So, I ask you, what's so terribly, horribly wrong with making a part over and over again, if you're making refinements and making it work better each time? It's how the real engineering world works. Do you think GM, or Ford, or Chrysler, or anyone designs an entire car on paper, then immediately puts it into production? No, they have prototypes and concepts of all sorts. You can't expect to have a perfect finished product just based on your drawings. There is real value in real-world testing, and that's what we attempt to do every year.
Don't go knocking student-lead teams just because you think we don't get it. That's what our engineers and teachers have taught us. How to do it the right way, on our own.