Collapsible Kid Cruiser

A year long senior design project

D-Bot

The result of a semester long mechatronics

course

Personal Projects

A collection of self inspired design

projects completed for

recreation

Lorem Ipsum Dolor[Insert Date]An Engineering and

Design Portfolio

By Adam Stanley

2

Project OverviewThe purpose of this project was to design and develop a

parent friendly product to provide transportation to children between the ages of 4 and 10 who have outgrown

traditional strollers.Project Requirements

Product must weigh less than 8-lbs Must be able to support a load of 250-lbs Product must collapse down into a backpack for

ease of carrying when not in use Must adjust to different sized child users Cost less than $25 per unit to manufacture at

full scale

A

B

C

Supplementary Tasks Document all meeting minutes, designs,

schedules, and legal documents for provisional patent application

Write a design report covering the entire design process for the project

Create a poster to present at competitions regarding the design

Develop presentations demonstrating the design process and research as well as the progress throughout the duration of the project

Write a publication entry for the 2014 ASEE competition

Collapsible Kid Cruiser™

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Design Concepts

Throughout the project, brainstorming and quick sketches were a major

part of our design process. Here are just a

few designs from the year.

Brainstorming and ConceptualizationThe process of communicating ideas when trying to determine direction on any design is best performed through brainstorming session among the designers and quick conceptual drawings to convey the overall function and layout. A common problem during the early stages of design is getting fixated on one particular solution. Using multiple designers and engineers expanding and improving upon each

A. A preliminary concept showing a seat, folding wheels and handles for pushing and riding.

C.A design showing the folding wheels and telescoping joints for storage, as well as backpack straps for carrying.

B. A preliminary concept showing telescoping parts for adjustability, and folding handles for storage.

D.A design showing both the collapsed and extended views for a product with a seat, telescoping handles, articulating wheels and backpack straps.

B.The first prototype before the carrying backpack-straps were sewn on.

C.The front and back view of the first prototype in the collapsed position once the backpack-straps were sewn on.

A.The Solidworks model of the first prototype, completed roughly halfway through the project.

D.The custom platform base for the second prototype being machined by a large CNC machine.

A B

D

A B

D C

A B

C D

These conceptual designs were productive in the overall design process by helping us define the 5 sub-systems that would make up our product;

Pushing Steering Platform Child Safety Containment

(storage)

A B

C

Prototypes & 3D ModelsOver the course of the year we developed 2 working prototypes and their respective Solidworks models, accurate down to the fasteners. We also used Solidworks to design our own platform base (which was the centerpiece for the second prototype) and analyzed its potential strength using finite element analysis.

D

The Final ProductThe last photographs show the

final prototype and the 3D model of the Collapsible Kid Cruiser. After a year of hard work and determination, my team members and I had a

finished product that we could be proud of.

During our final presentation to the Board of Directors at Roger

Williams University, the Collapsible Kid Cruiser was very well received. The Board as well

as university staff members were pleased to see the

progress we made and hear about the journey we took as a group to design this product.

Upon finishing the second prototype, we applied for a

provisional patent on the design and are still waiting to hear the

outcome of the application.Our group also competed in 2 competitions at the American

Society of Engineering Education conference at The

University of Bridgeport in April of 2014. Our group placed 10th

out of 165 contestants in the poster competition and within

the top 10 out of approximately 60 contestants for the

Project Overview

D-Bot: A Mechatronics Project

Mechatronics is a robotics course that combines electrical sensors and components with mechanical systems in order to solve given problems and perform tasks. Each pair in the class started with the same kits of components learning about a new technology each week and assigned to incorporate it into our robot the following week to perform a given task. After 6 weeks the requirements for performing the tasks changed and the only definition is the result, how we got to the result was completely open-ended. The final task of the course was to combine all of the previous tasks Supplementary Tasks

Maintain a design journal of the robot’s evolution Create a Solidworks model of each iteration After each task (also known as milestones),

submit a report about the design choices and how they were executed

Submit the code used for each milestone

Components Photo Sensors IR sensors Buttons Switches Motors Servos PVC sheets Aluminum flashing Legos Arduino Uno

DesignEvery week D-Bot changed in size and shape. There were mechanisms that worked consistently between milestones and just needed to be built upon. Others only worked for one milestone and were taken out of the design for the next milestone.

ConsiderationsAs the design progressed further, the process became more difficult. Getting all of the moving parts to work together to perform the final task was hard enough but the longer D-Bot ran, the more worn the parts became making them less reliable and

The Final MilestoneThe final milestone required the robot to navigate a play field, retrieve a collection of black and white marbles from a dispenser, sort the marbles, place the black marbles in a container at one end of the play field and the white marbles in a container at the opposite end of the play field. Each robot had 3 attempts to perform the task or no more than 5 minutes. Points were allotted based on the number of correctly placed marbles, neutral for marbles that didn’t make it into either container, and deducted for incorrectly placed marbles.

D-Bot’s end results were a total of 36 points out of a possible 50 points. The 50-point maximum was only ever achieved twice in the course’s 15 years at the school. In the practice leading up to the final milestone, D-

Personal Projects

“Creativity is a natural extension of our enthusiasm.”~ Earl

NightingaleWhenever I am asked to describe myself, the first word that comes to mind is creative. I see myself as creative in the most literal sense; I need to create. The majority of my free time is spent working on any number of projects I have put together in my head. I have an almost insatiable desire to bring my ideas to life. With each project that I take on, I learn a new skill that becomes part of my library that I can come back to and

make something I had never dreamed of before. One thing I believe all creative minds have in common is the incomparable pride and joy that comes after finishing a project. For me those feelings last somewhere between 8 and 12 seconds before I start thinking about what I can do better next time. A creators work is never done; there is always more to add because with new knowledge comes new inspiration.

Swivel TV StandA dorm room accessory

designed to optimize the work station-

entertainment system capabilities and

organization.

During my junior year of college my television acted as my dorm room centerpiece. I used it as a second monitor for homework, I would play music through it, not to mention watch movies and play video games and of course to watch television. I ran into the problem however that when I wanted to watch from my bed I would need to clear off my desk to have space to rotate the whole TV. So over the summer I designed a rotating TV stand small enough to fit on my credenza and with enough space to hold my accessories.

The design was almost completely in my head aside from a rough sketch to keep track of the dimensions. The body is made of ¾” birch plywood since I was in college and couldn’t afford hardwood. The turning mechanism is a 12” axial bearing where the cable and power cord are fed through a small hole in the center which gives it the ability to rotate endlessly without getting tangled. There is also a hinged door on the back to allow access to the accessories on the shelf. The piece is completed with a dark stain finish and

Infinity TableA sofa table with a

twist; LED lights and mirrors create an

optical illusion hidden from the unsuspecting

eye.

The Infinity Table was inspired by other similar projects, utilizing the same concept and phenomenon. However I wanted to make the entire table from scratch instead of converting an existing table to suit the design. The table is made out of pine and poplar boards stained ebony. I used ¼” tempered glass with a special 2-way mirror film as the table top with a strip of RGB LED lights controlled by a micro controller that is sensitive to music or ambient noise in the room. I have plans to revisit

Sand BlastingA special hand held

tool attached to an air compressor allows me to etch images on to

glass, metal, and plastic surfaces.

Sandblasting is a newer hobby of mine that lets me tap into my artistic creativity. There are several steps involved in the process of etching an image onto glass, plastic, or metal; the image needs to be drawn on a vinyl mask sheet, the areas intended to be etched then need to be cut out of the mask and then applied to the surface, and finally the surface will be sandblasted. All of these steps are done by hand making it all the more satisfying when it is finished. The limitation of this art form is creating images of high contrast consisting only of two tones; the positive and negative tones. However the limitation forces more