Creativity in Engineering - Part 4 "CPDC results"
Final list of proposals.
Deadline for submissions: April 24 at 11:55 p.m.
Added reflections and lessons learned and to be learned!
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Step 1: List (temporary) of models and authors.
- 01) NASA SPACE 1.0 >>> Juan Manuel Vidoret
- 02) PINAMBAR ROTATIONAL OC >>> Maximiliano Pizzicotti
- 03) LUNAR GATEWAY CARGO PACKING AND STORING >>> Joaquin Vidoret
- 04) CELERASTRA >>> Lucas Sianca
- 05) CANOPUS >>> Ignacio José Rossi
- 06) ASTROVAULT >>> Luca Bonardi
- 07) MG-2000 >>> Matías García
- 08) NS1 CARGO PACKING AND STORING >>> Nicolas Seguenzia
- 09) MILLENNIUM EAGLE >>> Lautaro Pastore
- 10) SPACE FRUIT v1.0 >>> Marco Nannini
- 11) THE LUNAR WARDROBE >>> Alexia Coronel
- 12) STAR MODULE >>> Aldana Noelí González
- 13) RING SYSTEM V2 >>> Juan Frattini
- 14) LGC >>> Bianca Delprato
- 15) SADEL-24 >>> Lucas Exequiel Ramirez
- 16) R2D2-RM >>> Ramiro Molinari
- 17) MOON MODULE V1.0 >>> Alvaro Sanchez
- 18) COLOSSUS >>> Agustin Dario Garcia
- 19) LUNAR HALO >>> Francisco Gallo
- 20) LUNARSAFE-322 >>> Marcos Stanicich
- 21) LUNAR GATEWAY CARGO PACKING AND STORING >>> Agustin Alturria
- 22) MESSIER 25 (M25) >>> Octavio Tumini Bellico
- 23) SSM-SYSTEM >>> Tomás Mucciacciaro
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Step 2: Clarifications
This practical work corresponds to students of the fifth year of the Mechanical Engineering degree at the Faculty of Exact Sciences, Engineering and Surveying (FCEIA) of the National University of Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina (UNR).
https://web.fceia.unr.edu.ar/es/
It corresponds to the subject M25-Synthesis of Mechanisms and Machines, under my direction, and is based on the results of the NASA challenge:
https://grabcad.com/challenges/nasa-challenge-lunar-gateway-cargo-packing-and-storing
For this reason, it is clarified that we value and formally recognize the credit of all the models presented in the challenge to their corresponding authors. The works of these authors have been taken as inspiration to try to provide additional solutions and, in this way, we express it in attached files where each student has developed their CPDC (Convergent Divergent Creative Postprocess).
In this academic context we assume that there may be errors, misinterpretations of what each original author wanted to express in their design and many other things that are part of the learning process.
For this reason, we apologize if the original authors do not feel comfortable with the analysis that each student made of his proposal (as a result of his current biased vision).
This is common every time a designer puts his work up for consideration by any jury, whether it is highly qualified (like NASA's) or totally inexperienced (like this group of students). This is just an exercise, with the best intentions of learning, in which I request that "every error, omission or misinterpretation" be considered in this "imperfect educational context" that, in no way, intends to criticize proposals or authors.
Personally, I thank all the authors for the valuable works presented and which now have an additional usefulness: serving as a basis for the learning of a group of young, future engineers.
I would greatly appreciate any constructive comments, whether expressed in this tutorial or in each student's models. Keep in mind that "the word" is a very powerful instrument, both good and bad. What each of my students receives as feedback from you (authors or simply GrabCAD users) can have a great influence on their motivation and learning process.
Thank you so much!
Marcelo V.
PS: About proposal evaluation:
This practical work is a "flipped classroom" experience in which some roles are exchanged. For example: the work instructions were established by NASA in its challenge. We only added the application of the PCDC postprocess.
The evaluation, for its part, I hope is more shaped by self-criticism (which each student must develop), the contributions of the GrabCAD community (through comments from its users) and the opinion of NASA (since was interested in the results of this work). I prefer my opinion to be from the role of a GrabCAD user (as another designer) and not as a teacher in charge of the subject.
However, academically each work will have a value (a grade) but I prefer that it arises from the critical evaluation of each student/designer based on what he or she thinks and the feedback received: each engineer must realize, for himself, to what extent his solution is good, separating himself from any feeling conditioned by his role as author.
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Step 3: Reflections from the teaching team
This activity carried out by the SMM catedhra has allowed students to have access to real engineering challenges requested by a real client (NASA). It allowed them to detect their strengths and improve their weaknesses: improve their knowledge.
They were able to exhibit their work on an international site where many students and engineers demonstrate their creative skills and processes.
It is also a challenge for professors, to motivate our students on this task and motivate them to believe in everything they are capable of doing: teach them to trust their abilities.
A special thanks to the students for accepting this challenge, for their effort, and dedicating time.
From my point of view, this activity carried out by the SMM chair has managed to show students the potential they have and often fail to see.
Today, a simple practical work became a work of international relevance, where many other students and engineers demonstrate their skills and creative processes.
It is a pleasure to be able to accompany our students in this task and motivate them to believe in everything they are capable of no matter the challenge they face.
A special thanks to the students for the effort and dedication made during this time.
First of all, I want to highlight the seriousness and dedication with which the students approached this work.
Secondly, I must admit that the technical result was very good considering that it arose from applying, for the first time, a methodology far from their intellectual comfort zones. To see notable results, this technique must be practiced frequently and in contexts that allow the necessary time for ideas to mature and new searches to be triggered in different directions.
Finally, I would like students to become aware that the creative resource they used the most, the association of pre-existing ideas, is just the tip of the iceberg and that, in the depths, it is possible to find new concepts, disruptive ideas, and even ideas that They do not work but they help break molds and induce other ideas by contrast.
Many thanks to the students for their effort and to the GrabCAD colleagues who constructively supported this process with their comments and likes!
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Step 4: Student reflections
As a reflection on this instance, I am very satisfied to have been able to develop myself in a professional environment outside the structure of an “academic project” and following the requirements of a large establishment such as NASA. On the other hand, I find it super interesting and motivating that the SMM subject gives this focus to the course of the subject, since we put into practice the concepts acquired in these years that we have been going through at the university in another area to which we were not accustomed. , formalizing and wanting to improve the content contributed to the great Grabcad library, so that it continues to persist over time with the quality of the work contributed by users, and that the exchange of ideas is always from the side of solidarity, and to provide technical-scientific quality help to a colleague who needs to clarify an idea of their project-model, or to see an idea of a model provided by us.
Cheers to the entire community!! I'm happy I was able to contribute an idea to the library!!
From my point of view, once the challenge is over, I consider it to be a very useful activity and that it contributes a lot, since it forced us to use creativity and criteria, something to which at least I am not accustomed. Also, it is the closest thing to what we future engineers will later find on a day-to-day basis, the "I want to accomplish this, how would you do it..." or "I'm looking to achieve this, what do you propose?" and begin to apply all the knowledge that these years of study gave us, in addition to incorporating creativity to obtain the "best solution" or the most viable solution. On the other hand, I want to congratulate the teachers of the SMM subject, for joining us the students, to the GrabCAD community, a place where people from all over the world share their designs and ideas and where you can exchange opinions regarding each other's designs and ideas.
Greetings to the whole community!!
I consider that this work proposed by our professors of the subject Synthesis of Mechanisms and Machines, helped us as students to develop our own criteria to determine what is important when facing a challenge; and also, to put our imagination and creativity into action.
With the development of the EUD, we were able to clearly establish the requirements requested by NASA (and, in some cases, incorporate our own requirements), while with the subsequent elaboration of the PCDC, we were able to draw inspiration to find new solutions based on a deep analysis of the cases proposed by the community designers. All these acquired tools will be fundamental for us to develop as future committed professionals.
Regards!
From my point of view, this job was a great challenge, both in creativity and in 3D modeling skills, which although everything is supposed to go well, sometimes there are problems and they can frustrate us. For this reason, I consider that it was a work of improvement and consistency.
On the other hand, it is the first time that I have done something of this style, I mean, a project that has or perhaps could have professional rigor, so on that side I am also very proud of the result.
I'm really grateful with teachers Marcelo, Rubén and Alexis for providing the tools and help necessary to carry out the project.
Greetings to the GRABCAD community!
I think it was a very interesting proposal, from the perspective of projecting ideas together with other existing ones. At the same time, it challenged me with the issue of having a deadline for delivery and the requirements to fulfill; it's a very good approximation to work in the labor world. I eagerly await the next challenge.
A big greeting to the professors of the subject who provided us with help and tools for this project, and not least, a greeting to the entire GRABCAD community who, with comments and likes, boost our morale and desire to move forward.
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Step 5: A lesson worth learning!
Creativity is not an instantaneous process. It is necessary to give our mind time to go through stages of maturation of ideas.
Image taken from the internet:
https://app.emaze.com/@ACIZFTIZ#/3
I will give you an example related to another NASA challenge for which I kept some images that illustrate this maturation:
Up to this point the idea remained at the level of "low-definition functional sketch" and then (after many hours and an essential "focus on a single solution") it reached this other level of definition:
Author's images:
Pillbug | 3D CAD Model Library | GrabCAD
In conceptual engineering, the idea at the level of "low-definition functional sketch" has a lot of value. It is very good practice to "keep your mind in that low-definition state" to be able to evaluate many ideas simultaneously.
Image taken from the internet:
https://ar.pinterest.com/pin/568016571724501202/
Image taken from the internet:
Lâmpadas aguarela desenhada mão | Vetor Grátis (freepik.com)
Anticipating the definition of details, such as construction and assembly, "takes our mind out" of the state in which other ideas, associations, contrasts and disruptions arise.
Image taken from the internet:
Как нарисовать цветок (26 фото) (papik.pro)
The more detail they look for, the more convergent the process will be toward a single solution. That's a good thing, but only after a "long enough" period of divergence to allow many types of conceptual solutions to be appreciated.
Author's image
As a final example, I will soon upload a model in the state of "low-definition functional sketch" that contributes a new idea to the spectrum of solution concepts that we were analyzing with CPDC.
Author's image:
The Sphere | 3D CAD Model Library | GrabCAD
If when looking at this model you wonder:
- Why doesn't the model show the CTB's?
- How are CTBs immobilized?
- What are the special CTB's in rings and sphere?
- How is the sphere held and moved?
- How are the spheres and rings constructed and assembled?
- What materials is the system composed of?
- ....etc. etc
It means that you are MAKING THE MISTAKE of converging towards the detail when, in reality, you should only observe "the concept and its potential" to realize "how many concepts have been left out" of our spectrum of solutions!
I can assure you (and I will show you over time) that we were "totally blind" to many other possible solution concepts that, better or worse, could have allowed us to find authentic "new solutions".
A lesson worth learning:
- Una lección que vale la pena aprender:
If we are in the "conceptual engineering" stage, we must maintain ourselves in a mental state that promotes the divergence of ideas and tends to enrich the spectrum of solution concepts. This will allow us to criticize and review the issues at the root of our problem, including the cause-effect analysis and the version(s) of the Desired Useful Effect that we have managed to state, in addition to the technical solutions reached at a conceptual level.
- Si estamos en la etapa de "ingeniería conceptual" debemos mantenernos en un estado mental que promueva la divergencia de ideas y tienda a enriquecer el espectro de conceptos de solución. Esto nos permitirá criticar y revisar las cuestiones de raíz de nuestro problema, incluyendo el análisis causa-efecto y la o las versiones del Efecto Útil Deseado que hayamos logrado enunciar, además de las soluciones técnicas alcanzadas a nivel conceptual.
Even "non-solutions" (those alternatives that do not fulfill the desired useful effect, or only partially do so) are very useful as long as we understand why they do not work. One of the positive things these "non-solutions" promote are the new ideas gained "by contrast with them."
- Incluso las "no soluciones" (aquellas alternativas que no cumplen el efecto útil deseado, o lo hacen solo parcialmente) son muy útiles en la medida que comprendamos por qué no funcionan. Una de las cosas positivas que promueven estas "no soluciones" son las nuevas ideas obtenidas "por contraste con ellas".
The mere "association of ideas" and complementation between ideas that have some value is the most basic way to enrich the spectrum of solution concepts, but it is not the best or the only one. In particular, simply taking parts of good solutions and compiling them into a new one, while simple and sometimes very effective, is a way to discourage the disruptive search for truly "new" solutions: it usually involves many "missed opportunities":
- La mera "asociación de ideas" y complementación entre ideas que tienen algo de valor es la forma más elemental de enriquecer el espectro de conceptos de solución, pero no es la mejor ni la única. En particular, el simple hecho de tomar partes de buenas soluciones para compilarlas en una nueva, si bien es simple y a veces muy efectivo, es una forma de desmotivar la búsqueda disruptiva de soluciones auténticamente "nuevas": suele implicar muchas "oportunidades perdidas":
Source: Valderrey, M.E. (2021), “Creative Catalysts in Conceptual Engineering: Assessment of Visual and Verbal Skills for Mechanical Design.” Doctoral thesis proposal, UNINI-Mexico. Not published.
Remember: nothing said in class is an absolute truth. In general, they are only opinions and advice arising from one's own experience and given with the best of intentions, but that does not make them better than others. Stay open to diverse opinions and strengthen your own judgment.
Marcelo V.
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Step 6: Links
This tutorial comes from:
Creativity in engineering - Part 4 (English version) | GrabCAD Tutorials
Creatividad en ingeniería - Parte 4 | GrabCAD Tutorials
and continues in:
