CMSC 838G - Fall'06
Prof Guimbretière

Introduction to Rapid Prototyping Techniques
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Show and Tell

Show and Tell are small weekly assignments design to help student practice specific design techniques. At the beginning of each class a few students will be given the opportunity to present their work in front of the class and discuss the difficulty they faced. Students are also encouraged to create a portfolio of their show and tell. Here are the corresponding links: Alex, Mustafa, Nick, Marek, Carl, Adam, HyunYoung, Farzam. 

 

Date Description Examples
Sep. 7: Pick an everyday interaction of your choice and draw a storyboard of its most common implementation. Identify a most salient breakdown in the common implementation and propose a solution to improve it. Storyboard this new interaction. ATM
Sep. 14: Pick a problem you would like to see solved. Through research (either online, at the library or by interviewing experts) identify the main roadblocks toward solving this problem. Selecting the most important roadblock, brainstorm to find possible solutions. Develop the best idea so you can present it in class. (Note: for this assignment you are encouraged to brainstorm in large group). Car navigation systems
Clean water for the developing world

 
Sep. 21: Pick an artifact of your choice, and figure out: 1) how it works; 2) how it was put together. For small artifacts (see the list to the right), you should be prepared to dis-assemble and re-assemble the object in class. For larger artifacts such as building, you should be prepared to present a set of slides explaining how the artifact was assembled. In all case to should be sure to identified clever design that you might reuse in your own design (Important note: please contact me about the object you pick so we can be sure it is safe to dis-assemble). Mechanical clock
Automatic pencil
Retractable pen
Hard disk
Sep. 26: Using paper prototyping techniques, build a prototype of the device of your choice. New way to tell time
New digital book reader
New digital communicator
Sep. 28: Prepare a drawing you would like to be cut with the laser cutter.
Oct. 5: Build a toy using the laser cutter. The toy needs to be 3 dimensional and have a moving part in it. It should be strong enough to be played with. Car (with rotating wheel)
Bike (with rotating wheel)
A rocking chair
Oct. 17:
 Prepare a 3D model you would like to be printed.
Oct. 24:
 Build a prototype of the device of your choice the 3D printer. The prototype must have at least 2 half-shells that fit together. New digital book reader
New digital communicator
Nov. 2: Build a device based on the use of the I/O registers and the interrupt system of the PIC. A visual metronome
Nov. 9: Build a device using the A/D converter and the PWM sub-system. A variable intensity LED
A tune player
Nov. 16: Build a device using the UART and any other sub-system(s) we have seen so far. A Morse code interpreter
Piano player
Ambient display...
Nov. 30: Build a simple amplifier, and use it to connect to condition a signal for A/D conversion A simple digital sound recorder;
Dec. 7: Build a device that use the D/A converter A digital sound amplifier;
A simple digital sound recorder/player;

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