MAE 4341 - Innovative Product Design via Digital Manufacturing

Fall. 4 credits. Letter grades only.

Enrollment limited to: M.E. seniors or permission of instructor. Satisfies M.E. senior design requirement. Co-meets with MAE 4340/MAE 5340.

R. Shepherd, S. Simoncini.

Combined lecture and laboratory course on the new product development cycle: iterative design based on prototyping, testing, consumer feedback, and limitations set by mass manufacturing. The course instructs students on methods to identify product concepts for machine designs with commercial potential. Design teams will perform market analysis and explore the intellectual property space around their ideas and rapidly iterate them into a final prototype via digital manufacturing (e.g., 3D CAD files manifested via robotic printing or machining); advanced instruction on these tools will be given, and quantitative marketing will be used as feedback. Early stage prototypes will progress into more sophisticated designs. Scale-up (cost, pricing, tooling) considerations for mass manufacturing will be taken into account, as well as quantitative analysis of machine designs for the expected utility.

Students in this course will extend the course learning beyond a single product to a product platform.

Outcome 1: Students will be able to understand the logic of the product development cycle in the context of a startup company and an established firm and communicate effectively in teams.

Outcome 2: Students will be able to describe the limitations of early stage prototypes and the importance of staged development into more realistic prototypes.

Outcome 3: Students will be able to identify product platforms for mechanical design with commercial potential.

Outcome 4: Students will be able to gain appreciation of Intellectual Property in terms of design and utility.

Outcome 5: Students will be able to become familiar with basic tools of design and manufacturing, such as CAD and digital manufacturing tools.

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