Many college students often spend long nights in their dorm rooms studying and preparing for tests, only to find themselves eventually lying in their bed, exhausted, with the overhead light still shining on them. Therefore, the purpose of this passion project is to design a mechanical system that allows for the light switch capabilities to be accessible from any area of the room rather than simply its physical location via a remote.
It is to be assumed that it is a standard size single person dorm room, with the light switch placed on the opposite wall on the other side of the room. The light switch controls a singular overhead light attached to the ceiling, which can be powered on or off simply by applying a small force in the upward or downward direction to the light switch.
Cost: It is affordable for college students to purchase for their dorm rooms Reliability: The mechanism will work properly with little to no malfunctions, even after repeated usage Agility: It can be easily and quickly triggered to turn on or off the lights from the operators location Efficiency: Able to effectively operate for longer periods of time without part replacement or slowed response times
For my decision matrix for the three strategies, I tried to consider what would be most desirable for the consumer, given my experiences as a college student. The parameters I selected were cost, reliability, aesthetic, ease of Installation, convenience, and functioning period:
Reliability - 25 % - This is the highest ranked evaluation criteria because it's important that the mechanism will work properly and turn the light on and off with little to no malfunctions, even after repeated usage. Otherwise it will not accurately fulfill the intended purpose, and make it difficult for the user to adjust the light as the original source (the switch) will be covered by the box holding in the inner mechanisms.
Functioning period - 20 % - This is also considered highly because it is very desirable to have a product that will last for a longer period of time without having to constantly replace parts or worry about it slowing from consistent usage.
Convenience - 20% - Since the overall intent for this mechanism is to create a more convenient way to access the lights than having to get out of bed and walk to the light switch, convenience plays a large part in which strategy is selected.
Cost - 10% - Cost is ranked in the middle because while other things such as reliability and convenience may exceed it in importance, cost is still a huge factor for consumers. Being college students, they're often paying a large sum of money to go to school as is and would prefer not to pay a large sum of additional money for something like that.
Ease of Installation - 10% - The installation process is also very important in determining the best strategy design. This is because, while it is only a one time thing, of maintenance or replacement ever needs to be done to the product it would be very helpful if it could be easy attached or removed from the light switch.
Aesthetic - 10% - Often time the aesthetic plays a large part into which products and decorations are selected for a dorm room, especially for girls. Therefore, it would need to be a product that is aesthetically pleasing and does not take up too much space in the room.
After considering each of these factors and their respective weights, the strategy that won was strategy 1. This is because it is very reliable, with a minimal amount of pieces that are likely to need replacement or maintenance. The motor powering it should also last for a long period of time, and includes a cover over the switch to conceal the inner mechanics and a remote control that allows it to be more aesthetically pleasing. Furthermore, all of the required parts should be a relatively low cost. Therefore, this strategy was selected to continue with in my passion project.
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I learned the true importance of a decision matrix in allowing you to evaluate each aspect of your design strategies and selecting one that will be most beneficial to the consumer.
I once again recognized the truth behind the statement that “everything takes twice as long,” especially regarding material or programs that you haven’t dealt with before.
Even if the overarching strategy is the same, there are many ways to create different conceptual designs, allowing you to obtain a better grasp of how the strategy could best be carried out.
Updated the purpose, metrics, and assumptions of my project and included them on the website - 10/18/2020 5 - 5:45 pm
Created a decision matrix and used it to decide which strategy to base my concepts on 10/19/2020 12 - 1 pm
Designed and created calculations for three concepts 10/19/2020 5 pm - 7 pm
Created the respective FRDPARRC Tables for each concept design 10/20/2020 10 - 11 am
Updated the gantt chart and wrote out the list of activities 10/21/2020 2 - 3 pm
Coded information into the website - 10/7/20 from 3 - 5 pm
Left advisee comments and finished uploading everything to the Unit 3 part of the website 10/21/2020 8 - 9 pm
Everything was done with a great amount of detail. I also like how you included a picture of the decision matrix on the website itself along with the link to it. I did not see anything I thought needed to be fixed, great job!
Great job on your decision matrix, all of the considered factors were discussed in detail and pertained specifically to your overall purpose. The designs were also well thought out and drawn. Overall very good.
Contact me at afile@uncc.edu
