Rapid Prototyping:
We use rapid prototyping to develop an initial idea(s) in order to see the concept of a machine before it is fully built. Chi talks about how his team developed a fully working prototype of google glass in one hour, and made it touch interactive in only 45 minutes, this is because he used basic materials and simple concepts rather than trying to used refined materials from the start. We are prototyping our phone holder in the form of cardboard as a way to visualize any potential issues or discrepancies our design has. Eventually the holder could be fabricated out of a material such as metal once all of the problems are worked out. A design technique such as rapid prototyping is very useful in engineering as most likely the first iteration of an idea will not work to its full potential, and it is easier to work out the problems before the product is fully designed.
The Fourth Industrial Revolution: Currently, we are in the beginning of the fourth industrial revolution, a revolution defined as bringing together digital, physical, and biological systems. This is very evident today as we see the use of new technology incorporated into our everyday lives in the different forms, especially in medical use. Often times, CAD and CAM are used to create these new technologies, similar to how we are beginning to use Rhino and the laser cutter. All of these new ideas stem from an original design and prototypes that are created in a similar process to how we create our projects such as the phone holder. Overall, the fourth industrial revolution is proving to be exponentially affecting the way we live our lives its presence will always be prevalent.
Product Idea Project:
Tue. Jan 7- Planning: Our first and original idea is for a practical smart mirror that is aimed towards companies or facilities that want to introduce a more modern aspect to their workplace. This smart mirror is a new product that is not even on the market yet; in fact there is only one official company who is selling a prototype costing $1600. Here is our original design ideas for the mirror: 
Here is the parts list we came to; totaling at a little over $180:
https://www.instructables.com/id/Smart-Mirror/
Part list:
Mirror:15.00
Monitor:59.99
Pi:67.99
RASPBERRYPI3-MODB-1GB – Single Board Computer, Raspberry Pi 3 Model B, 1.2GHz CPU, 1GB RAM, WiFi/BLE, 40 GPIO Pins
SD-Card and adapter: 5.79
WiFi Adapter: 7.99
VGA-HDMI adapter: 7.99
HDMI:13.49
Thurs. Jan 9- Receiving Feedback: We had our design critique today and we received some very helpful feedback on the mirror. We learned that there are some essential flaws that would most likely limit the success of the product as a whole. The first factor is the price of the mirror; since this mirror was originally aimed toward a consumer such as a school or organization instead of individual people, we figured a price point of $150-$200 would be reasonable, as the cost of the materials is quite high. The product would also require a high level of assembly and programming; estimated at numerous hours just to make one functioning mirror. The second factor was the actual functionality and usability of the mirror; is it a reasonable product? We decided that although this is a good solution for being able to see time, weather, and schedule, it is easy to see all of this information on your phone. The third factor was overall safety of the product. The school prohibits any items that may cause a fire safety issue, and having a constantly plugged in and running piece of technology on the wall would probably cause a fire hazard. Due to these factors, we think that we should begin to brainstorm new ideas.
Tue. Jan 14- Research: We had to come up with a new idea since our mirror didn’t work, and we were looking for a product that solved a common problem, was cheap, and easy to produce. We finally came up with a solution to a common problem that many borders here face, having nowhere to store numerous pairs of shoes in your room. We decided to make a shoe holder that can be easily added to any wall in a room, and is sleek and minimalistic as well. We did some research online and came across a few different ways to design the holder:
we concluded that the third picture would probably cause too much stress on nice shoes and possibly damage them, so we figured we would go for a design closer to the first or second one. Either one of these would be easily 3d-printed and stuck to the wall using mounting tape which would be more than enough to support the weight of shoes. We are brainstorming potential issues with this idea such as size and type of shoes; which we would have to take into consideration.
Thurs. Jan 16- Brainstorming: We began to make approximate sketches and we measured a size 10 adidas ultra boost shoe for reference to sizing. The sizes were not exact but it gave us an approximate idea of the size of the holder. We also decided that we would mount the holder to the wall with the use of double sided mounting tape, as it is strong and can hold a lot of weight.
Mon. Jan 20- Planning/ Developing a solution: We began to revise our designs and look for potential problems. We thought about increasing the range of the shoe size that could be held by the holder which would make it more universal. If we change the original square shape that holds shoe to a circle or a rhombus we would be able to hold a greater range of shoes and it would be more visually appealing. All we need to do is make the width of the circle between 3 inch and 3.5 inch then the circle would be able to hold a greater range of shoes. The disadvantage of this design would be that it would possibly be bulky and we would have to figure out a way to accompany different ranges of types of shoes. 
Tues. Jan 21- Virtual Prototype: We began our virtual prototyping process by using Fusion 360 CAD software to create a rough model of what we wanted. We used calipers to measure the size of my size 10 adidas sneakers as a reference for the model. The model was designed to look very visually appealing with its more bulky edges and rounded corners, this would be a problem as we would come to find that each one of these prints would take about 19 hours and and use a bit over a quarter of a role of filament per print. The initial idea was that we would use double sided tape to mount the holders onto the wall, and this was not a bad idea. As far as price at this point, we aimed to keep the end cost under $7 per unit sold. This would leave about a $2 profit margin per unit sold. Here you can see prototype V1:
Thurs. Jan 23- Physical Prototype: After successfully printing the version 1 of the holder, we came to the conclusion that it would not be reasonable to print multiple of these holders, as the cost would build up quickly. The overall print looked nice and came out well in the end, but it was too expensive. We received a lot of positive feedback on the look of the thicker holder so that is why we decided to print it.
After this, we figured we had to make a revised version that was thinner and therefore cost less to produce, but with the same dimensions.
Fri. Jan 24- Testing: We did some testing in the real world and found that there are some shoes that simply don’t fit in the holder due them being too small or large for the dimensions. After this we figured the thinner holder with the same dimensions would not be logical. Although the thicker holder worked, we needed to revise the design to fit a wider variety of shoes. Here was the design for the thinner version of the holder:
Thurs. Jan 30- Refining: Based on the results from last class we decided we need to make a change in order to compensate a larger range of shoes. In what we believe is our final iteration, we decided to taper in the bottom half of the holder so that smaller shoes will fit as well. In addition to this, we 3D printed a small emblem of the lawrenceville seal to put onto the front, as we feel this adds a sense of personalization and also attachment to the school. This iteration is also thinner and the two parts would cost about $6 to produce so we would sell them for $8-$10. As far as mounting to the wall, we decided we would use simple mounting tape squares which is very cheap and can be stuck on walls with a high amount of strength. 3D printing is one of the more expensive medias that can be used to produce an object, but it’s also the easiest to use and requires minimal labor. An injection mold would greatly reduce the end cost per unit, yet it requires a high initial investment for making the mold, which is unreasonable. Here is our final iteration:
Mon. Feb 3- Today I mostly just worked on improving my blog site to further outline the engineering process that we used. I thought about possibly painting our model to try to eliminate the layer lines and make it look more streamline. Also, the seal didn’t come out perfect, but the writing is still visible and can be read. Overall, we believe our holder is finished, however with testing we will most likely make a new iteration in the near future.
Thurs. Feb 6- Improvements: Our original plan for the wall mounted shoe holder to stay on the wall was to stick it using double-sided tape. However we found out the problem behind using the tape was that when we take the shoe holder off of the wall, it would rip the paint off of the wall as well. Therefore, we had to come up with a reasonable solution. Here are our two solutions: One is to make two small holes on both sides of the shoe holder and we could hold it on the wall using command hooks. Another solution would be substitute the original tape with refined tape that would not ripe off the paint off of the wall; however this would most likely mean it would not be as sticky nor be able to hold nearly as much weight. The only problem with the first solution is that the price of the wall mounted shoe holder would go up due to the hooks, however the ease of use would also be much greater.
