Adventures in product design
At a packed and festive presentation in MIT’s Kresge Auditorium that felt more like a movie premiere than the conclusion of a serious class, last night dozens of students in eight teams presented the results of a semester of work in course 2.009 (Product Engineering Processes). Capturing this year’s theme of “Adventure,” the product prototypes included sporting accessories for skiing, bicycling, boxing, and skateboarding; medical devices for amputees and premature babies; and helpful devices for musicians and parents. While audience members were invited to score the presentations on several criteria, the course instructor, professor of mechanical engineering and engineering systems David Wallace, stressed that the evaluations are simply another bit of feedback to help students develop their product-design skills. Among the designs unveiled was a wrist-worn tracking system that could help a group of skiers locate each other at a sprawling resort, providing a means of notifying each other if one needs...