Syllabus Schedule for Designing Open Engineering System | ME 6102, Papers of Mechanical Engineering

Download Syllabus Schedule for Designing Open Engineering System | ME 6102 and more Papers Mechanical Engineering in PDF only on Docsity! ME6102 – Designing Open Engineering Systems: Semester Learning Essay Observed, Reflected Upon, and Articulated by: Nathan Rolander Prepared for: Dr. Farrokh Mistree & Jitesh H. Panchal Georgia Institute of Technology Saturday, April 24, 2004 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 I REFLECTION ME6101 was unlike any other course I have ever encountered. I say this not because of the material covered (although it was new), but rather the emphasis of the course and the way it was orchestrated. The course was taught descriptively rather than prescriptively, empowering the students to find their own path, while providing scaffolding for them to follow and build upon. I found this approach was both unique and challenging, but ultimately felt it was a very rewarding experience. ME6102 took this approach further still, allowing me to find my own way with the course and with my research work. This was reflected in my A0 goals for this semester, in which I seek to gain further independence in finding and pursuing research interests. This even looser structure was possible only because of what I had learned in ME6101, without this I would have been a fish out of water, flopping around aimlessly, and not getting anything accomplished despite my efforts. Instead, I was able to capitalize on my skills gained in ME6101, building upon them further. My discussion and reflection upon this learning is contained within this final learning essay. Looking out of Thames Rowing Club at Dawn: Page 2 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 1. INTRODUCTION: THE THEME I am a rower. Although a currently cannot regularly participate in the sport, I still consider myself a rower. This is true of anyone who has participated in this sport where the schedule and training regimen would make army boot camps seem like an island vacation. This is because of the incredible team building and team identity that is formed during those early morning practices and intense training sessions. Ultimately I believe that rowing has made me a much stronger person, physically and mentally. The same can be said of ME6102, and it is for this reason that I chose rowing as my analogy for my final learning essay. 1.1. ROWING I have been rowing for the last 6 years of my life, and it has dominated all of my free time throughout this period. Rowing is unlike most sports in that during the competitions there are no points for style, no way to use creative strategies, and no coaches delivering inspirational words during the half time. When it all comes down to it, the question is who will cross the finish line first. "Athletes Row, Everyone Else Just Plays Games" - Popular Rowers T-shirt Quote I feel that the quote above embodies rowing excellently. Rowing can be pursued recreationally as well as competitively, and either will provide an excellent form of physical and mental conditioning. When I was not rowing with my team, I often traveled to the boat house to row on my own. I found the peace and solitude, with the mental focus of directing all my efforts to my single task, very relaxing. When I am out on the water at dawn, with no other sounds but the water rushing past the hull and the rhythmic splashing of the oars, it seems that everything else in my life fades away. Page 5 Now that I have addressed my feelings on the sport of rowing, I will address how rowing fits in with the ME6101 & ME6102 course, and an introduction to rowing for those who nothing about it (don't worry, that’s most people). Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 1.2. RELATING ROWING TO ME6102 I woke up with a rush of adrenaline at 1:46 am on a Wednesday. As I had been dozing off I had been thinking about how to merge the material of ME6101 and something that I was passionate about and could draw parallels to the coursework and learning. I had decided that I thought rowing would be a good metaphor, but had not given it much thought beyond that. All this would change by 1:47 after I scribbled a few barely legible notes on the engineering pad next to my bed. Over the remaining time during the semester I drew many parallels between the semester, ME6101, engineering design methods, the various design tools, and my world of rowing crew. In my ME6101 Semester Learning Essay I drew a parallel between my progress though the ME6101 course with my progress through a year of crew. I organized the material into the five sections outlined in the table of contents, the pre-season, spring, winter, fall and finally summer as the crew season also follows a four phase process similar to that of Pahl and Beitz. I have found ME6102 to be less structured and more focused than ME6101. In this way my analogy this time is not a year rowing with my crew team, but rather after I had quit the team, and was finding my own way rowing as an individual, setting my own training regimen and goals. As stated in my initial reflection, I believe that both rowing and ME6101/6102 have had a profound effect on my life, the shaping of myself, and my future. Another similarity is the quantity of work involved. I was informed at the beginning of ME6101 that the course would be "a lot of work". Entering into ME6102 I was aware of what I needed to do, but this allowed me to extract more value from what I did. The same is true of rowing on my own versus with a team. For example, with the team I did a lot of small aerobic style exercises. Although these were kind of fun, I did not find or believe them to be as valuable as actually rowing, either on water or the rowing machine. For this reason, I replaced them when training on my own, focusing on what I knew and felt to have the most value. I knew the amount of work required to reach the top of the rowing world, and knew that I would have to be as effective with my time as possible to be able to achieve that. Exactly the same is true of ME6102, except instead of developing my rowing technique and stamina, I was building upon the essential skills of critical thinking, critical evaluation, and abstraction. Page 6 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 1.3. STRUCTURE OF THIS FINAL LEARNING ESSAY I have just completed my answer to the Question for the Semester, as well as my project report. These documents come to 256 pages long. Although I feel that the material contained within them is relevant and valuable, it is very verbose. In this way I am going to try something new for this final learning essay, being succinct. I am only going to address the aspects of the class that have given me the most value, and provided me with lessons that I will be able to use for all of my future. This means I will not address every aspect of the class as I did in my ME6101 final learning essay. I will again be telling two stories in parallel, one of my journey through ME6102, and the other a parallel journey though a year of competitive rowing at Thames Rowing Club, located in the Putney borough in London. The order of the sections is in the order that I felt I learned them in, give or take some creative license for application to my rowing analogy. I will introduce the key area of learning in ME6102, and then address the area of rowing, either learning or development that I feel is applicable, as well as discuss the value of this lesson to me now and for the future. Where relevant, quotes from my previous learning essays are included, along with my feedback from professor Mistree, presented in the following way: Without an explanation or standard definition, a scale or ranking is meaningless. Therefore to use the House of Quality or any ranking or weighting tool, a scale must be explicitly defined. [LE3] F.M. - Excellent As both stories progress, I will show how I am developing in both areas as I progress towards the end of the season/semester. Through this revised succinct approach I hope to attaint a last minute personal goal, to be able to communicate effectively in a short period of time (I don’t want to become Kevin Klein). Please note that the proceeding pages are an introduction to the sport of rowing. This is not all filler text! I have tried to cover just the essentials for the parallels drawn in this learning essay, and to keep it entertaining. The bulk of it is pictures with bullet points describing the rowing stroke, so please read it (or at least just look at the pictures). Page 7 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 river when a race is won as part of the celebration. Boats without a coxwain (or cox) are steered by the bow man, either though a rudder controlled by moving their foot, or calling for increased oar pressure on one side. Bow - The front of the boat, points in the direction the boat is going. The bow man acts as a wave break for the rest of the crew in rough water, getting soaked. Now that’s team dedication. Stern - The opposite end of the bow, the tail of the boat. Stroke - The name for once complete rowing stroke. Also the man sitting in the stern of the boat who sets the stroke rate and rowing pattern for the whole boat. The only guy who gets a view while rowing, everyone else is stuck staring at the man in front's back. Regatta - A boat race. Ergonometer - Also known as the 'erg' or modern evolution of the torture device. This is used to test a rowers fitness and power. A similar stroke to the rowing stroke is used to spin a flywheel that has fins to create drag, while a computer computes the equivalent distance traveled on the water. Booting - Also know as vomiting, puking, up-chucking, etc. This often occurs after a rower completes a regatta or test of fitness on the erg. Racing There are two kinds of rowing races, and each is performed during half of the year. During the fall longer head races are run. During these races boats are launched sequentially, and each is timed as they run usually around 5 kilometers or more to the finish line further up or down the river. Spring and summer seasons involve sprint races, commonly referred to simply as regattas. The term "sprint" is a bit misleading, as the races are all exactly 2 kilometers long. These races are run like track events, with each boat occupying one lane of a straight buoyed course. This is run in a series of rounds, eliminating a set number of competitors per round until the finals which determine the winner. Racing is great, except during the sprint itself, which involves pain like no other. Figure 1.3 - My eight at the start of the New England Championships Regatta Page 10 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 Figure 1.4 - The finish line at National Schools Regatta Boat Classes There are many boat classes in both rowing and sculling. They are outlined below, as well as any variations that may exist. Rowing boats are called by the number of crew members: eight, four, pair. Sculling boats are named in a similar fashion but differently: quad, double, single. The rowing symbol for each is shown next to the name of each boat class. Eight (8+) An eight man rowing boat. Always with coxwain sitting at the rear. This class is the fastest rowing boat raced, often called the big show of the regatta. The eight is the main boat raced by nearly every college rowing team in the US. I competed as a member of my universities varsity eight for two years. Page 11 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 Four (4+, 4-) A four man rowing boat. Can be with coxwain in the bow, stern, or no coxwain at all, known as a coxless boat. This differentiation is given by the addition of a plus (+) or minus (-) symbol after the boats number Pair (2+, 2-) A two man rowing boat. Can be with a coxwain or coxless. This is a challenging boat to row because there is only one oar on each side controlled by one member. This means that each side is disconnected, similar to a single sculler with a lobotomy. The pair with coxwain is affectionately dubbed the 'lead sled' for obvious reasons. The coxless pair is one of my personal favorite boats to row because of its unique teamwork challenge. Page 12 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 1.5. THE ROWING STROKE The biggest misconception about rowing is that its all about upper body strength. In fact, the rower slides up and down the boat on a sliding seat, pushing with their legs during the stroke, providing most of the power with their legs. This power is then supplemented with the rowers back, and finally their arms, providing the smallest amount of work. The figures below demonstrate the rowing stroke in a double scull, performed by the author as the bow man1. The motions and actions are exactly the same for any other boat, however rowing boats will only have one oar to deal with. The rowing stroke consists of four distinct parts in the cycle, these are described next. The Catch During this part of the stroke involves placing the oars in the water. It seems simple but is actually difficult to get perfect. 1. Sit upright, looking straight ahead, loose not tense 2. At front of the slide raise your hands pivoting from the shoulder 3. Be sure to drop the blades in straight and fast, with minimal splash Page 15 1 Disclaimer - I know that this is not the best technique on the planet. These pictures were taken during our row back to the docks after the 2000 Elite US National Championships and we were really tired. This is the only clean full stroke frame I could get. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 The Drive The next phase of the stroke is actually the easiest, despite requiring the most energy. 1. Drive with the legs initially, keeping the back and arms straight 2. At around half leg extension, add in the back 3. As around 3/4 leg extension, add in the arms 4. Keep the handles at the same level throughout the stroke 5. Keep even pressure throughout the stroke 6. At the end of the stroke lean back and draw your hands to your ribcage, keeping your elbows out 7. You should finish the stroke all at once, the handles will reach your chest as your legs full extend and your back is fully reclined. Page 16 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 The Release This is one of the most important phases of the stoke as if done incorrectly will kill the boats speed and made the gliding distance much shorter, requiring more effort to get the same distance. 1. Sharply raise the blades out of the water, hinging at the elbows 2. Don't hit the handles into your body 3. Immediately push the handles away from your body 4. Simultaneously twist the oar handles so that to top moves towards you, this is feathering the blades so that they are parallel to the surface of the water. Page 17 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 requirement of building off of what has been done before. Fortunately, I had already gained much leveraging experience from my ME6101 answer to the Question for the Semester. The Parallel: Setting the Question for the Semester is similar to setting the team goal for the season. This goal would change from season to season and from team to team. This goal is personalizable as is the Question for the Semester. For example, my senior year of high school the team quad goal was to get into the finals at the National Schools Championships. The next year the goal of my junior pair was to medal at the National Championships of Great Britain. The year after that the goal of my lightweight double was to get past the first round in the Elite US National Championships against the Olympic qualifiers. What I am trying to show is that the overall goal depended upon both the personal motivation of the individual, and the environment of the competition. The Learning: In order to make effective progress and learning, one must have an objective in sight. During the first few weeks of the course I meandered in my assignments and learning essays until I nailed down my personal Question for the Semester. I then had focus for all of my work, and a direction to take with all of the material presented to us, namely, how could I incorporate the existing material that I had studied, and how could I tie in my research work effectively? This has taught me that in any situation, academic, research, recreational, or other that I must set myself a clear objective and work towards achieving it in order to develop my skills and knowledge in that area effectively. 2.2. A0 GOALS In our first assignment, I was asked to establish five things that I wanted to accomplish during the ME6101 course. This also seemed like a daunting and abstract task, although I was excited to try it. I went home and established the following five goals, that I subsequently updated and revised slightly during the progress of the course: 1. Learn how to design open engineering systems from a decision-based perspective 2. Learn how to make tradeoffs needed to coordinate multiple objectives associated to the design of open engineering systems 3. Learn and practice planning and time management, particularly team management 4. Learn to communicate at both personal and professional levels Page 20 5. Learn to evaluate literature critically and use this analysis to identify research issues worth investigating. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 6. Write a paper (preferably a journal publication) this summer based upon work accomplished in the project I set all of the first five goals at the beginning of the semester in Assignment 0. I added the sixth goal towards the end of the semester when I was pulling together my project work, and was able to see its value and what I had accomplished. My final overall goal stated at the end of my Assignment 0 was: To learn all I can about design, present and future, and enjoy learning it. [A0] I believe that this statement was my overall goal for the semester in ME6101 and ME6012, and I will address how I feel I have succeeded in achieving this goal at the end of this final learning essay. The Parallel: The A0 goals are the equivalent of each crew members personal goals for the season. These can be in line with the crew goal, or is can be something that can be accomplished with some extra work besides the standard team training. My personal goal for my first year of rowing was to learn to single scull. Another year is was to learn to row with my our both on the right and left side of the boat, making me ambidextrous. Another goal was to get the best six pack abs on the team. All of these goals were obtainable through working with the regular team practices, and then setting my own personal time aside to focus on achieving these individual goals, whether this involved single sculling practice, or doing crunches before I went to bed. This year of course, I would be setting my own goals that did not correlate with those of a team. This gave me some more freedom in selecting my goals, allowing me the flexibility to pursue something that was of most interest to me as an individual, and not just in line with the team goals. The Learning: The lesson I learned throughout the semester was that in order to achieve the main objective, you must also have some smaller goals in sight. These goals should build towards that main goal, providing a scaffold. This will allow you to notice your progress, as I noted in each learning essay at the end. This allowed me to note my improvement, and not get disheartened by the seemingly huge task ahead. These goals can also be different from the main objective, so long as they are not in contradicting directions. The combination of setting up the answer of my Question for the Semester through assigning and re-evaluating my A0 goals is a practice I can continue for my future, abstracting to a more general level and applying it to any aspect of my life. As part of my contract for the future, I will establish short term goals for my thesis research, to build towards my research question. Page 21 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 2.3. WORLD OF 2020 The next assignment in ME6102 was to draw a picture of our predicted world of the future, in the year 2020. At this point I was asking myself, "Why am I doing this? Where is the CAD work?", and wondering what this class was really going to be about. Farrokh suggested we go about defining our world though extrapolation and abstraction, looking over the changes in the last 20 years and drawing out these changes for the 20 years to come. As I performed this assignment I thought it was a fun exercise, but it was not until I reflected upon it later that I realized its true value. The Parallel: Defining the world of 2020 in ME6101/6102 was similar to determining who our rivals were going to be during the rowing season. We would analyze who had done well over the last few years, who looked like they had a big strong team that they could mold into an effective crew, and those we really hated, the consistently good Windsor Boys sculling team. This gave us a perspective as we entered the races, basing our pace off of their times, and gave us an objective for who to try to pass at the head races. The Question for the Semester is meaningless without an environment of 2020 for it to be used in. The same is true for our objective to get to the Grand Finals of National Schools. Unless we had an idea of what the competition was capable of, we would not know what level we had to reach for, and would be unable to set an effective training program. The Lesson: Envisioning the world of 2020 taught me the skills of extrapolation and prediction. Through looking back at past changes and then looking to the future, I can get an idea of the changes that will occur. This is important because I must obtain a view of my own future in order to determine my place in it, and to avoid simply drifting through life. This is also a useful skill in industry, where knowing what direction the market is going to take before it happens is essential to the development is successful products. 2.4. THE “MAGIC BOX” One of the earlier lectures in ME6102 focused upon the introduction of product families. I am breaking from a chronological approach in this section because of the lesson I learned on that day. Product families were not new to me, however, the may Farrokh got us to imagine product families was creative. We envisioned a “magic box” that was a super advanced fabrication unit, that could assemble anything atom by atom. This meant that this box, constrained only by its physical dimensions, could fabricate anything that we could envision. The Parallel: Page 22 The parallel for this “magic box” is that of dreaming, and removing the shackles of negative thinking. With only myself as the crew, I knew that I only had myself to rely Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 The Learning: The value of the paper squares game and my reflection on it was large, I still consider it the most valuable teaching tool used in ME6102. This is reflected in my Assignment 1. Learning from the Manufacturing Game By Nathan Rolander [A1] F.M. - Superb! Best Practice The most important lessons I obtained for the future were from the critical evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of an open engineering system, quoted below. What are the key advantages and disadvantages in designing Open Engineering Systems? Under what circumstances is the use of the Open Systems paradigm warranted? The key advantages to an Open Engineering System are: ♦ Capability to implement mass customization ♦ Capability to deal with uncertainty in demand or environmental conditions ♦ Rapid production rates ♦ Modularity enables part/process/information re-use ♦ Relatively low cost compared to fully custom products/processes/information services (because of production scale) ♦ Ability to produce large quantities of goods ♦ Easy upgradeability of system/manufacture/product/process The key disadvantages to an Open Engineering System are: ♦ Higher cost of product/process/service (compared to mass production) ♦ Lower rate of production (compared to mass production) ♦ High capital costs (even more so than mass production) ♦ Higher skilled design/labor required ♦ Not required for all products, needs knowledgeable designer to determine if it is appropriate Open systems are applicable to a huge variety of markets. This is because it successfully integrates the majority of the benefits of both mass production and one off custom fabrication to create mass customization. However, because of the higher costs of both capital and information, it is not simple to implement nor is it necessary. Page 25 Some markets do not require any customization (commodities particularly), others are better suited to a product family through modularity of the product, but specified by the manufacturer. Utilizing any modular product to create a product family will enable a degree of openness, however a difference is whether or not the customer’s preferences are involved in the specification of their product. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 This learning is useful for the future because I have considered the application of open systems, and have not superficially stated “open systems are great! Everything should be an open system!” This is not a valuable approach. Open systems have a wide range of applicability, but it will be up to me to determine the degree of openness that should be engineered into a system 3.2. MASS CUSTOMIZATION One focus of ME6102 was the concept of mass customization. This revolved around the creation of modular products using interchangeable parts to allow for the maximum combination of external products using the minimum number of internal parts. I found this topic particularly interesting as I believed that modularity was to be a big part of design for the future as noted in my assignment 1.b. I also noted that the base Pahl & Beitz method did not account very well for product families or modularity, all required for mass customization, also noted in Assignment 1.b. While this may be appropriate for a one time product, the direction of the future, and particularly looking to the design world of 2020, is modularity and families of products. The Pahl and Beitz process currently has modularity and product families tacked on to the end of the process, during detail design. This does not permit the designer to build a modular product from the ground up, as the complexity of the interactions between the different products and their functionality is totally nonexistent in the current incarnation of Pahl and Beitz. [A1.b] With this realization I was determined to make design for mass customization possible in my answer to the Question for the Semester. The Parallel: No two rowers come in quite the same size or shape. My best friends Steve and Will form formed a nationally competitive double, although Steve was 5'11" while Will was 6'4". How were both rowers able to fit in the same boat and row effectively? Mass customization! The internals of a shell are all adjustable, from the span of the riggers to the position and angle of the shoes where the rower places their feet. This allows for the exact positioning of the rower with respect to the pivot of their oar in relation every member of the crew, such that every member is positioned in the most effective body position. Other parts of the boat are modular, such as the shoes, seats, and oar handles, which can be swapped out in less than a minute to better suit the rower at that position. Athletes already understand the need for personalized equipment for Page 26 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 maximum performance, and this philosophy is spreading to the mass consumer market as well. The Learning: I believe that an effective platform for mass customization must be developed for successful product marketing in the future. This method is discussed in my answer to the Question for the Semester. What I have learned from the theory of mass customization is that everyone wants to be treated as an individual, not a number in a mass of customers. Peoples individuality is what defines them, and they want this to be reflected in the products they use and buy. This is why I believe that mass customization must be addressed for the products of the future. 3.3. DETERMINING OPENNESS Through the course of ME6102 I settled upon the following metrics for openness, specifically in regard to the flexibility of a system. In my case this was the method I proposed in my answer to the Question for the Semester. Flexibility: o Modularity o Mutability o Robustness I realized that I would need to address all three aspects in determining the openness of both the method that I proposed, as well as the digital design system that supported it. The Parallel: I realize that these three qualities can also be related to the different aspects of the technique of an individual rower, as I have described in the following sections. I then realized that I would need to develop my skills in all three areas for me to be complete as a rower. The Learning: After defining something, it is necessary to define metrics with which it can be measured. These metrics may be different for various areas of application, but it remains that it is difficult to effectively compare or measure an attribute if there is no metric for measurement or comparison. I realized the importance of this in answering my Question for the Semester, deigning the hierarchical layout of the design process. In this manner I now realize that any attribute I define must also have associated metrics with which to measure that attribute. Page 27 ME6102 – Designing Open Engineering Systems: Semester Learning Essay Observed, Reflected Upon, and Articulated by: Nathan Rolander Prepared for: Dr. Farrokh Mistree & Jitesh H. Panchal Georgia Institute of Technology Saturday, April 24, 2004 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 I REFLECTION ME6101 was unlike any other course I have ever encountered. I say this not because of the material covered (although it was new), but rather the emphasis of the course and the way it was orchestrated. The course was taught descriptively rather than prescriptively, empowering the students to find their own path, while providing scaffolding for them to follow and build upon. I found this approach was both unique and challenging, but ultimately felt it was a very rewarding experience. ME6102 took this approach further still, allowing me to find my own way with the course and with my research work. This was reflected in my A0 goals for this semester, in which I seek to gain further independence in finding and pursuing research interests. This even looser structure was possible only because of what I had learned in ME6101, without this I would have been a fish out of water, flopping around aimlessly, and not getting anything accomplished despite my efforts. Instead, I was able to capitalize on my skills gained in ME6101, building upon them further. My discussion and reflection upon this learning is contained within this final learning essay. Looking out of Thames Rowing Club at Dawn: Page 2 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 1. INTRODUCTION: THE THEME I am a rower. Although a currently cannot regularly participate in the sport, I still consider myself a rower. This is true of anyone who has participated in this sport where the schedule and training regimen would make army boot camps seem like an island vacation. This is because of the incredible team building and team identity that is formed during those early morning practices and intense training sessions. Ultimately I believe that rowing has made me a much stronger person, physically and mentally. The same can be said of ME6102, and it is for this reason that I chose rowing as my analogy for my final learning essay. 1.1. ROWING I have been rowing for the last 6 years of my life, and it has dominated all of my free time throughout this period. Rowing is unlike most sports in that during the competitions there are no points for style, no way to use creative strategies, and no coaches delivering inspirational words during the half time. When it all comes down to it, the question is who will cross the finish line first. "Athletes Row, Everyone Else Just Plays Games" - Popular Rowers T-shirt Quote I feel that the quote above embodies rowing excellently. Rowing can be pursued recreationally as well as competitively, and either will provide an excellent form of physical and mental conditioning. When I was not rowing with my team, I often traveled to the boat house to row on my own. I found the peace and solitude, with the mental focus of directing all my efforts to my single task, very relaxing. When I am out on the water at dawn, with no other sounds but the water rushing past the hull and the rhythmic splashing of the oars, it seems that everything else in my life fades away. Page 5 Now that I have addressed my feelings on the sport of rowing, I will address how rowing fits in with the ME6101 & ME6102 course, and an introduction to rowing for those who nothing about it (don't worry, that’s most people). Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 1.2. RELATING ROWING TO ME6102 I woke up with a rush of adrenaline at 1:46 am on a Wednesday. As I had been dozing off I had been thinking about how to merge the material of ME6101 and something that I was passionate about and could draw parallels to the coursework and learning. I had decided that I thought rowing would be a good metaphor, but had not given it much thought beyond that. All this would change by 1:47 after I scribbled a few barely legible notes on the engineering pad next to my bed. Over the remaining time during the semester I drew many parallels between the semester, ME6101, engineering design methods, the various design tools, and my world of rowing crew. In my ME6101 Semester Learning Essay I drew a parallel between my progress though the ME6101 course with my progress through a year of crew. I organized the material into the five sections outlined in the table of contents, the pre-season, spring, winter, fall and finally summer as the crew season also follows a four phase process similar to that of Pahl and Beitz. I have found ME6102 to be less structured and more focused than ME6101. In this way my analogy this time is not a year rowing with my crew team, but rather after I had quit the team, and was finding my own way rowing as an individual, setting my own training regimen and goals. As stated in my initial reflection, I believe that both rowing and ME6101/6102 have had a profound effect on my life, the shaping of myself, and my future. Another similarity is the quantity of work involved. I was informed at the beginning of ME6101 that the course would be "a lot of work". Entering into ME6102 I was aware of what I needed to do, but this allowed me to extract more value from what I did. The same is true of rowing on my own versus with a team. For example, with the team I did a lot of small aerobic style exercises. Although these were kind of fun, I did not find or believe them to be as valuable as actually rowing, either on water or the rowing machine. For this reason, I replaced them when training on my own, focusing on what I knew and felt to have the most value. I knew the amount of work required to reach the top of the rowing world, and knew that I would have to be as effective with my time as possible to be able to achieve that. Exactly the same is true of ME6102, except instead of developing my rowing technique and stamina, I was building upon the essential skills of critical thinking, critical evaluation, and abstraction. Page 6 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 1.3. STRUCTURE OF THIS FINAL LEARNING ESSAY I have just completed my answer to the Question for the Semester, as well as my project report. These documents come to 256 pages long. Although I feel that the material contained within them is relevant and valuable, it is very verbose. In this way I am going to try something new for this final learning essay, being succinct. I am only going to address the aspects of the class that have given me the most value, and provided me with lessons that I will be able to use for all of my future. This means I will not address every aspect of the class as I did in my ME6101 final learning essay. I will again be telling two stories in parallel, one of my journey through ME6102, and the other a parallel journey though a year of competitive rowing at Thames Rowing Club, located in the Putney borough in London. The order of the sections is in the order that I felt I learned them in, give or take some creative license for application to my rowing analogy. I will introduce the key area of learning in ME6102, and then address the area of rowing, either learning or development that I feel is applicable, as well as discuss the value of this lesson to me now and for the future. Where relevant, quotes from my previous learning essays are included, along with my feedback from professor Mistree, presented in the following way: Without an explanation or standard definition, a scale or ranking is meaningless. Therefore to use the House of Quality or any ranking or weighting tool, a scale must be explicitly defined. [LE3] F.M. - Excellent As both stories progress, I will show how I am developing in both areas as I progress towards the end of the season/semester. Through this revised succinct approach I hope to attaint a last minute personal goal, to be able to communicate effectively in a short period of time (I don’t want to become Kevin Klein). Please note that the proceeding pages are an introduction to the sport of rowing. This is not all filler text! I have tried to cover just the essentials for the parallels drawn in this learning essay, and to keep it entertaining. The bulk of it is pictures with bullet points describing the rowing stroke, so please read it (or at least just look at the pictures). Page 7 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 river when a race is won as part of the celebration. Boats without a coxwain (or cox) are steered by the bow man, either though a rudder controlled by moving their foot, or calling for increased oar pressure on one side. Bow - The front of the boat, points in the direction the boat is going. The bow man acts as a wave break for the rest of the crew in rough water, getting soaked. Now that’s team dedication. Stern - The opposite end of the bow, the tail of the boat. Stroke - The name for once complete rowing stroke. Also the man sitting in the stern of the boat who sets the stroke rate and rowing pattern for the whole boat. The only guy who gets a view while rowing, everyone else is stuck staring at the man in front's back. Regatta - A boat race. Ergonometer - Also known as the 'erg' or modern evolution of the torture device. This is used to test a rowers fitness and power. A similar stroke to the rowing stroke is used to spin a flywheel that has fins to create drag, while a computer computes the equivalent distance traveled on the water. Booting - Also know as vomiting, puking, up-chucking, etc. This often occurs after a rower completes a regatta or test of fitness on the erg. Racing There are two kinds of rowing races, and each is performed during half of the year. During the fall longer head races are run. During these races boats are launched sequentially, and each is timed as they run usually around 5 kilometers or more to the finish line further up or down the river. Spring and summer seasons involve sprint races, commonly referred to simply as regattas. The term "sprint" is a bit misleading, as the races are all exactly 2 kilometers long. These races are run like track events, with each boat occupying one lane of a straight buoyed course. This is run in a series of rounds, eliminating a set number of competitors per round until the finals which determine the winner. Racing is great, except during the sprint itself, which involves pain like no other. Figure 1.3 - My eight at the start of the New England Championships Regatta Page 10 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 Figure 1.4 - The finish line at National Schools Regatta Boat Classes There are many boat classes in both rowing and sculling. They are outlined below, as well as any variations that may exist. Rowing boats are called by the number of crew members: eight, four, pair. Sculling boats are named in a similar fashion but differently: quad, double, single. The rowing symbol for each is shown next to the name of each boat class. Eight (8+) An eight man rowing boat. Always with coxwain sitting at the rear. This class is the fastest rowing boat raced, often called the big show of the regatta. The eight is the main boat raced by nearly every college rowing team in the US. I competed as a member of my universities varsity eight for two years. Page 11 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 Four (4+, 4-) A four man rowing boat. Can be with coxwain in the bow, stern, or no coxwain at all, known as a coxless boat. This differentiation is given by the addition of a plus (+) or minus (-) symbol after the boats number Pair (2+, 2-) A two man rowing boat. Can be with a coxwain or coxless. This is a challenging boat to row because there is only one oar on each side controlled by one member. This means that each side is disconnected, similar to a single sculler with a lobotomy. The pair with coxwain is affectionately dubbed the 'lead sled' for obvious reasons. The coxless pair is one of my personal favorite boats to row because of its unique teamwork challenge. Page 12 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 1.5. THE ROWING STROKE The biggest misconception about rowing is that its all about upper body strength. In fact, the rower slides up and down the boat on a sliding seat, pushing with their legs during the stroke, providing most of the power with their legs. This power is then supplemented with the rowers back, and finally their arms, providing the smallest amount of work. The figures below demonstrate the rowing stroke in a double scull, performed by the author as the bow man1. The motions and actions are exactly the same for any other boat, however rowing boats will only have one oar to deal with. The rowing stroke consists of four distinct parts in the cycle, these are described next. The Catch During this part of the stroke involves placing the oars in the water. It seems simple but is actually difficult to get perfect. 1. Sit upright, looking straight ahead, loose not tense 2. At front of the slide raise your hands pivoting from the shoulder 3. Be sure to drop the blades in straight and fast, with minimal splash Page 15 1 Disclaimer - I know that this is not the best technique on the planet. These pictures were taken during our row back to the docks after the 2000 Elite US National Championships and we were really tired. This is the only clean full stroke frame I could get. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 The Drive The next phase of the stroke is actually the easiest, despite requiring the most energy. 1. Drive with the legs initially, keeping the back and arms straight 2. At around half leg extension, add in the back 3. As around 3/4 leg extension, add in the arms 4. Keep the handles at the same level throughout the stroke 5. Keep even pressure throughout the stroke 6. At the end of the stroke lean back and draw your hands to your ribcage, keeping your elbows out 7. You should finish the stroke all at once, the handles will reach your chest as your legs full extend and your back is fully reclined. Page 16 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 The Release This is one of the most important phases of the stoke as if done incorrectly will kill the boats speed and made the gliding distance much shorter, requiring more effort to get the same distance. 1. Sharply raise the blades out of the water, hinging at the elbows 2. Don't hit the handles into your body 3. Immediately push the handles away from your body 4. Simultaneously twist the oar handles so that to top moves towards you, this is feathering the blades so that they are parallel to the surface of the water. Page 17 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 requirement of building off of what has been done before. Fortunately, I had already gained much leveraging experience from my ME6101 answer to the Question for the Semester. The Parallel: Setting the Question for the Semester is similar to setting the team goal for the season. This goal would change from season to season and from team to team. This goal is personalizable as is the Question for the Semester. For example, my senior year of high school the team quad goal was to get into the finals at the National Schools Championships. The next year the goal of my junior pair was to medal at the National Championships of Great Britain. The year after that the goal of my lightweight double was to get past the first round in the Elite US National Championships against the Olympic qualifiers. What I am trying to show is that the overall goal depended upon both the personal motivation of the individual, and the environment of the competition. The Learning: In order to make effective progress and learning, one must have an objective in sight. During the first few weeks of the course I meandered in my assignments and learning essays until I nailed down my personal Question for the Semester. I then had focus for all of my work, and a direction to take with all of the material presented to us, namely, how could I incorporate the existing material that I had studied, and how could I tie in my research work effectively? This has taught me that in any situation, academic, research, recreational, or other that I must set myself a clear objective and work towards achieving it in order to develop my skills and knowledge in that area effectively. 2.2. A0 GOALS In our first assignment, I was asked to establish five things that I wanted to accomplish during the ME6101 course. This also seemed like a daunting and abstract task, although I was excited to try it. I went home and established the following five goals, that I subsequently updated and revised slightly during the progress of the course: 1. Learn how to design open engineering systems from a decision-based perspective 2. Learn how to make tradeoffs needed to coordinate multiple objectives associated to the design of open engineering systems 3. Learn and practice planning and time management, particularly team management 4. Learn to communicate at both personal and professional levels Page 20 5. Learn to evaluate literature critically and use this analysis to identify research issues worth investigating. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 6. Write a paper (preferably a journal publication) this summer based upon work accomplished in the project I set all of the first five goals at the beginning of the semester in Assignment 0. I added the sixth goal towards the end of the semester when I was pulling together my project work, and was able to see its value and what I had accomplished. My final overall goal stated at the end of my Assignment 0 was: To learn all I can about design, present and future, and enjoy learning it. [A0] I believe that this statement was my overall goal for the semester in ME6101 and ME6012, and I will address how I feel I have succeeded in achieving this goal at the end of this final learning essay. The Parallel: The A0 goals are the equivalent of each crew members personal goals for the season. These can be in line with the crew goal, or is can be something that can be accomplished with some extra work besides the standard team training. My personal goal for my first year of rowing was to learn to single scull. Another year is was to learn to row with my our both on the right and left side of the boat, making me ambidextrous. Another goal was to get the best six pack abs on the team. All of these goals were obtainable through working with the regular team practices, and then setting my own personal time aside to focus on achieving these individual goals, whether this involved single sculling practice, or doing crunches before I went to bed. This year of course, I would be setting my own goals that did not correlate with those of a team. This gave me some more freedom in selecting my goals, allowing me the flexibility to pursue something that was of most interest to me as an individual, and not just in line with the team goals. The Learning: The lesson I learned throughout the semester was that in order to achieve the main objective, you must also have some smaller goals in sight. These goals should build towards that main goal, providing a scaffold. This will allow you to notice your progress, as I noted in each learning essay at the end. This allowed me to note my improvement, and not get disheartened by the seemingly huge task ahead. These goals can also be different from the main objective, so long as they are not in contradicting directions. The combination of setting up the answer of my Question for the Semester through assigning and re-evaluating my A0 goals is a practice I can continue for my future, abstracting to a more general level and applying it to any aspect of my life. As part of my contract for the future, I will establish short term goals for my thesis research, to build towards my research question. Page 21 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 2.3. WORLD OF 2020 The next assignment in ME6102 was to draw a picture of our predicted world of the future, in the year 2020. At this point I was asking myself, "Why am I doing this? Where is the CAD work?", and wondering what this class was really going to be about. Farrokh suggested we go about defining our world though extrapolation and abstraction, looking over the changes in the last 20 years and drawing out these changes for the 20 years to come. As I performed this assignment I thought it was a fun exercise, but it was not until I reflected upon it later that I realized its true value. The Parallel: Defining the world of 2020 in ME6101/6102 was similar to determining who our rivals were going to be during the rowing season. We would analyze who had done well over the last few years, who looked like they had a big strong team that they could mold into an effective crew, and those we really hated, the consistently good Windsor Boys sculling team. This gave us a perspective as we entered the races, basing our pace off of their times, and gave us an objective for who to try to pass at the head races. The Question for the Semester is meaningless without an environment of 2020 for it to be used in. The same is true for our objective to get to the Grand Finals of National Schools. Unless we had an idea of what the competition was capable of, we would not know what level we had to reach for, and would be unable to set an effective training program. The Lesson: Envisioning the world of 2020 taught me the skills of extrapolation and prediction. Through looking back at past changes and then looking to the future, I can get an idea of the changes that will occur. This is important because I must obtain a view of my own future in order to determine my place in it, and to avoid simply drifting through life. This is also a useful skill in industry, where knowing what direction the market is going to take before it happens is essential to the development is successful products. 2.4. THE “MAGIC BOX” One of the earlier lectures in ME6102 focused upon the introduction of product families. I am breaking from a chronological approach in this section because of the lesson I learned on that day. Product families were not new to me, however, the may Farrokh got us to imagine product families was creative. We envisioned a “magic box” that was a super advanced fabrication unit, that could assemble anything atom by atom. This meant that this box, constrained only by its physical dimensions, could fabricate anything that we could envision. The Parallel: Page 22 The parallel for this “magic box” is that of dreaming, and removing the shackles of negative thinking. With only myself as the crew, I knew that I only had myself to rely Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 The Learning: The value of the paper squares game and my reflection on it was large, I still consider it the most valuable teaching tool used in ME6102. This is reflected in my Assignment 1. Learning from the Manufacturing Game By Nathan Rolander [A1] F.M. - Superb! Best Practice The most important lessons I obtained for the future were from the critical evaluation of the advantages and disadvantages of an open engineering system, quoted below. What are the key advantages and disadvantages in designing Open Engineering Systems? Under what circumstances is the use of the Open Systems paradigm warranted? The key advantages to an Open Engineering System are: ♦ Capability to implement mass customization ♦ Capability to deal with uncertainty in demand or environmental conditions ♦ Rapid production rates ♦ Modularity enables part/process/information re-use ♦ Relatively low cost compared to fully custom products/processes/information services (because of production scale) ♦ Ability to produce large quantities of goods ♦ Easy upgradeability of system/manufacture/product/process The key disadvantages to an Open Engineering System are: ♦ Higher cost of product/process/service (compared to mass production) ♦ Lower rate of production (compared to mass production) ♦ High capital costs (even more so than mass production) ♦ Higher skilled design/labor required ♦ Not required for all products, needs knowledgeable designer to determine if it is appropriate Open systems are applicable to a huge variety of markets. This is because it successfully integrates the majority of the benefits of both mass production and one off custom fabrication to create mass customization. However, because of the higher costs of both capital and information, it is not simple to implement nor is it necessary. Page 25 Some markets do not require any customization (commodities particularly), others are better suited to a product family through modularity of the product, but specified by the manufacturer. Utilizing any modular product to create a product family will enable a degree of openness, however a difference is whether or not the customer’s preferences are involved in the specification of their product. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 This learning is useful for the future because I have considered the application of open systems, and have not superficially stated “open systems are great! Everything should be an open system!” This is not a valuable approach. Open systems have a wide range of applicability, but it will be up to me to determine the degree of openness that should be engineered into a system 3.2. MASS CUSTOMIZATION One focus of ME6102 was the concept of mass customization. This revolved around the creation of modular products using interchangeable parts to allow for the maximum combination of external products using the minimum number of internal parts. I found this topic particularly interesting as I believed that modularity was to be a big part of design for the future as noted in my assignment 1.b. I also noted that the base Pahl & Beitz method did not account very well for product families or modularity, all required for mass customization, also noted in Assignment 1.b. While this may be appropriate for a one time product, the direction of the future, and particularly looking to the design world of 2020, is modularity and families of products. The Pahl and Beitz process currently has modularity and product families tacked on to the end of the process, during detail design. This does not permit the designer to build a modular product from the ground up, as the complexity of the interactions between the different products and their functionality is totally nonexistent in the current incarnation of Pahl and Beitz. [A1.b] With this realization I was determined to make design for mass customization possible in my answer to the Question for the Semester. The Parallel: No two rowers come in quite the same size or shape. My best friends Steve and Will form formed a nationally competitive double, although Steve was 5'11" while Will was 6'4". How were both rowers able to fit in the same boat and row effectively? Mass customization! The internals of a shell are all adjustable, from the span of the riggers to the position and angle of the shoes where the rower places their feet. This allows for the exact positioning of the rower with respect to the pivot of their oar in relation every member of the crew, such that every member is positioned in the most effective body position. Other parts of the boat are modular, such as the shoes, seats, and oar handles, which can be swapped out in less than a minute to better suit the rower at that position. Athletes already understand the need for personalized equipment for Page 26 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 maximum performance, and this philosophy is spreading to the mass consumer market as well. The Learning: I believe that an effective platform for mass customization must be developed for successful product marketing in the future. This method is discussed in my answer to the Question for the Semester. What I have learned from the theory of mass customization is that everyone wants to be treated as an individual, not a number in a mass of customers. Peoples individuality is what defines them, and they want this to be reflected in the products they use and buy. This is why I believe that mass customization must be addressed for the products of the future. 3.3. DETERMINING OPENNESS Through the course of ME6102 I settled upon the following metrics for openness, specifically in regard to the flexibility of a system. In my case this was the method I proposed in my answer to the Question for the Semester. Flexibility: o Modularity o Mutability o Robustness I realized that I would need to address all three aspects in determining the openness of both the method that I proposed, as well as the digital design system that supported it. The Parallel: I realize that these three qualities can also be related to the different aspects of the technique of an individual rower, as I have described in the following sections. I then realized that I would need to develop my skills in all three areas for me to be complete as a rower. The Learning: After defining something, it is necessary to define metrics with which it can be measured. These metrics may be different for various areas of application, but it remains that it is difficult to effectively compare or measure an attribute if there is no metric for measurement or comparison. I realized the importance of this in answering my Question for the Semester, deigning the hierarchical layout of the design process. In this manner I now realize that any attribute I define must also have associated metrics with which to measure that attribute. Page 27 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 4. GETTING SET UP: THE DSP TECHNIQUE In the quest to make myself a better rower, I realized I would need to develop my stroke, what equipment I would use for the bulk of my training, and how I would set the equipment up. There constitute the core areas of rowing skills that I developed while rowing on my own, and I will tie them to my learning in ME6102. The Parallel & The Learning: If ME6012 were a meal, the DSP Technique would be the meat and potatoes, the main course (tofu and potatoes if you are a vegetarian). The DSPs are the primary constructs used to perform decision based design from the SRL perspective. If there was one tool I learned in ME6102 that I will keep for any future application, it will be the DSP technique. This will prove to be a core area of my research work as well as any design or problem solving I engage in during my future. 4.1. THE COMPROMISE DSP The compromise Decision Support Problem is the construct used to provide support for “how much” type of decisions encountered in engineering design. I used it in Assignment 6 was well as in my project and research work this semester. The Parallel: The “how much” problem I encountered in rowing was during the development of my “augmented rowing stroke”. I had three variables I could use during my stroke, the amount I used my legs, back, and arms. All three created different force curves and could be used at any point of the stroke for different amounts of times. There were constrains upon the system, for example I had to be at least one half of the way through the leg drive before I would finish with my arms or my knees would hit my hands. The function to be minimized in this case was the waste of energy, i.e. to maximize boat acceleration. The solution I determined was also robust to changes in wind direction and speed, as well as water conditions and flow direction, while providing me with what I believe is one of the most efficient rowing strokes. This stroke is described in the “Augmented Rowing Stroke” section of my ME6101 final learning essay and is validated later in this final learning essay. The Learning: Page 30 The compromise DSP is different than traditional optimization in its approach and formulation. It is not a solution to the problem, rather it provides support for a human decision, and as such is constructed in this fashion. It works through the minimization of deviation variables, not the system variables themselves. This makes it possible to obtain satisficing solutions where the constraints are set such that they cannot be met, through the use of soft constraint “goal functions”. I will be applying the compromise DSP in the future for my masters research work. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 4.2. THE SELECTION DSP The selection Decision Support Problem is the construct used to provide support for “which” type of decisions encountered in engineering design. I used it in my project work in ME6101 and ME6102. The Parallel: After I started sculling I had to decide upon which boat, oars, handles, riggers, and other rowing equipment to use. I selected this based upon what was available as well as what worked best for me in a range of situations. In this way I approach the problem in a similar manner to the selection DSP, creating a weight of relative importance for each attribute and determining my preferences about each alternative. Although I did not perform this as rigorously or with the mathematical structure provided in the selection DSP, I did determine the equipment that best suited my style, comfort, and needs. The Learning: The selection DSP is another useful tool, particularly the utility based selection DSP we used in Assignment 5. Although I will be unlikely to use the selection DSP in my research work, the construct will prove useful for any important and challenging selection problems I will face in my future. 4.3. COUPLED DECISIONS Coupled decisions are when a compromise and a decision are dependant upon one another. This can be either hierarchical, with one decision made first and the second depending upon this selection, or with both decisions made simultaneously. The Parallel: When it came to selecting my oars, some variables were fixed while others were not. For example, I knew I wanted to used the cleaver type blades, and that was my highest priority. The next was stability and correct floating height, followed by swing weight, collar design, and other variables. In the final selection between the Croaker brand and the Concept II brand, the Croaker brand was a coupled decision. This was because they had an adjustable length and inboard, meaning that after I selected them I had to determine the best settings for my boat and rowing style. This was a coupled selection- compromise decision. The Learning: Page 31 I now can see how all engineering decisions fall into the realm of selection or compromise, or a coupling of the two. I now have two constructs that I can use to provide decision support for any problems I encounter in the future, within the realm of engineering or not. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 5. FIGURING OUT THE DETAILS: SYSTEMS RELATED TOPICS After I had established that I would need to develop myself as a rower both in terms of modularity, mutability, and robustness I realized that I would need to find ways to achieve these goals. Along the way, fine tuning my training program, and entering small skirmishes and races as the season progressed, I learned a few more lessons relating to rowing, but not directly involving my rowing technique. None the less, they were important and instrumental to my development as an individual rower. The Parallel: In ME6102, we learned about more than simply designing open engineering systems (not to impose that this topic is in any manner simple). We also covered subjects than supported the development and our knowledge of open engineering systems. In this section I will address the topics that I feel were most important to my learning. The Learning: The learning is this section is a little scattered, each relating to a different topic and how I can use this knowledge for the future. They are tied together through the common thread of supporting the development of open engineering systems. 5.1. COMPLEXITY One of the earlier topics brought up was the issue of complexity, and metrics for measuring it. I discussed my thoughts on complexity and methods for dealing with it in Learning Essay 2. Complex Systems By Nathan Rolander [LE2] F.M. – Good Content, Needs Integration, V. Pleased! This topic was of particular interest to me because of my research work focus on simulation-based design, and the topic of modeling complex phenomena. The Parallel: The rowing stroke is complex. The description I have given earlier in this report is an abstraction, a high level overview of the rowing process. I wrote out a detailed list of every action or thought that I perform during one rowing stroke, and it totaled 58 points. I will not list it here, but put simply I did not even realize the complexity of the action until I tried to write it down in detail. This is because I learned and developed it over the course of several years, adding parts and tweaking others. The final product is a complex yet very effective system. Page 32 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 is almost always a superior solution to a relationship problem than a purely competitive relationship that the world is based upon today. Page 35 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 6. ADVANCING FURTHER: MODELING & SIMULATION Being an engineer, I often considered the engineering and physics of the sport. I searched on the internet and discovered rec.sport.rowing, a technical rowing newsgroup. With the input of rowing shell builders, Olympic champions, and other people just like me we discussed the various aspects and difficulties of modeling the rowing process. The Parallel: Modeling and simulation is inevitably tied to decision support in this day and age of computer aided engineering. Very few important or complex decisions are made without the aid of a computer simulation. This was the focus of my project, and is also the focus of my research work for my masters thesis. The Learning: I gained some interesting theoretical insight into modeling and simulation during Chris Paredis’s talk on the subject tin class. However, the biggest contribution to my learning was completing my project, building several models myself and using them in conjunction with the compromise DSP to determine efficient cooling solutions for the cold aisle in a data center. 6.1. UNCERTAINTY There are many uncertainties in a rowing regatta. The competitors, the weather conditions, the number and length of time between heats etc. These are best handles through preparation, having a robust rowing stroke, and being fit enough to recover quickly between heats. You can try to guess at the conditions, “modeling” the uncertainty, but usually it was best to not bother, and simply to be prepared for the worst. The Parallel: Uncertainty is a difficult topic in the realm of simulation and modeling. We only scratched the surface in the lecture in ME6102, but it is something that I would like to investigate further. Uncertainty can be modeled using utility theory in the utility based selection or compromise DSPs, however it is adding misinformation if the uncertainty is modeled using functions that do not accurately represent them. The Learning: Page 36 I do not believe that modeling the uncertainty is within the scope of my masters research work. I will have to consider the robustness of the system and the solutions developed with respect to the control and noise variables, but I will not have to model the uncertainty in the system. There certainly is uncertainty in the error of the models, and this will be investigated mathematically, but it will not be incorporated into the models themselves. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 6.2. DIFFICULTY OF MODELING In Learning Essay 2 I also discussed some of the difficulties of modeling complex systems and what can be done to alleviate some of them. Some of these were with respect to my answer to the Question for the Semester, others were practical methods that I can use for my research and class work. In either way the accuracy of modeling complex phenomena is an important issue in simulation based design. The Parallel: It turns out that although appearing simple at first, modeling the rowing process in incredibly complex. This is true of the hydrodynamics of the boat, and the human factors engineering of the human physiology. People have tried using CFD analysis to develop a more hydrodynamically efficient hull shape with less drag. This turned out to be worse than many conventional designs because of the instability of the rowing action. The center of mass moving back and forth, causing the boat to pitch back and forth means that a static analysis yields poor results. So far, without serious study, the best approach is experience and visualization of the rowing process. The Learning: Modeling and simulation is hard! It is easy to get results out of a program like FEMLAB or FLUENT, complete with pretty plots and picture. However, understanding the limitations of the modeling process, software and assumptions made are far more important. This is why the undertaking of the verification and validation of the modeling and simulation process is so important, covering the representation, modeling, and solving of the problem under consideration. 6.3. VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION The most important aspect of my project was the comprehensive verification and validation approach I took to my work. I tried to validate every aspect of my modeling process for every model I made. I used the validation square, applying the first three quadrants to all aspects of representation, modeling, and solving of the thermal and fluid models that I constructed. The Parallel: Earlier in this final learning essay I stated that I believe myself to have a very efficient rowing stroke. I would be foolish to make this claim without something to back it up. I have two measures to back up this claim. The first is numerical results, Steve and I can row the double at a incredibly fast racing split of 1:37 per 500m with what feels like no effort. We can continue this pace for a full 2000m, and were doing so at the Elite US National Champioships, placing in second place behind the Canadian Olympic team2, Page 37 2 They won. And they are fast, despite being Canadian. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 This was similar to going line by line through a paper or text, taking in every detail. We then abstracted, playing the videos again in full speed, looking at the underlying motives behind their technique, were they accelerating at the catch? The finish? Or were they just brute forcing the boat through the water? This analysis would give us ideas of how we could develop our stroke further, to achieve the pinnacle of our personalized rowing stroke for our boat. The Learning: After my first failure at critical analysis I realized that the point was to go into specific details as well as get the general picture. The most important realization was that I had to understand the assumptions the author was making, and the motivation of their work. I would then understand the premise on which the work was based, and have a perspective for analysis. I also had to take apart specific issues that were of relevance and interest to me. During my critical analysis of Todd Spierling's answer to the Question for the Semester I attacked points that I both liked and intended to leverage, and the points where I thought he had an intellectual disconnect, points that didn't follow with the rest of his argument, or were contradictory to his vision. Of particular focus in ME6102 was my interest in effective communication methods, through diagrams, tables, or affinity diagrams. There visual tools can portray large quantities of information or concepts in a short time, and are far more effective than simply blocks of text. I the future I will always be aware of leveraging formatting and presentation as well as material and concepts. 7.2. LEVERAGING Falling hand in hand with critical analysis is the concept of leveraging. Leveraging is more than simply copying someone's idea, it is understanding the principle of the work, and using it as a foundation to build off further. This was one of the most important skills in ME6102, as there was simply too much material to address by myself, and it was only though leveraging others existing answer to the Question for the Semester that I was able to make my answer as complete and detailed as it stands. Farrokh also demonstrated this need, through the addition of the second paragraph of the Question for the Semester, stating that we had to use adaptive and variant design, building off of what has been done before. The Parallel: Analyzing all of the World Cup videos would have been for nothing if we had not utilized what we had learned. The advantage of viewing a video of all the best rowers in the world was the spread of different styles and techniques. Through our analysis we determined we wanted catches like the Germans, a stroke like the Polish double, and the finishes of the Italians. We would then practice on the water to try to merge these individual parts of the stroke with our own rhythm and style, personalizing and augmenting our stroke further. Page 40 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 The Learning: Critical analysis lends itself easily to leveraging. However, I learned that it is important to perform a through job of critically analyzing the work that I indented to leverage. It was even more important to make sure that I understood the assumptions and principles behind the work I intended to build upon, to ensure that it was both solid and that there was nothing that could contradict with what I was adding. This would ensure that I would not weaken my arguments or work through leveraging from others. Through my use of leveraging in my learning essays, and particularly my answer to the Question for the Semester I have gained an appreciation for its value. By simply adding to an existing framework, I am avoiding unnecessary work “re-inventing the wheel", through repeating what has already been said. The importance is to add value to what already exists, a topic I address next in this learning essay. 7.3. ADDING VALUE The definition of value in ME6101 and ME6102 was benefit divided by time. There are two distinct type of value I want to address, the concept of getting value, and adding value. Getting value is applied all work, in regards to what you are taking away from having completed it. Adding value is ensuring that you have added to what is being leveraged, making it original and your own. The Parallel: In rowing, an aspect I feel is often overlooked is the concept of rhythm. Most crews simply believe this is that ability of a the crew to stay in synchronization, and more through the stroke smoothly. I believe it is more that this. I feel that rhythm is the feeling of the speed of the boat, during the entire stroke. This entails first "feeling" the speed of the boat as the blades are placed in the water, smoothly accelerating it to a maximum speed at the end of the stroke, releasing the blades smoothly, and then waiting for the subtle raising of the bow out of the water before continuing the recovery. These subtle motions are very hard to detect and react to, but are responsible for the speed of my crew in the double scull and pair. I equate this acceleration stroke to maintain boat speed as adding value. If the base stroke pulls the boat though the water, this stroke simply "taps it along". If this is done in perfect synchronization the boat simply flies through the water, although it feels like no effort is being put in by the crew. This is the maximum value stroke, and is in my mind the pinnacle of rowing perfection, giving the maximum speed for the minimum effort input. The Learning: Page 41 During my first few submissions I realized what had to be done to obtain value greater than one. Initially I just performed the work without reflection or articulation. This was Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 work for the sake of work, and had little value. It was though extracting lessons and applications of these lessons for the future that I was able to extract value from this work. In the case of learning essays this was accomplished through addressing material I would then utilize on my answer to the Question for the Semester, giving it value for the future in my final submissions. Adding value to leveraged material is equally important, and follows that same lines. In this case the material must have something added to it that makes it you own (personalization), or adds a new twist or concept that takes the idea further (augmentation). Leveraging without adding value is not leveraging, its citation. The concept of value is now something I regard very highly and strive to get the maximum of in all of my academic endeavors. 7.4. CRITICAL THINKING Another of the core ME6101and ME6102 life skills is critical thinking. This skill is the ability to identify the crux of a problem, the key area that must be addressed in order for a solution be realized. I employed critical thinking during many of my assignments, however I feel I did a particularly good job in Assignment 2. During the analysis of the problem I identified that many constraints we assume had not in fact been given. I this case, I realized that there was to time scale or displacement relation given. This meant that to displace the egg 10 feet, all I had to do was place the egg on the table and wait for the Earth to rotate through an arc of 10 feet. Although an extreme interpretation, I feel this practice gave me confidence to use my critical analysis skills later in the course during my final submissions. The Parallel: The rowing stroke is complex. My complete personalized and augmented stroke is over 50 individual steps, taking over two pages to write out line by line. This complete cycle is completed 45 times a minute, or slightly less that one stroke per second. Combine that with the huge number of input variables, the boat, rigger, and blade geometry and set-up, the wind conditions, the waves, the tide direction and you have one very complex process. If there was a problem, we had to identify what the key cause of it was, which would often be difficult. This is a similar process to critical thinking. We would realized that our balance was off. We would try rowing using only half the length of the sliding seat, then a quarter, then using only our arms, then each member rowing individually and so on until we had identified the key problem to be addressed. The Learning: Page 42 To think critically was my first A0 goal in ME6101, and I refined it further to reflect my need to be able to identify potential research topics in ME6102. The ability to get to the crux of the problem, getting past the details is a skill that is not often taught in traditional Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 8. COMPETITION: COURSE DELIVERABLES After each race, it is necessary to reflect upon it to determine what was done well and what could stand improvement. This would pertain to the race strategy and execution, but also to the preparation, equipment selection, and training regimen. The most important of these races is of course the national level regattas, where the best rowers in the country are determined in several days of intense competition. The Parallel: Pulling everything that I had worked on during the year training for my rowing competitions is similar to pulling together all of my work and learning from ME6102 to create the final deliverables of the answer to the Question for the Semester, the final Learning Essay, and Project. The smaller competitions that occurred during the year are similar to the assignments and learning essays, allowing me to test ideas and determine my progress towards achieving my course goals. The Learning: In ME6102 I was much more efficient with my learning essays that I had been in ME6101. Almost every learning essay I wrote, with the exception of Learning Essay 3 (which I wrote out of personal interest only), I was able to use in answering the Question for the Semester. What I have learned falls into the category of making sure that all work I do leading up to a goal, really is towards achieving that goal. 8.1. ASSIGNMENTS There were a total of six assignments in ME6102. Each of these represented that application of a new area of the course for us to explore in a structured manner. This was really a framework for us to play in, like a jungle gym in a playground. The questions were there to guide us, and provide the structure, but it was up to use to individually fill the holes and determine what we would do. The Parallel: The parallel of the assignments to rowing is a skirmish. This is a friendly race between competitive crews, sometimes for a prize, other times not. It is not official, nor does it hold any kind of points ranking system, but they are important nonetheless. Each skirmish was a little different, and I would usually learn something new. Whether it was a fixed rate piece, or over a curvy section of the river, the challenge would always be different and emphasize a different aspect of my rowing technique to develop. The Learning: Page 45 The learning from each of my assignments is compiled at the end of each, where I address my progress towards my A0 goals. Each of my assignments brought me closer to Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 a single or sometimes multiple goals. It was an entertaining race, setting my five goals at the beginning of the course and then seeing which one I was achieving the furthest in with each assignment. In the future, there will be no assignments, and it will be up to me to continue my learning and development towards my goals in other means. 8.2. LEARNING ESSAYS The other major component of ME6102 is the submission of learning essays. These start out as discussions and reflection on class material and our learning, but develop into progress essays in which we can determine our progress towards answering the question for the semester and our project, as well as receive feedback from Farrokh. The Parallel: In this manner, learning essays are tests of performance in rowing. This can be a timed piece on the water, seeing how much further I got from one month to the next, or a specified distance on the rowing machine. The goal was the same, to measure my progress and determine if my training routine was being effective. The Learning: If individual learning essays are individual tests of my rowing fitness, then this final learning essay is my final erg test, my final attempt to pull out all the stops and figure out my physical limits. In this way, I am drawing upon everything that I have learned this semester and attempting to abstract to get the bigger picture and determining how I can use this to shape my future. Each of these individual pieces of learning that I have accomplished through the course of the semester is integral to this abstraction process and my ultimate value obtained from ME6102. 8.3. FINAL DELIVERABLES How did I perform on my final deliverables? My opinion is given in my self grading scheme, but I will have to wait until next semester to receive Farrokh's marks and comments to really know. I do know that I have enjoyed applying everything I have learned and stretching my mental bounds during their creation. I look forward to Farrokh's feedback. The Parallel: Page 46 These final deliverables are a chance to put everything that we have learned together for one final effort. This is the same as the championship regattas during the summer. You cannot hope to do well at these competitions without having trained and built towards these races from the very beginning, and the same is true of the final deliverables of ME6102. You can leverage off of previous races, for example we used the same sprint that we used at the Docklands Regatta in the semi-finals of National Schools to push ourselves through to the grand finals. We also used the same start as we developed at the Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 Putney Town Regatta, to place ourselves at the front of the pack during the entire race. The development of these racing techniques, seeing their effectiveness, and then utilizing them at Nationals is similar to leveraging learning essays that I have received feedback from in my final submissions. Neither our race nor my finals submissions would have been as complete or effective without this leveraging. The Learning: Through the crafting of my final submissions for ME6102 I have had to employ all of the skills I have acquired during the semester. I have leveraged my own work as well as others, always ensure that everything I put in has value. These final submissions are really a realization of all of the learning that I have accomplished during the semester, embodied in the previous sections of this final learning essay. 8.4. COURSE ANALYSIS I think I have worked effectively and efficiently throughout the ME6102 course. I say this based on my portfolio of assignments and learning essays, my answer to the Question for the Semester, this semester learning essay, and most importantly my project. I have been able to utilize much of my learning essay material in my answer to the Question for the Semester, and have good learning material to reference in this final learning essay. I believe this is because of my effective course planning, making use of the scaffold set up by Farrokh. Although these last few weeks have been intense, they have in no way been unreasonable, and I have been utilizing all this time simply so that I can craft the best final submissions possible. The Parallel: Long term preparation is what effective competitive rowing is all about. Through an effective training schedule, I had the endurance I needed build up to be able to compete at the National level. Without this continual build up, a few weeks of intensive training would not have provided the same level of endurance required. The same is true of weight. I competed several times as a lightweight, meaning I had to weigh 155 pounds or less. This was also accomplished though steady diet and exercise, with no sweat runs or crash starvation dieting in the last few days before competition. I believe that my setting of effective scheduling and discovering the results firsthand through crew has translated to my effective study and work habits today. The Learning: Page 47 I have already addressed the importance of following a plan, keeping your goals and destination in focus, and making steady progress ensuring that all work completed is of value. The other aspect of course analysis is my progress in learning. I will address this through how well I completed my assignments and learning essays throughout the semester. Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 goal at all this semester, but that is because of circumstance and the small class size. 4. Learn to communicate at both personal and professional levels In ME6101 I learned a lot about preparing a professional quality document. This semester I have built upon that learning further. I have particularly learned about the verification and validation of my work, having a fairly weak validation last semester and what I feel is a much stronger validation for both my project and answer to the Q4S this semester. I have also learned about effective communication. I have tried to use more visual aids for communication of ideas. I already have a very good organizational structure and flow, learned in ME6101, however I needed to develop skills to augment this further. I am gaining more experience in this through the ME6102 presentations and once again through drafting and new answer to the Question for the Semester and project report. Did I manage to communicate my ideas more concisely in my final Learning Essay? I feel that I have addressed every topic that I wanted to in this document, and although I have embellished some of the rowing analogies, I do not feel I have addressed anything irrelevant or not required, and have used words clearly and simply saying what I want in fewer sentences. This is a step in the right direction that I will gain further experience in when I write a paper this summer. 5. Learn to evaluate literature critically and use this analysis to identify research issues worth investigating. Last semester after receiving my feedback for my answer to the Q4S I was rather disappointed. Not with my grade (it was superb, best practice), but the comments regarding my content. For nearly all of my good ideas that I had conceived there was a comment saying “see Jitesh’s work” or “see Hae-Jin’s work”. This annoyed me as I felt I had created original ideas based upon the concepts introduced to use in ME6101. What I realize now is that I must first perform a survey of what is available already, and they apply my creativity and direction finding abilities to what has not been done yet. This is what I have done this semester, building off of two PhD proposals that are brand new ideas with my own concepts and augmentations. I have confidence that I can do this well because all of the good ideas that I thought were original last semester had not only been investigated, but were major areas of research. This shows that I am getting a sense for identifying research issues worth investigating, both through critically evaluating existing literature and through forming my own ideas. I have exercised this extensively through the “Future and Learning” sections in my Project, and will continue to note areas of interest for research throughout my work in the future. 6. Write a paper (preferably a journal publication) this summer based upon work accomplished in the project Page 50 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 This goal really applies to my project and nothing else, simply because I feel the work I was able to achieve there was so valuable towards my research. The work presented in my Q4S is too abstract and has no approach for validation and hence is not publishable. However, I am still very pleased at what I was able to accomplish this semester and excited at the prospect of publishing on this new material. Page 51 Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 10. FUTURE Reflecting on the years crew season is worthless if you can't extract ideas for what to do for next years season. To accomplish this my crew would meet again for a final time, in the same place as the setting of the initial goals for the year and discuss our feelings on the last season, what we liked, didn’t like, and would like to do differently in the future. After this discussion we would determine our individual training for the rest of the summer, and go our own ways, to repeat the whole cycle again in another six weeks. The Parallel & Learning: My final overall goal at the end of Assignment 0 was: To learn all I can about design, present and future, and enjoy learning it. [A0] After completing ME6101 and ME6102, I feel I have accomplished this goal. I have learned about existing design methods, augmented them to make them applicable in the present and applied them to my project work, and most importantly I have learned how to keep on learning, empowering me for my future as an engineer. 10.1. SCAFFOLDING Scaffolding was one of the most helpful aspects of ME6102. Without it there would have been no way to accomplish the huge end of semester submissions. The scaffold for ME6102 had been developed by Farrokh through previous orchestartions of ME6102, the challenge is creating my own scaffold for future projects. The Parallel: During the school rowing season, my coach always set the training program for everyone to follow. During my senior year, and subsequent years rowing competitively in the US in the double, I was responsible for my own training. This was essentially looking at the scaffold that had been given to me previously by my coach, and abstracting to develop my own program to reach my new higher goals. The Learning I was successful in this, developing effective training programs and coaching myself utilizing a variety of resources from the internet to a friend recording our technique with a camcorder. Through this setting of my own program and its success, I realized that one I was experienced and had internalized a process, as I had rowing, I could then develop my own scaffolding for the future. Page 52 It will be up to me to develop my own system for my thesis research. I intend to accomplish this though setting a specific research objective, and several smaller goals to Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 rowing career, utilizing new training methods to improve my fitness and exercises to polish my technique. It was through the identification of what I didn't know that this was possible, introducing me to new areas such as boat geometry set-up which are important for success but I had not experienced before. I must continue this learning if I wish to remain competitive as a rower in the world today. The Learning: This class is only the beginning of a new world of learning for me, the "tip of the iceberg" so to speak. Now that I have been introduced to the tools, I must continue to apply them in new situations to create my own learning. I have a scaffold set up for this process as well. Initially I will be able to practice this identification and learning process in a controlled academic teaching and research environment, developing my skills and confidence. The challenge will be to continue this learning in industry, where the focus is upon results, not learning. This will require effort and dedication, but will also be integral to my success and ability continue to be effective as an engineer. In a continually evolving world, I must evolve with it, and that is only possible through continual learning. 10.4. CONTRACT FOR THE FUTURE In order to proceed with my plan of continual learning, and meet my final ultimate goal for ME6102, I will establish a contract for the future. This is a sort of reminder to myself, so that if I meander off my path I can find it again. In my future I will aspire to: ♦ Set a clear objective for every new aspect of my life in order to stay focused and make my work effective and have value. ♦ Assign myself goals that will help me reach my objectives in smaller more attainable steps, besides having value in themselves. ♦ Think and act strategically, everything I accomplish will have value or learning associated with its completion. ♦ Be an agent for change, questioning the fundamentals and underlying assumptions of any process or theory I encounter. ♦ Always be aware of my position in the Learning Box. ♦ Be creative, learn to do more with less though attention direction and abstraction skills. ♦ Think big, both in terms of personal goals and time scales. Understand the ramifications of a project. These are essential leadership skills. ♦ Use and develop my leadership skills in order to extract the potential from a group. ♦ Realize there are no limits, I am only limited by my ability to dream. ♦ To never stop learning! Monday, April 26, 2004 Page 55 Nathan Rolander ____________________________________________ Nathan Rolander ME6102 - Semester Learning Essay Fall 2003 Page 56 10.5. CONCLUDING REMARKS I look forward to continuing my studies and my work in SRL. ME6101and ME6102 have been the greatest influence on me of any classes I have ever taken before, and I feel are some of the best classes I have ever participated in. ME6102 has provided me with a passion for engineering design. When I can to Georgia Tech I was unsure of my future, through this course I have found both my future, and the means of getting there, the ability to pursue my dreams. 10.6. SELF GRADING For my self grading for my Semester Learning Essay see my self grading scheme appended to the beginning of my Portfolio.