MAE 5340

Innovative Product Design via Digital Manufacturing

Course Description

Course information provided by the Courses of Study 2021-2022.

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

When Offered Fall.

Permission Note Enrollment limited to: M.E. seniors and other MEng./graduate students.

• Students will be able to understand the logic of the product development cycle in the context of a startup company and an established firm and communicate effectively in teams.
• Students will be able to describe the limitations of early stage prototypes and the importance of stages development into more realistic prototypes.
• Students will be able to identify product platforms for mechanical design with commercial potential.
• Students will be able gain appreciation of Intellectual Property in terms of design and utility.
• Students will be able to become familiar with basic tools of design and manufacturing, such as CAD and digital manufacturing tools.

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