Week 3 has been another eventful week!

Hitting the Books (but Online)

To recap from last week, we are working to improve and implement a system that alerts users in the OEDK when the noise level is too high and advises them to wear appropriate hearing protection. The current prototype (created by the previous team to work on this project) has a good concept, but needs to be refined; this includes making the alert more noticeable, more efficiently using materials, and deciding where exactly we will place each alert system around the OEDK. After being assigned our project, Team Ring the Decibels immediately started doing research.

We looked into existing solutions, both for devices that measure sound and for noise alert systems. We found that there exist some systems that serve a similar purpose to what we are trying to make; however, they are far too expensive (around $500 per unit). We also did a lot of research on the scientific aspects of sound and vision. This helped us better understand how sound and light travel through space and how the human body responds to them. We ended up with 61 pages of research over almost four full days! We hope this research will allow us to devise a solution that effectively captures users’ attention.

 

Zooming through the Engineering Design Process

After finishing up our research, we proceeded to set our design criteria, or the goals that we would like our project to meet. Based on our research and meetings with our client, we decided that our device(s) should:

• Cover the entire public area of the OEDK
• Pose no physical harm to anyone
• Cost less than $2000 for the entire system
• Allow a fast user response time to the visual alert
• Be easy to maintain for the OEDK lab technicians
• Be aesthetically pleasing

Next, we collected data to make a sound map of the basement of the OEDK. First, we measured the dimensions of the basement and then made 50 x 50 inch squares to create a type of grid. We would have someone operate different combinations of power tools and then we would measure the sound level at each point in the grid. However, we realized that to save time, we should take points that are more spaced out and see if there are significant differences throughout. We found that, as expected, the areas closer to the tool corner experience the most noise, and therefore maybe we should have a higher concentration of devices in that area rather than on the other side of the basement.

Also, to make things easier, we ended up going on YouTube and playing an endless drum roll noise at 100 decibels for about 10 minutes straight while we collected data (for comparison, that decibel level is similar to standing really close to an ambulance siren). I’m pretty sure we angered almost everyone in the OEDK, and we also definitely lost a bit of hearing after that.

Finally, we started brainstorming and screening our ideas. One of the important sayings in engineering is that no idea is stupid and wild ideas are welcome. We spent about 30 minutes brainstorming ideas for the different components of our device. We then used a morph chart to combine those components to create full solutions. This resulted in some crazy ideas; one of them consisted of replacing the entire OEDK floor and replacing it with a “Dance Dance Revolution”-like lighting system that shows the sound level at any instant.

We chose some of the more practical ideas to move forward in the design process, which was Pugh scoring. However, we struggled with this aspect, and after consulting Dr. Hunter (our professor) and Grant and Adulfo (our TAs), we decided that scoring would not be helpful, as we did not make any serious deviations to the original design. Therefore, we should make several different prototypes of our own and then do extensive testing on users to determine which one is most effective. We should start that process next week.

America’s Pastime

On Tuesday, some of us went to watch the Houston Astros play the Pittsburgh Pirates. Usually I’m not a big fan of baseball but I had never been to a professional baseball game and I thought it would be a pretty fun thing to do at some point. Also, more importantly, it was Dollar Hotdog Night at Minute Maid Park (the Astros’ stadium) so that also gave me a bit of motivation to go. The Astros won 5-1! I learned a lot about baseball and also filled my stomach pretty well, so I think it was overall a great experience.

 

By this time next week, we will have given our midsummer presentation and started prototyping! I look forward to sharing our progress then!