Project Brief

The iCart, a revolutionary intelligent in-house logistics solution, is attracting interest from an increasing number of organisations in a wide range of market sectors.

 

A significant part of our growth will come from a select number of iCart Technology Partners who work with us to offer associated products or provide systems integration skills in particular market sectors. We are delighted to offer you the opportunity to become an iCart Technology Partner subject to the completion and assessment of a design proposal that will demonstrate your capabilities.

 

Your design problem set will require you to develop a product integration solution:

A system that is predominately based on iCarts to provide a complete integrated solution for use with the Pally. This solution should allow operational aims to be achieved making use of the features of both products.

 

Introduction

In the brief we were informed by a select number of iCart technology partners that we have been offered an opportunity in a real life situation to create a product solution for their line of production.

We have been given a design problem that as a group we had to find a solution too, it has to be an integrated solution that would make the Pally compatible with the iCart. It also explains we will have to give presentations, prototype demonstrations and group design reports.

Our task is to create a product that will successfully lift a Pally safely on and off the iCart, without human interactions and without modifying the iCart’s functions. It must not alter the iCart factory layout, so must fit safely down the aisles.

We have been given the opportunity to look around the factory warehouse to see the iCart in use and to take dimensions and ask any questions necessary to help with the project. We as a group found this session was very helpful, in creating an image of what we will be able to create to be compatible with the iCart.

We plan to be really hands on with this project through testing, development and prototyping in order to get a great final result for the iCart team. We will start by creating a wide range of concepts, and as a team we will whittle them down through concept selection, in order to find the most suitable design. We will then all work to increase the development of the product using CAD software to implement our designs, and work out how the final product would work inside a factory space.

Once this project is complete we will have picked up some great experiences, techniques and skills in design. These include:

* Demonstrate the ability to identify, analyze and synthesize information relating to information from the brief.

* Creative and innovative ability in the interaction of engineering principles for the holistic concepts.

* Learn to work alongside Design Engineers in a work place

Our main focus when looking at this invention is that the final product created fits the brief description by tapering to our specification of which the main points that stand out to us and need to be taken into consideration are:

* It’s Lightweight

* Easy to use

* Doesn’t need human interaction

* Doesn’t need a change to the iCart manufacturing techniques.

As a group we decided the best way to approach this design brief would be to use methods we had learnt over the past year. By doing this we gave ourselves a starting point from which we could build on. As a result we went straight into the research stage of the project bypassing existing products, focusing instead on existing components (i.e. hydraulic rams, conveyor belts), batteries, materials and other lifting mechanisms. It was the aim that by quickly delving into the research stage of the project we could also quickly produce a preliminary design specification from which we could begin to create some initial concepts.

We are going to research into certain problem areas in the design to ensure that the product fits the brief to the best of our abilities, for example, weight distribution or how the product will be powered.

We then are to create a specification that would identify what the products needs and requirements are and what it must not do. Which are listed below, this will give us a strict set of guidelines, in which we could taper the product to. The specification must be very specific, with exact measurements.