Engineering Design and Development students design and build original projects for practical use

March 10, 2022 — by Sam Bai and Howard Shu
Students build practical use projects ranging from hydroponic gardens to plastic recyclers.

Before being cleared out for major remodeling recently, the room SO1 buzzed with the steady hum of machinery as students researched, prototyped and iterated on previous designs, all in order to create a practical invention for the Engineering Design and Development Class’s final project. Unlike previous labs with pre-defined instructions, seniors are free to create and pursue their own plans for the project — the culmination of two to three years of learning for many students.

Students in teacher Audrey Warmuth’s class have been working alone or in groups since Thanksgiving with a budget of $40 and early June as their deadline.

After discussing ideas ranging from an iPhone charger running on bicycle power to an electric Go-kart, senior Erik Van Cruyningen decided on designing a hydroponic garden: a box that grows plants automatically in a self-sustained bed of water. He hopes that his parents can make use of his design for their garden after it’s finished.

 “If they really like it, I will continue working on it even after graduation,” he said.

Van Cruyningen plans on making the hydroponic garden  rectangular with wooden edges, featuring a 5-gallon bucket on the side cycling water through the garden. The base will be a bed of pebbles with seeds sprinkled through.

Van Cruyningen has devoted most of his time to repeated design and testing, but expressed concerns about his timeline. Money is also a major constraint: With a budget of $40, equipment such as sensors can quickly grow out of reach.

“My main worry with the project is that I don’t know if I will be able to fit everything I want into the few months we still have left,” he said. “I want to make it the best that I can, but time is an extremely important limiting factor.” he said.

In another group, senior Jocelyn Li has been working with seniors Kaaya Minocha and Maanvi Chawla on a plastic recycler capable of turning plastic waste into usable 3D printer filament. She hopes that their work can be used in the engineering room, turning waste from experimental 3D-prints back into useful filament. 

“It was a project that Mrs. Warmuth wanted to work on and she told my class if a group wanted to work on it, they could,” Li said. “My group mates and I decided to work on it because if we successfully build it, it would be used in the engineering room.”

Li’s group recently completed their inventory and made arrangements to purchase the parts they need to construct the design. They are currently planning their procedure for the entire project and their build plan.

So far, Li said that her biggest struggle has been finding a place to start because of the large scope of her project. To address this, Li has been using a variety of different methods to stay organized. 

“I think the engineering notebook, [a notebook tracking daily progress along with future goals], has been extremely helpful,” Li said. “I used to think that it was the most annoying part of any engineering project, but now I think it helps to get my thoughts down in an organized manner, so I know what I’ve done and what I need to do in the future.”

Although the group is hoping to finish the project by graduation, they will continue working on the project even afterward because it has the potential to greatly benefit the engineering room, Li said.

“Right now, [the engineering classes] produce many plastic scraps,” Li said. “If we are able to use the plastic scraps and produce actual 3D filament, it would be good for the environment and it would be cool for the engineering room because then we don’t need to buy filament.”

Warmuth said she loves to guide students along their projects, especially since she sees innovative ideas each year. She hopes students will challenge themselves in doing this project so that they can gain confidence in their ability to overcome challenges through thinking creatively.

“Hopefully, [students] learn that it’s OK to ‘fail,’” Warmuth said. “It’s OK for things not to work and that’s a standard thing that happens. The whole design cycle of trying something, failing and trying again is a normal process and not something to be stressed about.”

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