Solution Manual for Introduction to Mechatronic Design Do Not Circulate
Chapter 30 Project Planning and Management
30.1) What is the focus of the systems engineering approach to structuring a project? What kinds of people are
essential when using this methodology?
30.2) What is the focus of the concurrent design approach to structuring a project? What kinds of people are
essential when using this methodology?
30.3) Are the project management, systems engineering, and concurrent design approaches mutually exclusive
(i.e., if you use one of these approaches, are you precluded from using others)? Explain.
30.4) Using a systems engineering approach, enumerate at least 20 subsystems for the Ferrari 599 shown in
Figure 30.8.
Figure 30.8: A Ferrari 599.
30.5) You are tasked with designing the successor to the Ferrari 599 (Figure 30.8), and wish to incorporate as
much input from different domain experts as possible. Name a minimum of 10 types of experts will you
include on your team?
There are a great many ways to view this question, and answers will vary widely. As a starting point, we
suggest the following experts:
Stamped steel component designers & manufacturing technicians
Carbon fiber component designers & manufacturing technicians
30.6) 6) Create a Gantt chart that reflects the syllabus for a course you are currently taking. Include
interdependencies, start and end dates for all assignments, due dates and milestones.
30.7) Create draft requirements for a laptop computer targeting the market segment of college students enrolled
in an engineering program.
30.8) Which phase of the following products’ life cycles would you anticipate would cost the most for the
producer? Support each answer with a brief explanation.
a) Disposable surgical tool
b) Automobile
c) Mars rover
d) Communications satellite
e) Ream of paper
f) Desktop personal computer
Responses may vary, and as long as they are reasonably well supported, should be acceptable.
a) Production
Producing, testing and packaging the surgical tool is likely to be more expensive than the analysis,
expensive phase.
d) Operation
30.9) You are tasked with leading the team that will design the next version of the Apple iPod.
a) Create draft requirements for the device.
b) Using a systems engineering approach, decompose the iPod into subsystems.
c) Identify as many of the product’s lifecycle stages as you can think of.
d) Identify the types of experts whose input will help minimize the expense of each of the iPod’s lifecycle
stages.
Responses to these questions will vary widely. A reasonable amount of detail should be included,
indicating that a reasonable effort went in to answering the questions. For each of the parts of the question,
we provide the following suggestions:
a) The requirements are truly requirements, as defined in the chapter.
30.10) You are assigned a class project in which you are to design a robot that putts 10 golf balls, 1 at a time, into
one of 3 targets on a 4 ft. × 8 ft. playing field. There is a 2 in. drop-off at the boundaries of the playing
field, and your robot must stay on the playing field for the duration of the game. Each target is active for
10 seconds, after which time a new, randomly selected target becomes active. The active target is
identified by a beacon that modules an infrared (IR) light at a frequency of 2 kHz with a 50% duty cycle.
The wavelength of light emitted is easily sensed with an IR phototransistor. Each round of the game lasts
for 2 minutes. The robot that successfully putts the most golf balls into active targets wins. Each design
team will be comprised of 4 students, and you will have 2 weeks to complete your design.
a) Create a list of the requirements for a robot that can successfully compete in this putting game.
b) Identify areas where the project specifications are vague.
c) Identify loopholes in the project specifications.
d) Create a Gantt chart describing how your team will go about completing the project.
e) Identify the subsystems required by your robot.
f) Create a morphologic chart with as many candidate designs as possible for each of the subsystems
identified in e., above.
a) Carry 10 golf balls
Shoot 1 golf ball at a time
30.11) For your mobile phone, answer the questions below. If you do not own a cell phone, borrow one and
explore its behavior to answer this question.
a) List the functions that your phone is able to perform.
b) From the list you generated to answer part a), identify the set of functions that you consider to
comprise the base level of functionality. What fraction of the phone’s total function is essential to
you?
30.12) Create a Gantt chart that describes your career goals for the next 15 years. Be sure to include important
milestones.