Staquet Weekly Blog - Week 10

Last week in lab we got the chance to do the official test of our 36" K'Nex bridge.  Seeing as our group had full intentions of winning the competition, I was disappointed that the test results landed us in 3rd place.  During testing our bridge was able to hold 35 pounds but in the competition only made it up to 29.8 pounds before failing.  This was unfortunate but did however make our failure prediction weight of 30 pounds the closest prediction to actual weight held, therefore getting the group an extra credit point.  This week we plan to create the final report blog and submit it as our final assignment.

This term I learned a lot about not only bridge design, but all of the basic things necessary to make the design process possible.  I've gotten the chance to learn hands on about all the the course goals and see how useful each one truly is.  In general, the goals are a system of trial and error that are broken down into the proper things that go with it such as teamwork, planning, documenting, designing, and analyzing.  The group aspect made teamwork a necessity and planning was a must when making sure we were all ready for the upcoming deadlines.  Documentation was a must in terms of blogging, and helped to keep me on top of what was going on with the class.  I learned the design process is much more extensive than most people think and that it requires thinking about every last requirement and constraint involved with the build.  The analyzation of failures and overall bridge design is extremely important; it tells you which parts of the bridge need to be looked over and perhaps redesigned.  The least beneficial portion of this term had to have been the overuse of blogs and the constant comparison of the K'Nex bridge and a real bridge.  They are two entirely different forms of bridges that, in my opinion, should not even be compared when talking about the design and build process.  The most beneficial part of the class for me was actually building the bridges and getting to test them.  The sense of competition made it interesting, and it also gave me a chance to actually see the bridge fail.  Overall I enjoyed the course, but I really hated the blog, especially the whole double submission of assignments that I have already expressed my feelings toward.