Dr. Nathan Usevitch and his team of students have entered NASA's BIG Idea Challenge competition! Learn about their extraordinary robot and principles of design from this dedicated group of engineers in this article.
All tagged Teamwork
Inspiration from History: Design in the Wilderness
I am often inspired by design triumphs in history, but there is one design that has particularly influenced me. It is a humble design: an odometer made from wood for covered wagons that was never put into mass production. Part of what makes it interesting is that it was done under harsh conditions with the goal to help other people and it would become a legendary part of an epic exodus and the settlement of the Western United States.
The Human Element of Technical Projects
It was my design versus Eric’s. I was confident though; the engineering analysis favored my design. Plus and I was the project lead, and the choice was mine. What could go wrong?
Groupthink in Design Thinking
There are a lot of reasons to seek a unanimous decision. We do it all the time to be or feel united, avoid hard feelings, increase buy-in, etc. But when the stakes are higher, and the decisions are more complicated and multi-dimensional, the last thing you want is full consensus early on in the decision-making process.
How to Ideate as a Team
Almost all product development is done in a team setting, owing largely to the strongly held belief that the collective thinking of a group outperforms that of “the lone genius."
The Ten Faces of Innovation
There is a time and a place for being a devil's advocate, but those moments can stifle innovation, hurt feelings, and cut off dialogue if not preformed in an acceptable way.