Defining goals
The Autonomous Mobility project is a very large project, spanning multiple engineering disciplines and potentially affecting a large number of stakeholders. By defining a clear objective development can be made lean and to focus on important issues. In my part of the project this was how the solution would interact with users, and how costly it would be to implement.
Research
After defining the goals of a project, it is important to identify the problem space as best as possible. Research was done using information found online, internal documentation or through contacting separate companies. Working on a project in a professional environment it is important that the information gathered is well documented and indexed, to allow new projects to be built off of them in the future by myself or another person at Ocado Technology.
Ideation
Once a set of goals is set, the best solution that can be achieved with the resources available must be identified.
This was done through sketches and “CAD toy models” which are models which demonstrate mechanisms but have no concern for manufacturability. This allowed me to quickly assess ideas by myself, as well as to be able to show the ideas to peers for review and to receive feedback.
CAD Modelling
All the CAD at Autonomous Mobility was completed using Onshape, an online CAD platform which facilitates collaborative design as designs are stored on the cloud. I had to design prototypes from components we had available at the workshop, and also accurately estimate how much detail I needed to create in the CAD to be able to start building.
Manufacturing
As my third year of university was fully online, this placement was a great opportunity to catch up on manufacturing experience. I had access to standard workshop equipment such as laser cutters and 3D printers, in addition to an extensive metalworking workshop. This had a manual and CNC mill, multiple lathes and a waterjet cutter. I had the opportunity to use all of these machines, and be able to learn from experts on how to best leverage these technologies and use them in my projects.
I had to learn the tolerances of each manufacturing method and 3D printer we had available, and select the most appropriate method of manufacture for each part, balancing work hours, machine hours, precision and accuracy.
Trials and Evaluation
After building several prototypes we had to assess their suitability based on the goals set at the beginning of the process. After individually testing if the mechanisms built operate as intended, a user-centric trial was designed and executed. This was a simulated environment where stakeholders would interact with the mechanism, this was recorded on video and their feedback was noted down. I proposed and co-developed a feedback form that was used to formalise and store the feedback, enabling quick documentation and ease of data access.
