Week 5

During last week's lab, group members had the opportunity to work with the K'nex pieces in order to gain a feel for the various design possibilities.  They were also asked to begin creating drawings of their proposed designs using AutoCAD, Google Draw, or by hand.  It was surprising to learn the limitations of the K'nex only having 45 degree angles, but group members were able to work around this constraint to create viable designs. 

When designing bridges using the West Point Bridge Design (WPBD) software, users have a lot of flexibility in terms of angles and connections.  With the K'nex pieces there are far fewer of these options.  Angles aside, the basic designs that can be created using each method are very similar most of the time.  The basic shape is the same with triangular trusses and the occasional X design.  The WPBD allows users to create a slightly more visually appealing design.  Mainly all of the differences can be somehow drawn back to the lack of options in terms of angles with K'nex pieces. 

In the coming week, progress with the proposed designed will be made by creating actual models from the K'nex pieces.  Hopefully the group members did not all create identical designs and there will be some sort of variety when it comes time to build a prototype in class.