Mechanical Design and Build: Part 2 - Development - 2025 entry

This module continues directly from where you left off in term 1. You have secured investment, now it’s time to deliver. You and your team have 11 weeks to develop your concept into a physical prototype, capable of being mass produced and delivered to the market. You will leverage all of your previous experience in analysis, design and prototype development to iterate your way towards a viable product that satisfies your initial objective.

In parallel with your product development, you and your team will need to develop a brand and customer awareness strategy. One of the most effective ways to build an audience is to ‘develop in public’. You are encouraged to publicly document your progress as part of a strategy to build an audience of potential customers (for mass market consumer products) and/or future investors (for larger scale enterprise products).

At the end of your 11 week cycle of rapid product development, there will be a product presentation and evaluation where you and your team will reflect on progress to date, the commercial viability of your product and what next steps would be taken if further funding was obtained.

Every student taking this module is encouraged not to just think about this as a university project but to view it as an opportunity to develop a solution to a real problem with commercial opportunity. This module aims to highlight the real world value you can deliver as an engineer.

• Developing a brand strategy and implementing a customer awareness campaign with the aim of continually building interest and anticipation of a product launch
• Technical development of your proposed solution
• Rapid iterative prototype development to refine your solution
• Exploring manufacturing techniques to determine what is the most efficient way to produce at scale
• User testing/customer feedback
• Final product presentation and evaluation addressing:

Group progress meetings

Reassessment will be to complete the design development and prototyping of individual student’s designs developed in ENG3008A, or of a design provided to students by the module lead when this is not possible. This will be worth 100% of the module and will be assessed by two coursework submissions, comprising a final build sign-off slide deck (70%), and a video presentation covering the marketing and sales pitch for the design (30%). For deferred candidates, the mark will be uncapped. For referred candidates, the mark will be capped at 40%.

Basic reading:

ELE:

Web based and Electronic Resources:

Other Resources:

Reading list for this module: