Project Re-cap

The loftiness of goals in the initial weeks was incredibly hard to give up. Our project had begun at a project about "evil green" in which cigarettes and thermal electrics would unite to provide power. We saw this as noble enough simply because we were eliminating waste as well as providing energy. I still believe this is a good idea for a "smart surface", however it had no real place in the course at hand and probably would not go over well inside a gallery. I think the issue that really overcame our group was that there was never an idea on the table after this that any of us could get excited about. We tried and tried to come up with something new and exciting, all without making anything. Thinking by making is a tried and true method, and I continue to wonder why this did not happen any earlier. I feel that there were also quite a few issues in trying to please professors, all of whom seemed to want different things. Finding an idea that would fly with all professors seemed an impossible task, and I don't believe it was ever reconciled.

Editing: I think editing was something that our group had to do nearly every meeting, and I think that this was in large part the reason why our group had a successfully moving surface. Our lofty goals were continuously edited down until we reached something that we didn't just think, but rather knew that we could accomplish. I think that this method of editing is quite a contrast to the methods of other groups including the Simon robot, who seemed to really let editing happen by chance of mechanics not working out. However, I believe that their project did a much better job than ours of allowing group members to test out different territories, Mark learned to TIG weld for example. I think that this cannot be said about our group, as people somewhat stuck to respective disciplines during the entirety of the project.

Motivation came back to our team in the end when we began to see results. The project is full of small steps, and unfortunately we left most of these small steps until the last two weeks, and when people began to see the small steps materializing everyone seemed much more aboard the project than ever. I have to admit the idea was weak and I resisted it pretty much the entire time-I disliked the intention and really tried to deviate the project into other directions without much result. In terms of intention I thought the project was not a complete success, but in terms of getting a team together making a surface that could move and do something functional, as well as be a aesthetically pleasing thing, I believe it was a complete success.