originality of MDP? (1 Viewer)

[qwerty7]

Hey I'm doing D+T HSC 2008 so I'm trying to brainstorm a few ideas of what to make. I've had a few but I always seem to start researching existing similar products and someone has always made something that is really quite similar to what I had in mind. And it's not as if my ideas were blantantly obvious concepts either. (Or am I just not creative enough?)

So I'm wondering, if you start doing your MDP and from the research that you have carried out on it, you think that your idea is original, if the marker is aware of an existing product that already satisfies this need, then can you be marked down or get a lower mark because of it? Has anyone else ever come across this problem?

Thanks.

 

[wogstaa]

I can tell you when I get my mark

 

[Toranaman]

I got a feeling that happened to a mate of mine. He design was to similar to something in the research BUT this only stopped him getting design tech nominated (in our view lol) he is still going to do really well.

HOWEVER i rang BOS and asked this question earlier in the year and they said you dont have to reinvent the wheel, think of how many years dt has been going and how many students have done it. It is hard to be really origional. But its not impossible. I tried to be origional and took a fat risk at doing something way out of my league however it payed off with constant hard work for 12months.

So my advice in doing something origional is to look into yourself first. Look at things you love to do ie hobbies, sport, ect and then from there look at something that could be improved and then see if you can come up with a solution, TAKE RISKS they pay off!!!!

Remember innovation can be as much about something new as it can be altering something to improve it. You can take something and make it better.

If all else fails look at the wider community and problems within it. But this is a longshot and generally a much harder area to work in because its not your personnel interest area where you have confidence in your knowledge and skills already.

Anyway Good LUCK you will need it if you are serious about doing something origional.

 

[Thunderbolt]

Adding onto what Toranaman said:
Your major design project doesn't need to be something completely radical and completely unheard of.

A friend of mine adapted those drink can cooler thingys to fit inside a 5.25" inch drive bay of a computer and to also run from the computer's power supply. The only new thing about it was that it fit inside a computer case. Another student built a mailbox shaped like a horse (and about the size of one) with a 44 gallon fuel drum. Another made a dog kennel (which was extremely heavy too).

My idea was something a little more radical than that (and probably more so than most, at least in Australia). So you understand what it is that I built, I'll direct you to this image.
If your still at a loss to identify what it is: it's an air raid siren. Stop laughing.

Civil defence systems (including air raid sirens) are a genuine interest of mine and because of this interest (since I was two probably), I have a wealth of knowledge about these devices.
Just by looking at that image I can tell you that it's a Federal Signal Thunderbolt 1003 dual tone siren, rated at 125dB at 30m (decibels, which is very loud; there are louder ones still) and either a Series A or C (depending on how big the blower is, Series C Thunderbolts have a smaller, more powerful blower).

Ok, now that I have confirmed my insanity to you all: again, because of this interest I was able to recognise flaws in current systems and I was able to formulate solutions as a part of my major design project by designing and (model) building a new air raid siren. That's a very old CAD conception that I whipped up. The current design is much bigger, probably twice as powerful and looks nothing like this one.

Onto my point (and not rave on about what a beast of a machine I built. )

Look into your genuine interests. You'll be able to find lots of ideas and generate solutions from those ideas; and because it involves an interest of yours; you'll be less likely to loose interest in it. Be careful, you can become so attached to it; you'll start neglecting other subjects, like I did. :rofl:

 

[Toranaman]

Adding to what Thunderbolt said: LOL

Try to combine interests. When thinking of solutions look to other interest areas for answers. Use knowledge from a wide range of areas.

I totally agree about the final point of neglecting other subjects. For me due to the size of what i made CAD played a big part. So big a part infact i spent a crap load of time creating detailed drawings. Which in fact was probably stupid becuase they really couldnt see the detail i did in the draws ie treading bolts. But it was fun so i did it lol. I spent nearly 90hours on it. Which is a fair amount. So anyway try not to neglect other subjects. Except for the 2 weeks leading to hand in they are only for DT!

 

[qwerty7]

Thanks everyone! All of your advice has been really helpful. I think i'm headed in the right direction now :]

 

[KneeNAR]

^ Well I'm not.

I'm having difficulty picking something. Everyone has a nasty habit of discouraging what I can or can't do >:


PS: Thunderbolt, I like what that friend of yours did xD