06/26 Verge Project Update

Verge Project: Snowmobile Floatation Device

During our meeting today we all came back to the group with any ideas or suggestions that we had based on our research done by each member.  We talked about using the same type of inflatable boat that is used in aircrafts.  We talked about the rubber material that it is made out of and that it would be extremely durable.  This might be an option since it would hopefully prevent any popping because of the spikes on the snowmobile unit. We talked about using the same chemical of nitrogen gas which is used in vehicle air bags.  We brought up the fact of using inflatable tubes instead of a boat.  Discussion took place on the activation method of the unit.  We thought about using a sensor but couldn't come to any exact answers on if this would be the best possibility.  We thought of having the sensor activate if it was emerged in water but then we thought it might activate in times when there was a lot of slush and this might then turn into a safety hazard.  We tossed around the idea of having a switch on the unit but need to do some addition research.  We talked about some of the safety concerns of our project.  We wanted to make sure it deployed fast enough for the snowmobile and driver to be saved.  We wanted to make sure the deployment was smooth enough so that the driver was not injured.  Location also came up about the positioning of the device within the unit.  As a group we need to start to narrow our gaps down to determine the location of the device within the unit itself.  We have decided to continue our research as a group.

Nicole

06/19 Verge Project Update

Verge Project: Snowmobile Floatation Device

During our meeting today we decided on what two products to combine.  As a group we decided to consider combining a snowmobile with a blow up air bag system similar to what is used in a vehicle.  The reason for this innovation is to save lifes when people are crossing ice that is open or has cracks in it when snowmobiling. The air bag unit would deploy once the snowmobile would hit a specific point when sinking into the water.  This would allow the snowmobile not to sink and not put the driver and/or passenger at risk of drowning or freezing because of being emerged into the water. 

We started our brainstorming session today and came up with a mind map of some of our ideas.  Below is a picture of our mind map that our group came up with to start us going on this innovation process. 

After our brainstorming session we took some of the main points from our mind map and were trying to measure the gaps to determine what our challenges were going to be.  As a group we realized that the location of the device was going to be a challenge.  We also felt that our activation of the device would be another one of our challenges.  As a group we decided that our research needs to begin at this point.  We need to start looking at what type of device is going to work for us.  We need to look at the snowmobile itself to determine locations for the inflatable device to be located.  We need to determine our activation method for the device to deploy.  

Nicole

06/12 Verge Project Update

Team members: Nicole, Kelly, Alex, Trevor and Aubrie

Verge Project: Snowmobile Floatation Device

Our team meet for the first time to discuss the project.  We discussed the 5 phases that are used to create an innovative product.  We talked about how we will need to visualize our ideas with brainstorming techniques to create a mind map of our project outline.  We talked about how we were going to measure the gaps, with what needs to be done and the challenges that we are going to face in this project.  We talked about strategizing our approaches, which would be exploring, testing and finding out key things that are going to be important to complete our final innovation. We reviewed that we need to projectize the details to create the best model and how we are going to make our final innovation.  We also discussed that we will need to orchestrate the results and present our best device after our phases have been complete.

As a group we decided to think about some ideas of combing products to come up with a new innovation.  The assignment for each individual is to try to think of any ideas prior to our next group session.
Nicole