Staying Strong by Monica Martinez

Hey guys! To give you an update on what has been done so far on our breast pump adventure, I want to start up with the ordering process. As we further develop our plan and the design of our breast pump we are pushed to think of specific measurements of each material that we will need in order for the product to be assembled properly. In the previous week we had realized that all of our design process did not include how the actual motor would look like or the mechanics of its function. That issue came to the surface when trying to find a suction motor at a cheap price. Finding nothing, we resorted to use the aquarium fish pump cleaner to investigate its function.

After my teammates expertise in engineering we figured out a way to program the fish tank cleaner, which blew air out, into one that suctioned air. The milk with thin be stored inside the plastic container shown in the picture.

I had not realized how communication was such a critical aspect of team work until today in class one of my teammates did a computerized design of a diagram that I drew incorrectly. She thought that it was a fan when it was actually the inside of the breast pump shield. One would expect team communication in projects to be common sense, but it finally hit me how mistakes are created for not including everybody in the team into discussed ideas. I think that is one of the things I need to improve as a leader of a group. Another thing that I feel I can improve is in making sure every team member is aware of the tasks being given to each other. There was a different issue being brought up at the beginning of the week on who was supposed to make the outline of the presentation, thus two power points were created. In general this had been a crazy week and I believe our group is doing a good job at ending strong.

A great relief came to all of us to know that our prototypes did not have to be perfect and functioning correctly as long as we had a clear idea on how the design was going to end up looking like. With a budget of $81 and not attaining the materials necessary to create the design, a working prototype can be seen as a far reach. My only hope is that all of our group members will complete their task before next class in order to finally start wrapping this project together. Well thats is all for now! Hope you enjoy our finished prototype and design soon to be completed.