7.0

Testing and Risk Assessment

The testing of the device proceeded in a step-wise fashion, beginning with preliminary tests of the springs and how they interacted with the other apparatus components. After preliminary testing achieved satisfactory results, the remaining tests proceeded as each step of construction was completed to ensure that everything operated together as intended. Unfortunately, a number of constraints were encountered during both the manufacture and testing of the device that limited the number of real-world chances for testing, with the additional concern that the device would become damaged during the testing process to the extent that it would not be available in time for submission.

Despite these obstacles, it was possible to develop a risk assessment concerning the need for additional tests vs. The potential for disaster, and a sufficient number of preliminary and progressive...

The severe specifications for the device design also resulted in some ideas that were clearly unworkable but which led the team to come up with some other approaches that had more possibilities. Although the team's device did not achieve the lifting height it wanted, the device satisfied all of the design specifications and had the added benefit of being an aesthetically pleasing design.