Project 1

The Remote Controlled Lock

Background
Upper management at Company Lock has put your team in charge of developing a
concept for a new padlock in their long standing history of successful similar products.
Recently, competitors have made advancements in remote controlled locking
mechanisms for homes controlled by cell phones. Company Lock is envisioning a new
line of padlocks that are able to control by a cellular app in the event you share secured
items and you need to allow another access. Padlocks made by Company Lock come in
all shapes, sizes, locking mechanisms, and security levels so they are open to
suggestions. Your team is to develop new concept prototype design that, if selected by
Company Locks Board of Directors will be put into further engineering refinement and
testing for eventual production.
Company Lock Desires in the Project
Potential ability to scale the idea
Sell-ability of the product to the masses
Security to uphold its reputation
Ease of use with limited instructions
Must be remote controlled as well as key control
Description of the Design Task
Your task is to analyze the current offerings in the market and design this novel product
that meets the Company Locks requirements. This remote lock must meet the needs of
the customer better than any other offering on the market.
Your design activities will include following steps:
1. Analysis of customer needs,
2. External search,
a. Literature search,
b. Patent search,
c. Benchmarking,
d. Product dissection (physical/virtual/literature)
3. Revising the design statement,
4. Internal search for concept generation,
5. Concept selection,
6. Virtual Prototyping,
a. Small Scale virtual prototype of selected concepts (2),
b. Participation in design review,



7. Detail Design,
a. Development of detailed drawings
b. Development of a detailed Solidworks model
c. A pictorial representation of the app interface to scale of a standardized
mobile phone (not programmed).
The final product for Company Locks Board of Directors will be a Presentation and a
Technical Report that details the above steps as well as the final results. Company Locks
Board of Directors will evaluate each teams produced preliminary designers where they
will be ranked and compared. The following criteria will be used:
1. The quality of the security of the remote lock
2. The adaptability of the remote lock to different environments
3. The interface usability by consumers.
4. The novelty of the remote lock
5. The cost of the remote lock
6. The aesthetics of the remote lock
i. Would someone buy this?
ii. Is the design ergonomically appropriate for the target audience?
The design that best meets these criteria will move forward into production (aka get the
best grade).