Engineering Ethics

What are Ethics?

Ethics are a code by which everyone lives by, engineer or not. They are the driving force behind making the decision that society views as "right". I put quotations around right because ethics are very often hotly debated and sometimes there can be no clear answer to the situation. You make minor ethical decisions everyday whether you realize it or not. Lying and cheating are good examples of ethics, and the right decisions are always obvious here. Subjects such as abortion on the other hand, have no clear answer. As you can see, ethics play a major role in life.

Ethics in Engineering

Ethics play a major role in engineering. Very often, engineers design things that impact people's lives. Whether it be a building, a bridge, a car, an airplane, or something else, lives are at stake. For this reason alone, ethics are very important for engineers. In this post, I will explain one ethical situation and provide my opinion on the right ethical decision.

Let's say that you are an engineer and you have a client that wants a product designed and he/she has a very specific set of requirements for you. Following the client's requirements, you design the product and to the best of your knowledge, made it as safe as possible. When you submit your design to the client, the client rejects it because it is too expensive and he/she wants you to make the design simpler. You believe that if you make the design simpler, it will become a safety hazard. Do you follow the wishes of the client and make it simpler, or do you stick to your guns and keep the same design? Lets start by weighing each option and the potential consequences of each decision.

If you decide to make the design simpler, you will most likely gain a happy client that will tell other people and companies about you. This is good for you because word of mouth advertising is some of the best advertising you can get and your business will succeed. Initially this is good, because you will make money. But in doing so, you created a product that you think has the potential to fail. You may not sleep at night after making this decision and you pray that nothing goes wrong. But what if something does go wrong? Things like this have happened and the end results for the engineering firm are grim. If people are hurt when the product fails, you will have legal action taken against you. You may lose your engineering license. Your company will be forever known as the company that caused the accident. Not to mention the personal guilt you would feel for causing such a tragedy. In the end, the bad consequences outweigh the good consequences.

If you decide to stick to your guns and keep the design original, you may lose the job and the client forever. The client may seek out another engineering firm to complete their product. You may experience a little bad word of mouth by the client because you were too expensive for them. Initially, this looks like a worse decision than the first one. However, these effects are not as bad as they seem. Many companies receive bad advertising and are still in business. You would succeed as an engineer and you would never have to worry about making a bad product. You would be able to sleep easy at night and you would never carry any guilt. You would retain your engineering license and would be able to continue on as a company. This is the clear choice in this ethical issue because you have the potential to harm no one.

A Good, Bad Example

An example of the first choice gone wrong is the Hyatt Regency Hotel tragedy that occurred in Kansas City, Missouri in 1981. A walkway collapsed and killed 114 people and injured another 200. It was caused by a design change that was influenced by time and money. The original design called for two walkways, one directly above the other, to be hung from the ceiling by a single rod. The design was considered impractical by the builders, so a substitute was issued via phone (Mungers). The substitute design called for a double rod system, which upon closer examination, doubled the load that was applied to the upper supporting rod. The rod could simply not withstand the amount of weight that was on it the night it collapsed. After an investigation and trial, the engineers who signed off on the design lost their licenses and the firm was banned from practicing engineering ever again. These are hefty consequences that could have been avoided.

References

Mungers, Paul. "The Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse." A Question of Ethics. American Society of Civil Engineers, n.d. Web. 19 Nov. 2013.

Self-Driving Cars Analysis

I recently read an article on the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) website that was called Self-Driving Cars Speed Ahead. The article was about developing technology that allows cars to drive by themselves without any human interaction. The article is very credible because it is published by a very well distinguished association of mechanical engineers. The ASME has been around since 1880 and has been devoted to the betterment of engineering ever since. Because of these reasons, I believe this article to be very credible.

Upon reading the first few lines, I picked up on a very excited tone. The author seems very optimistic about the new technology. You can see the excitement in this sentence: "Already the Stanford Audi has performed on the Utah Salt Flats, climbed Pikes Peak and raced to 120 mph on California’s Thunderhill Raceway, finishing the twisting 3-mile road course in under two and a half minutes." Words like raced and twisted are very descriptive words that paint a picture in your head of what the car is doing. This implies an exciting tone because the author wants the reader to experience the thrill of the self-driving car. The way the article is written really makes the reader optimistic about the future of self-driving cars.

The author makes some very logical connections. He says that self-driving cars may not be too far out in the future. He makes this conclusion by telling the reader about several companies and universities that are researching a way to make cars autonomous. He also says that there is a hesitation to making cars 100% autonomous because of reliability issues with computers. He says that there is a push to make the computer override-able by humans in case of a malfunction. He also states that fully autonomous cars are only legal in three states thus-far, indicating that there is still many hoops to jump through with the law. The author ends his article by saying that the ultimate goal of the autonomous car is to make driving safer, which ties back to my first blog where I say that safety is the number one concern of engineers.

Impact on Us

The impact that this new technology will hopefully be safer transportation. That means you will not have to worry about bad drivers out there causing wrecks. Of course, even when the technology becomes available to the general public, it will take a long time to get people transitioned into owning an autonomous car. But in the long run, there will be less worry about drunk driving, texting while driving, and other things that impair a drivers' ability. This technology will have a positive impact and it is very interesting. I for one can't wait to see where this goes in the next ten years or so. By then, hopefully there will be autonomous cars everywhere, keeping the roads safer.

References

Kosowatz, John. "Self-Driving Cars Speed Ahead."SelfDriving Cars Speed Ahead. ASME, Sept. 2013. Web. 14 Nov. 2013.

Tesla Motors: The Car Company that Could

Ever heard of Tesla Motors? I hadn't until recently. Tesla Motors is an automotive manufacturing company, based in the U.S. of A, that deals solely in the production of electric vehicles. Oh no, not another talk about global warming and those dumb electric cars, you might think. Well think again because Tesla Motors has been leading the way in electric vehicles and many automobile companies are following suit. General Motors, Ford, and Nissan are just a few examples. Electric cars may be the future of the transportation industry.

The Tesla Model S is the worlds first 100% electric luxury sedan. It is a very technologically advanced car that gives hope to the future of electric cars. Many people look down on electric cars and think that they are useless. The Tesla Model S sports a battery that can last up to 300 miles driving at a constant 55 miles per hour, and can be recharged every night in your own garage. What about your electric bill you might ask. Well on their website, they answer all sorts of questions about the advantages of going electric. They say that if you drive 10,000 miles per year, you will only add $311 to your electric with an average cost of $0.11 per kilowatt hour. That is savings beyond belief. For many gasoline cars, $311 will get you 6-8 tanks, which might last you two months worth of driving. When all is said and done, the gas powered car will cost you approximately 6 times more money in re-fuelling.

The Model S is not only a wise choice for a vehicle in the sense of fuel, it is also good for the environment. There are zero emissions that are left behind. But you might say that the power needed to charge the car requires the burning of carbon-based products. This is true, but there are other ways to produce electricity. Hydroelectric, nuclear, and solar are all alternatives to producing electricity. Plus, these alternatives to carbon-based power production are on the rise. So, mile per mile, the electric car puts less greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere.

If the reasons above alone are not enough to sell you on the Model S and the idea of electric cars, maybe the looks and features of the car will be. The Model S is a very sleek and good looking car. When many people think of an electric car, a tiny little smart car is what they see. The Model S is definitely not as small as a smart car. It even looks like a normal sedan and is very stylish, in my opinion. The car doesn't lack in the performance category either. The standard Model S with the 85 kWh battery can do 0-60 mph in 5.4 seconds. The performance model can do it in 4.2 seconds. If you compare to gas cars, these numbers are pretty impressive. These are only a couple of features in a long list. Hopefully by now, you are intrigued enough to learn more about electric cars and the benefits they provide. I suggest you check out Tesla Motors' website if you want to learn more about their company, or the products that they offer.

Overview

Who are we?

Mechanical Engineering is a very broad category of engineering. Probably the first thing that comes to mind when you hear mechanical engineering is automotive engineering. In fact, this category of mechanical engineering is just the tip of the iceberg. Mechanical engineers can be involved in aerospace engineering, thermal engineering, material science, and other smaller categories.

What do we do?

Automotive engineers design the systems and equipment that propel vehicles. This includes the engine, braking system, suspension, frame, interior, exterior, and many other things associated with vehicle design. Aerospace engineers design air and space vehicles and also handle the physics involved with air and space travel. Thermal engineering involves heating and cooling of equipment and enclosed environments. A common example of a thermal engineer is a person who designs HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) systems in buildings. Material science involves the study of materials such as metals, ceramics, plastics, and composites. This branch of mechanical engineering is important when it comes to making strong and light materials which are very important to the success of other branches, i.e. aerospace engineering. Strong and light materials are required for speed and efficiency in an aircraft.

Why do we do what we do?

The single most common value that all engineers share is safety. Products can never be designed to be too safe because lives can be at stake. Take for example your daily driver car. If it is only designed to withstand forces that the engineer expects it to see, it could very well fail if it experiences forces beyond what is expected. That is why there is a term called a factor of safety that is used when designing everything from a bookshelf to a spacecraft. If the factor of safety is not selected high enough, the product could fail under normal operating conditions, which is the worst nightmare for any engineer. Engineers have an ethical duty to design products that will perform in the safest way possible.