Question 1

* One 'Unit Learning Outcome (ULO)' of this unit SIT105 is (ULO1) 'Apply critical thinking techniques and IT discourse to identify and analyse problems from technical and non-technical perspectives.'

This assignment and the first quiz focuses on this ULO. The assessment of this assignment will indicate whether students can partially attain this unit learning outcome.

INSTRUCTIONS Read the entire assignment sheet. Answer all of the questions listed on the last page.

Place your name, ID and answers in your document. Please note that only MS Word (docx) files may be submitted. Submit your assignment document on CloudDeakin assignment 1 dropbox.

INTRODUCTION The purpose of this assignment is to put yourself in the role of an employee of a technology company, you have

received your first project and required to analyse the provided conversation taken from a meeting between you and a client to ultimately determine the requirements, budget and timeline. In order to do this though, you have to diagnose general, vague, ambiguous statements, decipher the claims, produce issues, along with

which problem solving techniques would be suitable.

YOUR FIRST CLIENT! You have recently landed a new job position as a software developer at Boston Dynamics, a ground breaking engineering and robotics company. They build advanced robots for a variety of purposes. The company works internally and with clients on projects and then builds a proof of concept, including developing algorithms to operate them, mechanics, engineering and testing. Many of Boston Dynamics clients come from very large

organizations and for use within commercial and military environments. You have been in the job for 2 months now and have assisted on various projects, you are now being given your

first client to be the lead developer on. This new client is the United States Army (http://www.army.mil/). You plan to meet with this new client along with your team consisting of project manager and account manager. You will be

responsible for helping determine from the meeting, what the client is wanting and how to bring their ideas into fruition from a technological standpoint. Check out the Boston Dynamics website at: http://www.bostondynamics.com/

Also check out this video of one of Boston Dynamics popular robots named 'Spot': https://youtu.be/M8YjvHYbZ9w. Spot is a four-legged robot designed for indoor and outdoor operation. SIT105 Critical Thinking and Problem Solving for IT

THE MEETING TRANSCRIPT The first meeting with the US Army (ARMY) representative occurred at 9am on Monday morning, you attended

along with your team (BD). The transcript containing the crucial elements are below (this is not the entire conversation): BD: Can you tell us a bit about your organization and the project you are wishing to get us to produce? Army: The United States Army is the largest branch of the United States Armed Forces, where we differ is that

most of our operations are land-based. We are the most powerful military organization on the planet, however our weakness is that we are wasting human resources where robots could take over. We are wishing to develop a new fully automated robot to guard our military bases both locally and abroad, 24 hours a day.

BD: What kinds of features do you envision that this robot will have? Army: It should have a diverse blend of defensive and offensive skills. It should guard our military bases all day

or all night. Utilizing techniques such as photo and voice recognition to determine who is authorized and who is not. It will be in control of a variety of weapons to utilize if enemies try to break through. It will have infrared and night vision abilities. We also wish it to be able to run very fast if need be and operate in hot or cold

environments. BD: Do you wish it to be in humanoid form or animal based form? We have doctors and movement experts as

part of our team, we can produce life like models. As you might have seen with our 'Spot' model. Army: Humanoid form will be best for our purpose, as it can be more easily disguised as a human. BD: What is the time frame you would like this completed by and what is your budget?

BD: We will come up with a cost figure after our meeting today and see if we can match that. Our production times usually always meet our expectations. We have a number of competitors who may do this cheaper, however I can't recommend them too highly. Army: Have you developed anything similar before or will this be the first of its kind?

BD: This is the first battle ready humanoid we have developed, but we have other solutions we have produced

which encompass a number of similar aspects. We can combine these various features to create something new

for your purpose. Army: How is the testing done to ensure it does what it is supposed to do? BD: We usually create a digital model of the robot first, testing it in a virtual world first and then proceed with

constructing the live version. With the live version we also have the ability to do testing, with our state of the art wind tunnels and field environments. BD: That is all we need for now we will produce a solid project proposal and get it to you as soon as possible. Army: Excellent I can't tell you how much I enjoyed our meeting. We will wait to hear back from you with a project proposal and timeline or budget.

SIT105 Critical Thinking and Problem Solving for IT CRITICAL THINKING TASK QUESTIONS! 1. From the meeting briefly discuss what features (technical or

2. How many claims can you find in the meeting transcript? List those

that you have found. 3. Create issues for all the claims you have discovered. 4. List 1 general, 1 vague and 1 ambiguous statement from the

meeting transcript. 5. List at least one question that you should have been asked to get a clearer view on the project?

6. What problem solving techniques will be useful for developing this project? Argue why this/these techniques would be useful, demonstrating your knowledge of the technique.

7. Visit the Boston Dynamics website mentioned above, can you find 1 claim and 1 vague statement that exists anywhere on their website? List them.