As the capstone course of the product design sequence, ME216b serves many goals. First and foremost, it teaches students how to create product solutions that address the needs of real people. Each student identifies a group of individuals who have a specific need that can be addressed through product design. Throughout the quarter, the student works closely with these individuals to ensure that the final solution thoroughly remedies their need. The design process used to reach a meaningful solution constitutes the second goal of 216b and is considered by most graduates of the program to be at the heart of their design process. It calls for repeated cycling through three product development stages: ideation, prototyping and user testing. While these concepts should already be familiar, for them to be truly learned, they must be engaged in an extended hands-on experience. The assignments in 216b accomplish this explicitly. Students fabricate numerous prototypes and spend extensive time in the field testing them with users.