Real-Life Decision Making -- Solution
You decide to install the expensive components.
You can't come up with a better solution to the problem, so you stick with the expensive leg parts that you have installed in your robot.
You attach the expensive leg part, and then realize that the arms will have to be redesigned because of the new positioning of the leg. The costs are skyrocketing.
"Most design problems have more than one solution. But usually when you have made a decision to go one way, you are committed to it and can't go back, because subsequent decisions are guided by that decision," says Skip Carter in California.
After a few more repairs, you get the robot to work without a hitch. But the company isn't happy. They think you could have found a cheaper way to redesign the machine.
"If an expensive solution is the only solution, you have to do your homework to be able to demonstrate that that is really the only way," says Carter.