We were initially introduced to the engineering design as a nine week course. Students learned about Engineers, and the different types of Engineering and the importance of math and science for all types of Engineering Jobs. We then learned about and practiced Isometric sketching which lead us into Design engineers and the design process. Before beginning our project, the class was taught how to use Solidworks a cadding system. I enjoyed this lesson for having experience in the software from my robotics teams allowed me to help teach my peers. This project was mainly focused on the reverse engineering of an automoblox toy car through Solidworks. We had to create a subassembly for each part of an automoblox car, in order to create a final assembly. Small groups of two and three students were assigned, each group is responsible for modeling the parts of the car together, and creating an assembly file of the car.

 

Above is a picture of my final assembly in Solidworks and each subassembly apart of it. These pictures show some of the internal pieces and demonstrate the depth of detail we took into count when creating each part. This was a group assignment and that was my biggest challenge at first. Already being skilled and interested in this software was great for being able to do my share of the work fast and in beautiful quality. However I had a partner who wasn’t knowledgeable with Solidworks and taking measurements with calipers, etc. Yet she tried and put in a lot of effort to understand Cadding and the concept of engineering. She also asked a lot of questions in the process. Which that was where my flaws were revealed. I discovered I had a bad habit of when she questioned I took it from her and fixed it myself and I discovered over time that the same question was questioned multiple times because she still never got the answer.

 

I overcame that challenge or habit. I then begun to explain what I was doing to fix it while showing her how to do it. Still aware that I was still doing it for her I started to physically do it less and less. I then reached a point where I wasn’t doing anything at all but explaining to her the process she had to take while she did it by herself. By the end of the project she had no questions about the software and I learned how to teach another individual by letting them do it themselves. Cadding opens amazing opportunities in the Engineering world. With that system not only can we create a virtual reality that we can put through multiple scenarios, but we can also discover if what we envision to create will even work. I know I want to be an Engineer of some sort. Knowing this system can only benefit me into reaching that dream.

 

The DRSS quality I grew in was Collaboration. Collaboration is being able to work efficiently with other individuals to reach a common goal and I used this when working with my partner to use reverse engineering to create a virtual clone of a piece of reality. Not only was it used to use the cadding software but also was  a key factor to measuring, recording, and sketching because we both had to be aware of progress we were making and how we can use those materials to contribute to a final product made up of both of our work.