Individual Reflection

The ME 250 project was a long process. From the brainstorming to the last screw, the project was stressful. This class was very helpful in understanding how an idea evolves from a thought to a physical machine that completes a task. The biggest thing that I learned from ME 250 was how to effectively manage time and money. There were only a few short weeks in which we had to take our final concept and manufacture it from scratch.

There were a few difficulties that we encountered along the way. I think that the most frustrating part of the project was the inconsistencies throughout the semester. Not only were there multiple MAJOR rule changes, but there was also a lack of enforcement of these rules during the day of the final competition. These rule changes did not allow us to continue the design process on one specific design. We were continually starting from square one as we were repeatedly told that our idea no longer was legal. Another struggle that we had with the course was the fact that we were a three man team. I know this is not the fault of anyone of the course leaders, but the absence of a fourth member made the entire project very stressful on the three of us. We were responsible for picking up the work load and this often meant missing other lectures or spending extra hours in the shop. I personally also had trouble with the analysis of the manufacturing. I have been in a shop before, but had never been accountable for the selection of materials of the testing of those materials. This class taught me how to choose materials and machine those materials based on specific guidelines and regulations. I found it very useful in this course to learn about the engineering behind manufacturing and the physics which are used during the design and manufacturing process.

If I were to change something about this course I would recommend that the slotbots game not be so sophisticated. The game was very complicated with a lot of rules. These complications led to many teams not even being able to score one ball come competition day. Also I would be much more strict in enforcing the rules that are finalized. There were many robots in this semester that did not follow the rules on competition day and should have been "eliminated after the first round of competition" yet somehow they were able to continue and in one case even win a substantial amount of money. One last thing that I would consider when designing next years course is more manufacturing time. The learning of mechanical essentials is vital for the course, but I believe that many teams would have been able to design and build more effective robots with two more weeks of manufacturing time.

I am very proud of the work that my team submitted. If i were to find an area that we could improve on it would be practice. Had we been able to complete our robot in a shorter period of time we would have been able to practice driving it and would have been more effective in the competition. Overall I think ME 250 is a great course and could become an excellent course with minor adjustments.