For this reverse engineering project we worked in groups to try and take an object that one of us had previously taken apart, and determine what we would do to make improvements. Once we had determined what we would improve you had to research, write out, and present how you would go about the improvements.

My group decided to use the speaker I had broken down in our previous project Break It Apart! After reviewing how it currently functions we decided that if we were to reverse engineer the speaker we would want to make it bluetooth compatible. The speaker originally functioned solely with an aux cord and we had discussed that it is much more user freindly and apropriate for the time, if the person in charge of the music had the device moblie with them.

We went about completing this project by first reseaching what we would need to make the speaker bluetooth and had found a device made for adapting things to bluetooth. We decided our course of action would be to use the motherboard from that device and add it into our own. We all colaborated on writting up the report, focusing on different sections and different aspects needed. We also started to make are presentation alongside doing the report, so as we added something to the report, similar info was put onto our slide presentation so we knew everything was accounted for.

We ended up with a seven page report and a 20 slide report. Both included blueprints and pictures of our original device. We talked about how we would go about connecting the motherboard of the bluetooth receiver to the original speaker. We broke down and analysed the materials, their use, how they are made, etc. We reported all our findings to the class and teacher, using our presentation slides and about 5 minutes of their time. Finally, we finished up the project by making WOW slides, where each person in the group made one slide summarizing the project.

• reverse engineering- a strategy used to find answers to questions about an existing product that is used in the design of another product.

Steps of reverse engineering:

1. identify the purpose 2. develop a hypothesis

3. disassemble 4. analyze the elements

5. prepared the report 6. redesign

• gantt chart- a chart in which a series of horizontal lines shows the amount of work done or production completed in certain periods of time in relation to the amount planned for those periods.

• material analysis- what materials are used and what their properties are.

• structural analysis- how the different parts are connected together.

• functional analysis- what the function of the different parts are, how they work together, and what the underlying scientific principles are behind their functioning.

• manufacturing analysis- how the product was made from raw materials into finished goods.

• conceptual sketch- this sketch must have the elements and relationships involved in a problem and it has to show functional connections among the various parts.

• engineer drawing- a 3 dimensional object that is drawn on paper or a computer screen. The 5 common types of engineering drawings are isometric, axonometric, oblique, perspective, and orthographic.

• Types of Engineer Drawings:

  1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. 1. isometric drawing- a sketch where the 3 axes of the drawing form 120 degree angles with each other. Circles appear as ellipses in isometric drawings.

                       2. perspective drawing- where objects appear the way the human eye would see them. Parallel lines converge to a single point at the horizon.

                       3. orthographic drawing- where the object appears to be inside a "glass box" with each face projected onto a side of the box.

Overall I was very please with how our project turned out, and how we presented to the class. Throughout this project I feel like I was a really good critical thinker. When breaking down the speaker I really had to use my observations to determine how things worked. I then also had to figure out how I could connect the two circuit boards and make one functioning bluetooth speaker. I had to look at the motherboards and determine what each thing did, and if we connected the two how they would work together. I also think I was a very good communicator, because this was a team effort. When we were brainstorming what improvement we would like to make to our speaker we really excelled at all giving ideas, asking thoughtful questions about whether something could work or not, and coming to a consensus. We also continued the communication when determined who would cover what parts of the report, sharing the information we learned when reseaching, and while putting our presentation together.

However there is always room for improvement and in this project, time management is one of those skills that I struggled with. I was incharge of all the blueprinting for this project, and I would often push them off while trying to figure out specific details, or distracted myself with the report. When I easily could have set aside time to just sit down and draw them. My group and I also could have been better at planning. Although we did make a gantt chart at the begginging of this process we never revisited it. we rarely updated it when due dates changed, and didn't refer to it to check in on a daily basis. All things I will try to do in the next project, because it could have helped with my time management during this project..