Principles of Engineering

CUNY EDU 4480 Fall 2020

Reflection 01 (Week 02)

September 14th, 2020

This week in Principle of engineering we explore questions related to the engineering design. Thinking deeply about what is an engineer? what do engineers do? And what are the features that involve the engineering field?

Through the reflection about our first class, I got the conclusion of the Principle of engineering is one of those classes that provoke us to question fields of knowledge and how they relate, pointing out the fact of they do not have to work disassociated from each other. The principle of engineering class proposes the consideration of thinking how and why different or similar fields of knowledge get connected. For example, at some moment in life, we had studied science, technology, and some other classes that related to a building or creating process, but rarely we have thought about the knowledge that is accessed to build or propose some project ideas. How many fields of knowledge are you accessing to design a chair, a desk, a pillow, a plastic cup, or a glass cup? Not only technical knowledge but also the social aspects that embrace this discussion around the engineering design process. All these different knowledge make this class multidisciplinary, accepting, and respecting different social and technical aspects to produce some matter that attending the social need and considering the environment and multiple outlooks.

The presentation of Engineering in the History was particularly very joyful, mapping the trajectory of the engineering from the discovery of the fire 6000 BC, bring us to the Copper Age, and approaching the different metal melting points and showing how it appears in the history timeline, reflecting no just on the built artifacts but on the development of the knowledge in its time in history.

Thus, I can conclude that this class was a preparation for students to understand and realize the relationship between the fields of knowledge, and to proceed with this discipline it will be necessary to open up to the plurality of knowledge.

Reflection 02 (Week 03)

September 21th, 2020

Today, the topic was physical fabrication - tools, and machines. We discussed safety procedures in the different types of laboratories and also, we explore the manipulation of wood as a feedstock in the engineering process.

We might think it is not important or kind of trivial to bring this subject in class. however we have to consider that for us as an adult and teachers want to be most of this knowledge about safety procedures we learned watching our parent or relatives doing some work and also repeating the same process many times, and in some cases, we learn it cutting or scratching a finger here or there, but if we are proposing to be a teacher to work primarily with children and teenagers we have to be aware that probably your students have no knowledge of how to manage those tools, and the combination of the lake of experience and the excitement on this hand-on class can be extremely dangerous.

It can seem simple to bring something so obvious to the class discussion, but something so simple can prevent many incidents in the classroom, especially when you have to teach and watch many students around the machines that can harm them.

Approaching the learning developed we saw how a simple project in the classroom can require, refine, and bring together many skills. In the giving example, the instructor assists a child to build a wood box. Thinking about the process of building this wood box we can identify many skills that were accessed during this process. First, they have to reflect and be self-aware about the safety process, stay safe, and keep others around safe as well. Second, they planned the project to learn about the woods as a material and the technique and equipment necessary to do the work. Third, they turned out to explore their creativity and the ability to be applied.

Have you thought about how I small task like a wood box would put together so many pieces of knowledge and develop so many skills?

At the end of the example, even if the child has limited skills, he was able to visualize a big project that could be done using the same knowledge applied to build a simple wood box.

Reflection 03 (Week 04)

September 29th, 2020

Thinking about physical fabrication in a school classroom, I can see it as an inviting reflection on what is around us and track the origin of the raw material and understand the process that took to transform feedstock or recycled material to another, with the intention to clarify the design process, the cost, and the impact of production or even the impact of the discard something.

Understanding the material and the process will allow the student/new generation to explore more their creativity and encourage them to look to a different solution for problems that we face every day and for problems that we face as a society.

The development of this woodwork project enables us to explore and to experience the engineering design process. where we identified a problem/need, started a brainstorming session to speculate possible solution, that drove us to multiple possible solutions to the point that we have just to choose which solution better resolve the problem/need and refine this idea turning it into a design idea.

At this moment, we are working on design solutions for our design idea refining it. Certainly, by the next class, I will be able to share a little bit more about my group work.

Reflection 4 (week 05)

October 5th, 2020

Today was always 5th week in the Principle of Engineering. it was exciting to explore the concept of artificial intelligence/machine learning through the website www.teachablemachine.withgoogle.com, Where we could experience how a computer as a cell phone identifies images shapes, and colors. For that, we created our image database to allows the computer to identify objects, colors, and surfaces.

The second part of this class was about to explore the web simulator for an electronic circuit board for that we use it the website www.thinkcad.com, Which was fascinating, extremely didactic, and easy than work with a real electronic circuit board. Because it was less intimidating what make me feel more comfortable to explorer. As you will be able to check the project that was created on the project section of this portfolio reflection.

Reflection 05 (Week 06)

October 14th, 2020

We explored in this class some physical components of an electronic circuit board as breadboards, LED light, registers capacities, switch buttons, and also, the Arduino compiler. Through that, we were able to understand how Arduino gets its inputs on the digital signal that is characterized by HIGH and LOW signals. It creates a more sophisticated system because allowing greater control of the designing and resulting in a more refined prototype.

As you will see below, we wired a diagram, we code and running some tests.

Reflection 6 (week 07)

October 19th, 2020

Subject: Digital Fabrication III

Learning Sensor and Photoresistor

The LDR Photoresistor read the amount of light in the environment, it can identify if the light is on or off, and more than that it can tell us the amount of light in the place in other words the brightness. The sensitivity of the photoresistor can be controlled in the code but determined the value in the input LDR Pin.

It initiates with their photoresistor reading the amount of light in the space. when the sensor identifies a low amount of light it is sent a signal to the board that it will interpret turning the LED output ON and generating data regarding the amount of light received in the sensor.

This technology is already used in a different way nowadays. We can see it on an irrigation system for plantation or garden, it is also used on a solar panel to follow the direction of the sun, And to control the internal room light saving energy and generating a comfortable environment and also in a security system.

Reflection 7 (week 08)

October 26th, 2020

Subject: Digital Fabrication IV

Arduino Anatomy Inputs and Outputs

The reflection today was on Arduino sensors/inputs and outputs. Rethink concepts are always something that captivates me and today we rethinking inputs through the analogy that relates the inputs to the human five senses, presented by the professor. This simple analogy made me see more comprehensively the possibilities of using the sensors more organically, no just thinking about executing a function but thinking about the perception of the environment building data and generating a more precise outcome.

Reflection 8 (week 09)

November 2nd, 2020

In today's class, we work in groups. My group was consisted of 4 studies and all of us had to presented three project proposals using Arduino. So, our group started with twelve projects, which after refined analyzes we funneled to three projects as was the proposal for that group work.

The final designs were Plant irrigation, Smoke detector, and Door/window alarm. This activity gives us a better opportunity to sense how the components of input and output, particularly receive, process, and transmit data. I am listing below part of our activity regarding the identification of input, output, and the development of the pseudo-code.

Plant irrigation: It has the soil sensor as input and the water pump mechanism as output. The data processing between input and output is that the sensor detects moisture levels and compares them with the humidity levels defined in the code to determine whether the soil is low or high in moisture. If the sensor detects that the humidity is high, no water will be applied. On the other hand, if the sensor detects that the humidity level is low, this entry will result in the application of water.

Alarm: The selected input is the ultrasonic sensor that uses sonar to determine the distance, and the output is a Buzzer. The process is simplified, as the ultrasonic sensor emits an ultrasonic wave from the trigger that returns after reaching the object and is received by the echo. The echo will then indicate the distance covered in microseconds. We will set a specific distance between the sensor and its base, so when the door or window is opened, the code will be interrupted by sending different distance information which in turn will trigger the alarm.

Smoke detector: The selected input is the Temperature and Humidity sensor and the output is the Buzzer. The process is for the sensor to read the temperature and humidity constantly. When the sensor identifying/read the temperature and humidity configured to indicate smoke in the room, the signal received by the input changes and the output emits the alarm as a warning signal.

This whole process of thinking about a pseudo code as the process not only allows us to better explore the Arduino component but also to think more broadly about the possibilities of applying these electronic components physically and conceptually.