Hopping Into Engineering

In the first  semester of my freshman year I took Introduction to Mechanical Design and Engineering. The first few weeks of class we learned how to use the CAD software SOLIDWORKS, which we used to design all of our work in class. Once the SOLIDWORKS interaction was complete, we’d send it to the Laser Cutter. Our mid term project was to create an object with a 10 second timing mechanism that can hop, a “Hopper.” Incorporating a timer into the Hopper was the most challenging aspect of this project. 

My first iteration used a marble on a zig-zagged railed system. My thought was to drop the marble onto the track, have it roll down the rails and then hit a “target” that would trigger the release system that causes the hop. My first iteration was far too wide, this meant the hopper was too heavy and therefore could not get off the ground. Back in SOLIDWORKS, I redesigned my timing mechanism to have thinner ramps, just wide enough for the marble to be able to fit. Once my timing mechanism was improved, it was time to focus on my hopping mechanism. 

On either side of the ramp I had two flat squares of MDF (medium-density fiberboard), attached to a hinged system with a thick rubber material. I created a hook that held the hinged system inwards, once the marble would reach the end of the ramp it would fall, knock the hook down, and the rubber would draw the hinges back causing the Hopper to hop. This design and creation process was incredibly frustrating, I went through a total of three iterations of the timing mechanism and four within the hopping mechanism. I was forced to be okay with failing. I failed continuously and the only option was to keep trying to make it work. This project taught me how to think like an engineer: identify the problem, brainstorm solutions, design and build, test and evaluate, iterate and improve, and most importantly fail forward. When you fail forward you accept that failure is inevitable, rather than fear it, view it as an opportunity to improve.