Hello all,
If you're not from the NYU community, you might be wondering what January term is. J-Term is a mini-semester just over 2 weeks long, in which we take only one intensive course. Many students have the opportunity to spend their J-Term at one of NYU's global sites around the world. This year, due to my engineering major requirements, I'm still in Abu Dhabi, taking an class called Design and Innovation.
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| Image credits to the Engineering Design faculty |
It's a hands-on, project-based class where we have instruction and work time from 9-5 (with lunch break), six days a week, then typically stay in the Engineering Design Studio until late in the evening collaborating on our projects. Basically, I'll be living and breathing engineering full-time for the next few weeks... I even had a dream about circuits, haha.
The last week of class, we will be designing a product from start to finish in small groups. This week and next week, we're being trained in how to use various software, tools, and technology, with "mini-challenge" projects along the way. We have an awesome team of professors from all over the world helping us, and I can't believe how many resources are free for us to use.
On day one, the professors gave us Ohm's Law temporary
tattoo stickers... (Voltage = current * resistance) As if high school teachers hadn't already drilled the formula into my brain, but why not?
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| Who knew I'd get a tattoo in college? (It washed off in the shower, don't worry haha) |
This class is so exhausting and frustrating but kind of amazing at the same time. I don't think I've ever focused on one thing so intensely like this. It's a good window into what working on real-world engineering projects will be like. I'm working in a team of four with three guys from Uganda, Ghana, and Pakistan.
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| Awkward selfies with my Design and Innovation team :) |
We've only had a few days of class, and I already feel like I've learned more useful skills than I would in a month of most classes. We're learning to build circuits with Arduino boards, and we had training sessions in 3D printing, sewing, soldering, using tools, using a laser cutter, and making prototypes.
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| Spiderweb of wires-- at some point we'll learn to be organized |
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| Meet Gina and Chuck, two of our 3D printers :) |
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| Demos with the laser cutter |
Our first mini-challenge was to design and build a working bike light from start to finish in two days.
After a lot of hard work and prototyping, our team of four made the Ladybug Light!
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| Sketching |
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| Prototyping |
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| Building |
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| Designing |
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| Printing |
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| Decorating |
A few screws, some glue, some finishing touches...
And.... *drumroll* ....
The final product!
It has a light sensor inside that causes it to blink quickly when a car headlight approaches. It also has 5 different blinking modes controlled by a toggle switch. The casing was designed in Autodesk Fusion 360 and 3D printed, and the base was designed and cut from acrylic using the laser cutter. I sewed the ladybug's head and did most of the aesthetic work on the outside. The back has an on/off switch, mode switch, and battery compartment, along with the velcro straps.
Considering we only had two days and I just barely learned most of the technology necessary to make this work, I was pretty happy with the outcome. I'm thankful for my teammates-- even though we drive each other crazy and disagree on a lot of things, our different ideas and talents make us a well-rounded group of designers/engineers. I'm also thankful for the professors who spent their weekend hours around the clock helping us, answering our questions, and trusting beginners with quite expensive technology/resources.
I can't wait for the rest of these two weeks in Design and Innovation- but I'm going to sleep extra soundly tonight now that this project is done. There's a lot more of this to come.
Goodnight from Saadiyat Island,
Alison
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