Reverse Engineering

ME30365 (Moodle Link)

This is a hands-on learn by doing course... There will be very few "lectures" in the traditional sense. We want to teach through experience and dive straight into it. So switch on your curious minds and engage with our expert team of advisers to help you along the way.

You will each have a product... They might look complicated, large, simple, basic, boring, intimidating... whatever. The lack of "coolness" of the product (if there is a ranking) will make no difference to your ability to get a great mark in this unit and there is always something fascinating going on inside. 

The aim is not to review the product. The aim is to try and deduce the intentions of the designer. They could have designed it or made it in any number of ways. But they did it this way, and since the product is in your hands it can’t be so terrible as to have never left the drawing board. What can we learn from these professional designers?

We hope you enjoy the course as much as we do teaching it!

Praise for the Unit:

“The self-taught manner of the course allows a great deal of freedom in the learning experience. One of the best courses in the IDE program”

“Having engineers from multiple backgrounds to help answer any questions was very useful.”

“The teaching team are very approachable and knowledgeable. They’re great at pushing you to get the best out of you.”

“Excellent student to teacher ratio with lots of opportunity to ask questions / get feedback. A very enjoyable / practical module”

“It’s been the most fun I’ve had on any course. A great experience.”

“This unit has been well organised and genuinely fun. I like the freedom to investigate aspects which we are interested in. It’s set up in a ‘simple’ way which is why it’s so effective.”

“I really didn’t expect to find so much smart engineering inside a cheap toy. It’s been a very valuable learning experience.”

“A brilliant idea for a subject and a very well taught and structured one at that. I have learnt so much doing this module and think it is taught excellently. Ed is such a charismatic and knowledgeable man, he really inspires me to be more curious. Very enjoyable subject, very good for employability and for starting a business. I think it's a fantastic unit.”

“Excellent module overall, with great focus on practical elements. Had to learn a lot and it was made enjoyable and interesting by Ed and the team. Feedback was really useful and cleared a lot, Thought some of the career path stuff was interesting too, nice not to just be focusing on the course.”

“Love this course, so much fun.”

“I love how creative the unit is and I feel like it should be compulsory for the whole Mech Eng cohort.”

“Great practical insight and immense learning potential. Great helpers with a lot of industry experience.”

Work:

Studio time, every week: Friday 10am - 1pm in 4E 3.36

100% Coursework - 3 Assignments & Bonus:

Each assignment is a ‘portfolio style’ submission. A mix of graphical poster and in-depth research.

1 - Week 4 : User Experience - 2 Pages

2 - Week 8 : Component Role & Function - 2 Pages

Bonus - Week 11 : End of term IDE celebration (No Prep Required)

3 - Week 15 : Manufacturing, Assembly & Cost - 2 Pages

Example submissions from previous years:

Student Examples - Class of 2019 - Floor Care

Student Examples - Class of 2020 - Kitchen Gadgets

Student Examples - Class of 2021 - Power Tools

Student Examples - Class of 2022 - Toys

Student Examples - Class of 2023 - Garden & Garage Products

Presentation Hints & Tips on Laying out Your Work

Not just a product review.

 
 

The purpose of reverse engineering a product is not to just understand how it works, but also to understand the “designers intent”.

Try to deduce through investigation, research and experimentation, what the designers were thinking when they made the choices they made. Everything in front of you has been done a certain way through choice. So the game is to think like an archaeologist and try to work out what were they thinking when they did a certain thing.

Assignment 1 - 2 Pages - User Experience:

The weight, size, feel, appearance and performance of a product has all been designed. Why has it been done that way? Why is it like this? Simply listing product attributes and comparing them to others is not going to get a great score. You need to scratch deeper below the surface and come to a reasoning as to why something has been made the way it has. Some other tips:

  • Who is the target audience for your product, what design features have been chosen because of this audience. Could a different audience be more effective?

  • The difference between a user and a customer. The customer buys it but the user uses it, they aren't always the same person. Is this having an effect on your product?

  • Do your market positioning analysis so that we can compare your product to others that are competing or alternatives to get the same job done. This will also help inform your improvements and trade-offs.

  • For styling, I wouldn't just describe the packaging and the product, some key facts (size weight etc..) are helpful, but it's obvious stuff I can pick up just from looking at it. What do you think is the design intent behind these decisions? Why this box, why like this, why these colours, how does it compare to the alternatives etc...

  • Is the styling trying to build a connection to something that makes the user think of that association? Why have design features or aesthetic decisions been done the way they have? Is your product a grill fryer and the designers wanted to create an image of Texas BBQs as part of their 'product story' to unconsciously communicate to you a sense of heritage and prestige? Or is it all white plastic and shiny stainless steel to give you the impression of hygiene and cleanliness? Vacuum cleaners for example often take styling ideas from cars. Is there a comparison that can be drawn with your product and why might they have done this?

  • Anything can be changed and improved, but we can assume that the budget is fixed, so if you want to change something here, you might need to change something else over there... For example, if I think the handle should be made with an extra rubber layer to make the grip feel better, more secure, higher quality (touch points get all the attention), where could I make a saving somewhere else? Should I remove some metal parts or fake metal chrome on plastic to save money to put the savings into things that make the product work better? So discuss the possible trade-offs you've identified rather than saying I'd make everything better.

Improvements (relevant for assignment 1 - 3, not just this one):

Each assignment will ask you to suggest improvements around that theme. There are always things that can be done better or differently, but they need justification and reasoning. Although don’t panic… it's the smallest element of the mark scheme so definitely include something (otherwise you'll score zero) but no need to sweat it if there isn't much you can think of.

We've a soft spot for drawings and sketches. They are a great way of communicating quickly and work very well for the improvement part.

Assignment 2 - 2 Pages - Role & Function:

Overview:

A few of you were let down slightly by the lack of any 'introduction' to the product. You hit us straight with a detailed discussion about packaging or product performance. A simple setting of context would have been useful.

Since all 3 assignments will ultimately 'hang together' there's no need to give a basic product intro now, but I would recommend 'setting the scene' with relation to the role and function of the product... what does this mean? Before you dive in showing us the details of how little sub assemblies or components might work, show us the whole product with a quick overview of how it works... food goes in here, lid goes on releasing an inter-lock, switch here turns on motor which spins blades and blends food... obviously don't just tell me. Show me!

A good technique (but not the only one) is to try and make an 'x-ray' image of the product, overlaying images of components over a transparent layer of the product is a simple way to show where all the key parts are and how they interact with each other. Alternatively sketch from scratch or draw onto photos to highlight different key sub assemblies etc...

This should give us a good overview of the product function so that we now have the context for any deep-dive investigations you want to do.

Deep Dives (relevant for assignments 2 & 3):

Separate to the overview for good marks we want to see you explore and explain why certain things have been done the way they have and has anything been done in a particularly clever and interesting way. For example labelling what something does is the bare minimum we would expect, but some parts may have been made in an interesting way that gives it additional functions. From my discussions this morning some examples might be:

  • The shape of a cutting blade or housing... how does this effect performance, why has it been done this way, what would happen if we did it a different way, could we improve it?

  • The shape of a component improves boiling performance and channels steam away from the electronics

  • By doing something this way enables an improved performance and function without the need for additional components.

  • Is there anything that you don't understand what it does? Maybe there are some unexplained features that don't do anything but might have done for an earlier version of the product?

Basically if we can't identify the reason immediately at a single glance then it's an interesting area to explore.

You don't need to cover everything, just the interesting parts. Blenders and mixers could have a PhD on the blade design so even if your product is 'super simple' there's always interesting stuff to explore. Big complicated products, streamline your efforts to the bit(s) you find most interesting. Obviously feel free to run your ideas past us.

Assignment 3 - 2 Pages - Manufacturing, Assembly & Cost

On page one we’d like to see a large photo of all the parts laid out and arranged so we can clearly see all the components that went into making your product. Try and get it down to every single nut and bolt.

This image can be arranged to say more than one things though, you might want to think about arranging the parts in sub-assembly clusters, or by material or by made vs bought or by assembly sequence. Whatever you think works best for your product and its complexity.

We’d then like to see an analysis of its assembly and how it’s made, why not time yourself trying to put it all back together? This might reveal some interesting insights into things that could be made easier or whether it’s hand assembled or machine made. Also think about any injection moulded parts, what can you work out about the mould design and its complexity?

Finally cost, please don’t bother trying to work out the cost of the machine and mould tools. You could easily be a factor of 10 or 100 out for reasons we won’t be able to deduce from the product. But you will be able to ascertain with a high level of certainty the complexity of the tool or not. Is it a simple 2 part clamshell or a 5 part mould with removable cores and over-moulds? We won’t ever know how much it might have cost but we can definitely say that this is a complicated piece of work and highlight how we’ve come to this conclusion.

At these high volumes (assume 20,000+ a week as a minimum) if you work out the cost of all metal and plastic parts based on their weights and the wholesale price of the material you won’t be far off.

The assignments are meant to be hard, they are meant to challenge you, this isn’t first and second year anymore where you can just follow the instructions and ace it. You’ll need to think for yourselves, seek out inspiration and ask for help! We’ve got a fantastic team of super experienced people to help you. Bring your products along each week, be curious and we’re happy to talk about careers and other stuff too. The overwhelming majority of students who took this class found it hard but loved it because of it. We’re looking forward to seeing you all soon!

We spend a long time each year helping students with some common presentation issues and have compiled a list of the worst offending things we’d rather not see… and how to make them better. Check them out here.

How to Handle References…

 

It is good practise to reference your sources, the library has a great resource and guidance on how to reference here.

For the reverse engineering submissions, we've come to an agreed compromise between best practise and not adding too much additional burden to your workload...

For data and research, we're happy for you to reference content within the text you're describing it, for example: "Such and such a study from 2019 shows X" as this states clearly that it's not your own research findings and by searching for the title and date I should be able to fine it. It also adds credibility to your work because now we know you've read a report on the subject.

For images, either add a small reference or acknowledgement to each image, or a number and then have numbered references at the bottom of each page (in super small font, size 6 perhaps). Do not add an additional page for referencing, there is a strict 2 page limit. For a graph that has lots of product images, we're happy that you contain a single image reference explaining where the product photos came from. It's not ideal academically but for this I believe it's an acceptable compromise.

This may all seem like overkill... but it's good to get into the habit. If you want to avoid referencing then please use as many of your own images or free licensed ones as possible.

Final word on referencing and marking:

It's important but this task is hard enough as it is, so we'll be gentle with you if it looks like you've tried. If you're scattering images all over the place, all looted from the web, with no alterations to suit the assignment and no attempt to reference them properly then expect a critical response.