Have you had an idea for a product or project and at the end you wish you never got involved? Share your horror stories!
Inspired by the likes of these:
Engineering Horror Stories (https://www.mouser.mx/blog/engineering-horror-stories?srsltid=AfmBOorGUL4kRipIvcuePXkdcMIl1H5345bDnQRs5tpRt2byL9mKNEnm)
Engineers of Reddit: Please tell us the engineering horror stories you heard in class. (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/b6wm2/engineers_of_reddit_please_tell_us_the/)
10 Scary True Stories from Engineering History (https://www.designnews.com/electronics/10-scary-true-stories-from-engineering-history)
My horror story is from several years back. The names have been omitted, but many will get the idea. I had an idea for a robot. A mid-size robot bigger than the BoE-Bot, but smaller than the MMWK robot (Codename: Wheel Platform). Try as I might to get it going, I couldn't, so I bought a third party platform that was similar to what I wanted, but not. That is, I needed a rough example. I used the following robot.
(https://savagecircuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/04/P2_Figure_7.jpg)
It allowed me to play with motor gearing, wheel sizes, ability to navigate rough terrain, etc. I was able to mount different types of sensors, multiple battery packs etc. After seeing various videos I posted of this robot navigating using GPS and obstacle avoidance, the powers that be gained some interest. However, it was decided that this would be a committee engineering endeavor. ::)
I gave many reasons why that was a mistake, but I was overruled! So the committee began design and before I knew it, we had a product that, not only wasn't anything like what I started with, but had designs flaws. You might recognize this robot (Codename: Mid-Size Robot) if you were to see it.
stingray3.jpg
It was a disaster! It moved too fast to be maneuverable. It had no low end torque or control. The driver circuit designed for it was even properly spec'd for the voltage. I saw my design turn out to be the Frankenstein Monster of robots. Then, as quickly as it was created, it died and was forgotten about. In an attempt to recover some credibility for what was later labeled a failed product, I started working on another similar project, but fixing the things I wasn't allowed to fix in the previous robot.
(https://savagecircuits.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/Manta_P1_02.jpg)
This robot (https://savagecircuits.com/the-manta-ray-part-1/) attempted to fix the design flaws in the earlier robot, though it still wasn't what I originally hoped for. But I had an ally helping me to keep this one going as a side-project, which was later published in a magazine (https://www.servomagazine.com/magazine/article/june2014_Savage). So now I rarely get involved in committee designs. I prefer to do things on my own and let others improve upon my work (if they feel the need), just as I often do when I see things other people do.