I took MIT's famous capstone class, 2.009 Product Engineering Processes, in Fall 2016. It's an epic class (look it up!) and I got to be on an amazing 17-person team. We built a gamified rock-climbing treadmill that let folks earn points by climbing and hitting the lit up handholds.
I started out on the electronics team and was the Financial Officer for the team, and by the end I was helping to do a lot of the machining and assembly (CNC router, riveting, assembly). There were several super late-night machine shop days, but that's where the fun is had! I remember several key design principles that have stayed with me: more ideas = better ideas, design/prototyping can take many forms, even the most "flat" teams need structure and structured meetings, and there are many product opportunities out there to be had for creative folks.
I learned a TON from the others on my team, on topics that I was not well versed in at the time - DC motor selection and control, chain drives, designing and sourcing PCBs, capacitive sensing, making products aesthetic, addressing safety issues, and more. Big shout out to all my teammates: Arlette Reyes, Danielle Barillas, Gabe Alba-Rivera, Marco Aguilar, Marshall Johnson, Roget Mo, Val Peng, Victoria Gregory, Davis Tran, Emily Tsang, John Drago, Kodiak Brush, Pashu Pasich, Patricia Das, Rachel Adenekan, Sabrine Ahmed Iqbal, Thalia Estrella.
Our team mentor was Matt Duplessie, who founded 5 Wits and Level99 Entertainment (think escape rooms but next-level, out-of-this-world immersive and interactive), and who taught us how to think about making products and games that people enjoy.
