November 2012 – August 2014

Automotive Club RUN TO YOU, Seoul National University

Project Leader

Motivation

In my early undergraduate years, I have put a substantial amount of effort into understanding how great mechanical feats such as automobiles have been achieved.

Naïve yet ambitious, I wondered if I would be able to create such a masterpiece with my own bare hands. In my second year at university, I gathered a team of similarly inexperienced yet passionate students and challenged ourselves with the task of building a full-scale rock-crawler.

Rock-crawler design is an extremely challenging task since it requires a robust frame body, a deliberate CoG arrangement, and a sophisticated linkage system.

Process

The project seemed rather audacious at first, considering that we started with very basic steps such as learning how to weld pipes. I was extremely proud when my team and I were able to overcome numerous difficulties and complete the vehicle.

The first moment after we reassembled the engine to our new chassis.

The first moment after we completed and tested our chassis and powertrain.

On our first test run of the vehicle, I was aboard the vehicle when it suddenly collapsed. A buckling occurred in one of the links of the suspension system, which had not been considered in the initial design process. This was a turning point in my life, as I barely avoided serious injury.

This unforgettable hazardous moment taught me a life lesson that I must become a responsible engineer who can trust my own life on the system I built.

 

Achievement

• Design and fabrication(cutting, welding, assembly) of a four-linkage suspension system and the frame body.
• Through 15 months of struggling for the success, I obtained comprehensive project management skills such as team recruiting, design concept materialization, design, modelling, fabrication, and outsourcing.

Result & Impact

• Achieved a climbing slope of larger than 45 degrees.
• Project awarded Bronze Prize, 2015 KSAE Baja Design Section.
• Invitation from Hyundai and BMW as a student representative of my university.