SIMPLIFIED: "What is Reverse Engineering and How Does It Work?"

Link to article: https://astromachineworks.com/what-is-reverse-engineering/ 

Note: The above image was taken from the original article.

The article linked above talks about reverse engineering. You can kind of figure out what reverse engineering is just by the name; it is the process of taking apart finished products to figure out the components of that product and how that product was built. Most engineers work like this: they think of an idea, they research potential solutions, design a prototype, build it, test it, and eventually end up with a finished product. However, reverse engineering takes an already finished part and then takes it apart to examine the design. 

You might be wondering, what is the point of reverse engineering? Reverse engineering is practical for numerous situations. Here is an example: if you have to repair a machine but one of the parts that is needed to repair the machine is no longer manufactured or sold, you might take apart another item with the part you need to figure out how it was designed, so that you can make it by yourself and create a replacement part. 

Another example is if engineers want to optimize or improve the design of specific parts. By reverse engineering, engineers get a better understanding of how things were put together, allowing them to think of ways to make the same part cheaper through a more optimized or efficient construction process. 

Additionally, reverse engineering is often used for knockoff products. Obviously, there are ethical or legal issues with creating knockoff products, but nonetheless, the knockoff products that you see online could have been made by taking apart the original product and figuring out how to make the parts in a cheaper way to sell the knockoff for cheaper.