Voice to Text for Mechanical Engineers
Your mind is busy solving thermal dynamics and stress analysis, but your documentation needs clear English explanations. Blurt lets you capture your engineering thinking by talking — hold a button, speak your design rationale, release. Text appears in your CAD notes, project proposal, or vendor email. No more losing brilliant solutions while you struggle to type them out. Just say what you designed and why it works.
The Typing Problem
Design documentation that never gets written
You just spent four hours perfecting a bracket design. The geometry is elegant, the stress distribution is ideal, the manufacturing is straightforward. But documenting why you chose this approach over three alternatives? That takes another hour of typing. The documentation stays incomplete. Six months later, someone asks why you didn't use a weldment and you can't remember your reasoning.
Technical specifications that drain your afternoon
The spec document needs 47 fields filled in — materials, tolerances, surface finishes, heat treatments, testing requirements. You know every answer. You could recite them in five minutes. But typing each one into the template, switching between fields, formatting the tables — that's two hours gone. Hours you could have spent on actual engineering.
Test reports that pile up while you move to the next project
The prototype testing is done. Results are clear: passed thermal cycling, failed vibration at 47Hz resonance, passed salt spray. You need to document this before starting the redesign. But the report template is 12 pages. You tell yourself you'll write it later. Later never comes. Now there are three unreported tests and you're trying to remember which sample failed which test.
Project proposals written at midnight
Management wants a proposal for the new actuator redesign. You know exactly what's needed: the current design's failure mode, your proposed solution, timeline, costs, risks. Explaining it verbally would take ten minutes. But creating the written proposal with proper sections and formatting takes until 11 PM. You're an engineer, not a proposal writer.
Vendor communications that slow everything down
The machine shop needs clarification on the tolerance stack-up. The bearing supplier has questions about your load requirements. The PCB vendor wants thermal specs for the enclosure. Each email requires precise technical language. You spend 20 minutes crafting each response when you could explain it in two minutes flat.
How It Works
Blurt works everywhere mechanical engineers write — SolidWorks notes, Word documents, Outlook emails, project management tools. Anywhere you need to document your engineering decisions.
Hold your hotkey
Press your chosen shortcut. A small indicator shows Blurt is listening.
Describe your engineering thinking
Explain the design, specification, or test result naturally. Blurt handles punctuation and formatting.
Release and done
Your documentation appears at the cursor. No copying, no reformatting needed.
Real Scenarios
Documenting design decisions in CAD notes
You've finalized the mounting bracket geometry after three iterations. Cursor in the model notes field, hold button, say 'Selected cantilevered design over gusseted approach to reduce weight by 340 grams. FEA shows max stress of 45 MPa against 280 MPa yield strength, giving safety factor of 6.2. Fillet radii increased to 3mm minimum for fatigue life improvement per company standard ME-2019-04.' Design rationale captured in 12 seconds. Future engineers will understand exactly why.
Writing technical specifications for manufacturing
The machinist needs a complete spec for the new shaft. Hold button and dictate: 'Material 4140 steel, heat treated to 28-32 HRC. Overall length 127mm plus minus 0.1. Bearing journals at 25h6 with surface finish 0.8 Ra or better. Keyway per DIN 6885 at 180 degrees from locating flat. Chamfer all edges 0.5 by 45 degrees minimum.' Complete specification in one breath instead of 15 minutes of typing into template fields.
Capturing test results immediately after testing
The thermal chamber test just finished. While the results are fresh, hold button: 'Sample A7 completed 500 thermal cycles negative 40 to positive 85 Celsius with no visible cracking or deformation. Dimensional check shows 0.02mm growth in length direction within spec. Electrical continuity maintained throughout. Recommend approval for design verification.' Test documented before you walk away from the lab.
Drafting project proposals for management
Engineering management wants a proposal for upgrading the cooling system. Instead of staring at a blank Word document, hold button: 'Current liquid cooling loop shows 15 percent efficiency loss after 18 months due to pump wear and heat exchanger fouling. Proposed solution replaces positive displacement pump with centrifugal design and adds inline filter. Estimated cost 12,000 dollars with 6-week lead time. ROI achieved within 8 months through reduced maintenance.' Executive summary done in 30 seconds.
Responding to vendor technical questions
The bearing supplier emails asking about your radial load requirements. Hold button and reply: 'Operating conditions are 3500 RPM continuous with radial load of 2.2 kilonewtons and axial thrust of 800 newtons. Temperature range negative 20 to positive 80 Celsius ambient. Lubricant is Mobil SHC 630 synthetic. Target L10 life is 20,000 hours minimum. Please quote deep groove and angular contact options.' Technical email sent in 15 seconds instead of 10 minutes.
Writing failure analysis reports
A field return arrived with a cracked housing. You've completed the analysis and need to document it. Hold button: 'Root cause identified as stress corrosion cracking initiated at machining mark on inner bore surface. Contributing factors include residual chloride contamination from cleaning process and sustained tensile stress from interference fit. Corrective action requires polishing bore to 0.4 Ra and switching to chloride-free cleaning solvent.' Failure analysis documented while your observations are still sharp.
Updating project status in tracking systems
The weekly project status update is due. Instead of typing into 15 different Jira fields, hold button: 'Prototype assembly complete. Initial functional testing shows all subsystems operational. Discovered interference between cable harness and access panel, requires 8mm relocation of mounting boss. Change request submitted. Thermal testing scheduled for next Tuesday pending chamber availability.' Status captured and pasted into tracking system in one motion.
Creating assembly instructions for technicians
Manufacturing needs build instructions for the new motor mount. Hold button and walk through the process: 'Apply Loctite 243 to M6 fasteners. Torque motor mounting bolts to 8 newton-meters in cross pattern. Install vibration isolators with arrow facing upward. Connect ground wire before power leads. Verify 0.5mm clearance to adjacent bracket using feeler gauge.' Clear instructions created by simply describing the assembly you just performed.
Why mechanical engineers choose Blurt over built-in dictation
| Blurt | macOS Dictation | |
|---|---|---|
| Activation | Single hotkey, instant start | Click microphone icon or double-tap function key |
| Speed | Text appears in under 500ms | 2-3 second delay before transcription |
| Technical vocabulary | Handles terms like torque, kilonewtons, chamfer, tolerance | Frequently mangles engineering terminology |
| Reliability | Works consistently across sessions | Often stops working or requires restart |
Frequently Asked Questions
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