Recent advancements in artificial intelligence (AI) offer the opportunity for human designers and AI to collaborate in new, hybrid modes throughout various stages of the product design process. Computational design tools for topology optimization and generative design facilitate the creation of higher performing and more complex products. This paper explores how the use of these computational tools may impact the design process, designer behavior, and overall outcomes. Six in-depth interviews were conducted with practicing and student designers from different disciplines who use commercial topology optimization and generative design tools, detailing the design processes they followed in this hybrid intelligent mode. From a grounded theory-based analysis of the interviews, a provisional process diagram for hybrid intelligence and its uses in the early-stage design process is proposed. The early stages of defining tool inputs bring about a constraint-driven process in which designers focus on the abstraction of the design problem. Designers will iterate through the inputs to improve both performance and non-performance metrics. The learning-through-iteration allows designers to gain a thorough understanding of the design problem and solution space. This can bring about creative applications of computational tools in early-stage design to provide guidance for traditionally designed products.
This paper describes the motivation and development of a human-powered roll stabilization attachment for utilitarian two-wheeled vehicles. The proposed design has been built and tested by the authors in both on- and off-road conditions. It provides balance by providing a rolling platform underneath the two-wheeled vehicle (motorcycle) for the user to push against with their feet. This platform is placed under the driver’s sitting position and is towed from a three degree-of-freedom joint behind the front axle (i.e. one of the implementations uses a ball hitch joint). Fifty eight percent of the world’s motorcycles are in Asia Pacific, and Southern and Eastern Asia. In most of those countries, motorcycles greatly outnumber cars and many of these motorcycles function as utility vehicles. The uses of motorcycles include transportation of goods on the bike frame, transportation of goods on a trailer, and even pulling agricultural implements in farms. If no modifications are made to the motorcycle, at slow speeds operators of motorcycles must drag their feet on the ground and lightly push upwards as needed to retain balance. Attaching conventional outrigger wheels, similar to a motorcycle side-car, can negate some of the advantages of motorcycles that users value by: (A) preventing leaning into turns when rigid outriggers arms are used, (B) significantly increasing complexity and mass when outrigger arms mounted on suspension systems are used, and (C) increasing the vehicle’s width such that it can no longer travel between car lanes or between rows of growing crop. An additional design consideration for balancing motorcycles is the user’s need for quick conversion between a statically balanced vehicle and a vehicle can lean dynamically in turns, for example for someone who wishes to operate a motorcycle on farms but also travel quickly between agricultural fields. This conversion convenience is affected not only by the ease of attaching and detaching the balancing system but also by the ability to comfortably carry on the balancing system on the motorcycle even when it is not being used, such that it can be deployed when it is needed. This paper describes a design for a human-powered roll stabilization attachment that address these concerns and other identified user needs. It also provides with general equations to design similar human-powered roll stabilization systems for motorcycles.
Developments in artificial intelligence (AI) are opening the possibilities for the development of more advanced design tools. An example of these innovations are generative design tools, in which the generation of complex and high performing products is possible. This study investigates the use of generative design tools and how they may influence the design process and designer behaviour. Six interviews of interdisciplinary designers were conducted to understand the implications of using generative design tools. It was observed that generative design tools primarily allow for quantitative inputs to the tool while qualitative metrics, such as aesthetics, are considered indirectly by designers. The subjectivity of the designer and how they incorporate the quantitative and qualitative metrics in the generative design tool can lead to differing outcomes between designers. Notable differences in tool usage are also observed between expert and novice computational designers. Additional studies should be conducted to further understand the extent generative design tools impact the design process, designer behaviour, and design outcomes.
Designing products to encourage sustainable behavior during their use can have significant influence on their total environmental impact. Cognitive interventions can be used to inform users of the importance of sustainable behavior and make users aware of the resources they consume while evoking positive or negative emotions. The first part of this study investigated two methods of cognitive interventions, information (positively and negatively framed) and feedback, and their effectiveness in encouraging users to reduce their napkin consumption in cafés. The number of napkins per transaction illustrated a short-term behavior change for positive information, a longer-term behavior change for negative information, and no change for feedback. In the second phase of this study, a survey was conducted to understand environmental concerns around napkin consumption and emotions and perceived effectiveness of each intervention. Results from 295 valid survey responses showed that the positively framed informative design reminded users to use less napkins in order to save trees and was dominated by positive emotions such as feeling encouraged. The negative information message informed users to use fewer napkins due to the consequences on the environment and was related to negative emotions such as guilt and worry. The feedback intervention’s message was more informative, reminding users that napkins come from trees and the emotions evoked from the intervention closely resembled that of the control. These findings suggest that information and feedback interventions that evoke emotions can be used to promote sustainable behavior.
Design and engineering are socio-technical enterprises used to solve real-world problems. However, students in these fields are often under-equipped to consider the ethical and societal implications of their work. Our prior work showed that these societal considerations are more consistently embedded in design pedagogy in non-engineering than in engineering courses at MIT. Here, we examine underlying causes for this through a survey of instructors (231 courses from 29 departments). The main contribution of this work is an analysis of whether and how instructors incorporate social, ethical, and policy considerations in design pedagogy. The majority of respondents (60.6%) included these topics in their courses, primarily through discussion of social justice, identity groups, and ethics. These concepts were included more in non-engineering courses (65.8%) than engineering courses (46.9%). Many instructors, especially in engineering, cited irrelevance as the reason for not engaging with these topics in their courses (86.1% compared to 44.2% in non-engineering). We suggest that instructors question this perception and use the examples provided as a starting point to explore integration of these concepts into their technical content.
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