Prototyping may be simultaneously one of the most important and least formally explored areas of design. Over the last few decades, designers and researchers have developed many methodologies for ideation, product architecture, design selection, and many other aspects of the design process. However, there have been relatively few methodologies published regarding the efficient and effective development of prototypes for new products. This research explores a methodology for enhancing the prototyping process. It is founded on extensive literature review of the best practices of engineering prototype development. These findings have been aggregated and form the foundation of a methodology for formulating prototyping strategies. This methodology has then been experimentally evaluated in a controlled design environment, and its effect on the performance of prototypes has been demonstrated. The method consists of a set of guiding questions with corresponding flowcharts and foundational equations that assist the designer to make choices about how to approach the prototyping process in an efficient and effective manner.
A transforming product is a system that has different functionality when physically changed or reconfigured into a different state. This increased functionality allows diverse customer needs to be met in a single product. Transforming devices have become more prevalent in recent years, as customers desire both increased capabilities and reduced complexity to reduce waste in our society. When designing a multifunctional product that transforms from one state to another, it can be difficult to conceptualize a design that does not reduce effectiveness or provide a compromise in either state. Transformational Design Theory has been developed and shows basic principles and facilitators that enable transformation to occur within a product space. An illustrative example is a chair designed to flip over to be used as a table. Flip is one of the 19 facilitators that are found in transformation design. This is also an example of expose/cover, a transformation design principle. Certain principles and facilitators are more prevalent than others in different design domains (such as tools, storage, organisms etc.). If we know the states that exist within the transformer, concept opportunity diagrams can be used to determine the opportunities for transformation within each state. When the diagrams are paired with a constituent relationship chart specific to each domain, new design concepts may be facilitated. This technique creates a cognitive process for designers where they process a series of questions when creating the concept opportunity diagram. The diagram will help them understand the unanticipated additional design space of each state. The Constituent Relationship Chart is a tool that allows them to apply their knowledge of these states to the facilitator hierarchy so that prospective facilitators can directly contribute to originally unforeseen design concepts. This paper presents this twofold process known as the Transformer Diagram Matching Method and shows the results on a fully functioning prototype of an office supply transformer. Although the proposed process is detailed, it allows the designer to find a large number of quality concepts they would not have foreseen otherwise. Our original concept generation processes produced thirty eight ideas, but this process added another thirty two ideas to the design space. The paper indicates specifically how this method can be integrated in with the standard transformational design process as well as suggests strategies for implementation within other design techniques.
Many methods for design have been explored as the engineering community seeks to increase the efficiency, quality, and novelty of innovation. Some design methodologies are well equipped for use with any problem; others are best suited for specific domains or applications. Recent studies have developed two new independent methods for design. The first, WordTree Design-by-Analogy, uses a graphical structure of related words to help identify far-field analogies that have relevance to a given problem. The second method, Transformation Design, describes the mechanics and characteristics that drive the transformation of a reconfigurable mechanical system from one state to another. This paper presents a study of the effectiveness of these two methods in generating concepts for a specific problem statement requiring multiple sets of capabilities, i.e., tagging and tracking vehicles for military or civilian law enforcement purposes. Forty-one mechanical engineering students were assembled into groups and given specific guidelines to follow in generating concepts. A typical full-factorial experiment and ANOVA analysis was used to compare the effect of using the two design methods, as well as the interaction between them. Results from the design teams were evaluated quantitatively by the number concepts generated. Analysis of these results revealed that using the Transformation Design method increased the number of concepts developed by 25-30%. Use of the WordTree method was not judged to increase the number of concepts generated; however, the novelty and diversity of solutions were distinct for this method compared to Transformation Design or the control group.
Transforming products, or more generally transformers, are devices that change state in order to facilitate new, or enhance an existing, functionality. Mechanical transformers relate to products that reconfigure and can be advantageous by providing multiple functions, while often conserving space. A basic example is a foldable chair that can be stowed when not in use, but provides ergonomic and structural seating when deployed. Utilizing transformation can also lead to novel designs that combine functions across domains, such as an amphibious vehicle that provides both terrestrial and aquatic transportation. In order to harness these assets of transformation, the Transformational Design Theory [1] was developed. This theory outlines a set of principles and facilitators that describe and embody transformation for the purpose of systematically assisting the design of transformers. To build on this theory, this paper analyzes a repository of popular transformer toys. Transformer toys are chosen for this study because of their richness in displaying a variety of kinematic aspects of transformation. Through this process, new definitions to describe transformation are garnered and a set of guidelines are developed to further aid designers. The empirical data set of transformer toys is rich in information and provides a basis for application to other fields, such as robotics and consumer products. These insights, in conjunction with the use of storyboarding, create a new method of designing transformers. This paper presents the method and concludes with a validation exercise in the creation of a new transformer toy.
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