Morpheus: The Development and Evaluation of a Software Tool for Morphological Matrices

Abstract

The Morphological Matrix is a well-known and established method for synthesising concepts in engineering design. With the aim to improve its applicability, the method has been implemented into a software tool, which then has been introduced in engineering courses at Chalmers University of Technology. In this paper, the tool and its most important functions are presented and discussed, along with experiences from its use in design projects. It was demonstrated that the tool can ease the process of creating and modifying morphological matrices. Furthermore, the tool demonstrated the ability to generate and keep track of large quantities of solutions, which has previously been difficult as morphological matrices are typically hand drawn or created using an Excel sheet. However, less desired effects were encountered as the tool was perceived by some students as more of a screening and downselection method, rather than as a tool for synthesising concepts. The learnings and the way forward in education and the industrial context are discussed.

Forming Digital Sustainable Product Development Support

“…The industrialisation of engineering methods has long been an observed issue and it is important that the user understands how to use the method and its purpose (Eder 1998;Araujo et al, 2007). One computerized Morphological Matrix tool called Morpheus (Martinsson et al (2022) is provided by the DSIP, and it has previously demonstrated cases where the tool is misunderstood and misused in university courses. There is thus a need to validate that the current method-and tool-specific information provided by DSIP is sufficient to ensure intended use.…”

The impact of specialized software on concept generation

“…While converting already established design approaches into software can give rise to opportunities of enriching the pre-existing approaches, it first needs to be validated that this step into the digital realm has merit (Isaksson et al, 2020). Digitalizing and automating methods that have traditionally been conducted manually can have unintended side-effects (Martinsson Bonde et al, 2022). It is therefore necessary to conduct thorough evaluations of such digital tools to better understand the implications and address any negative consequences.…”

“…This tool was initially introduced to first year mechanical engineering students. However, the quality of the output from Morpheus generated by the students was found to be quite low, in that the generated solutions were rarely developed beyond the mere combination of SSs identified using the MM (Martinsson Bonde et al, 2022). In the 2022 study, the students would often use Morpheus to generate an unmanageable quantity of SS combinations, and refrain from describing them any further.…”