abstract: Digital Fabrication has played a pivotal role in providing reality to industrial designers' ideas since its first commercial use in late 80's. Making the final prototype of a design project has been the initial assumed use for these technologies in the design process. However, new technology advances in this area offer further opportunities for designers. In this research these opportunities have been carefully explored. This research will be conceptualized through discussing the findings of a case study and theories in the areas of Industrial Design methodology, digital fabrication, and design pedagogy. Considering the span of digital fabrication capabilities, this research intends to look into the design-fabrication relation from a methodology perspective and attempts to answer the question of how the digital fabrication methods can be integrated into the Industrial Design process to increase the tangibility of the design process in very first steps. It will be argued that the above is achievable in certain design topics - i.e. those with known components but unknown architecture. This will be studied through the development of series of hypothetical design processes emphasizing the role of digital fabrication as an ideation tool rather than a presentation tool. In this case study, two differing processes have been developed and given to Industrial Design students to design specific power tools. One of them is developed based on the precedence of digital fabrication. Then the outcome of the two processes is compared and evaluated. This research will introduce the advantages of using the digital fabrication techniques as a powerful ideation tool, which overcomes the imagination problems in many of complicated design topics. More importantly, this study suggests the criteria of selecting the proposed design methodology. It is hoped that these findings along with the advances in the area of additive and subtractive fabrication will assist industrial designers to create unique methodologies to deal with complicated needs both in practice and design education. / Dissertation/Thesis / M.S. Design 2012

Rapid prototyping is an approach to software development which attempts to remedy some of the shortcomings of the linear life cycle model, e.g. its inability to cope with fuzzy requirements and system evolution. This thesis first presents a broad survey of rapid software prototyping. It describes the rationale behind the process, the applications of prototyping, and specific techniques which may be used to achieve them. We then describe a system, called EPROS, together with its methodology, which supports a number of prototyping techniques in a coherent framework. The system is comprehensive in its approach and covers the prototyping and development of both functional and human-computer interface aspects of software systems. The former is based on the execution of VDM-based formal specification notation META-IV; the latter is based on a textual representation of state transition diagrams. Dialogue development is further supported by a rich set of abstractions which allow interaction concepts to be specified and directly executed rather than implemented. EPROS is based on a wide spectrum language which supports the main phases of a software development process, namely specification, design, and implementation. Included in this notation is a meta abstraction facility which facilitates its extension by the programmer. The primary application of EPROS is for evolutionary prototyping, where a system is developed iteratively and gradually from the abstract to the detailed, while it undergoes use and while its capabilities evolve. EPROS copes with all the requirements of evolutionary prototyping, namely rapid development, intermediate deliveries and gradual evolution of the system towards the final product. The thesis also describes a number of case studies where the presented ideas are put in practice, and which provide data in support of the effectiveness of the described system.

Expressive input is the culmination of 18 weeks of prototyping, ideation and research conducted as my degree project at Umeå Institute of Design. The project presents three design provocations which aim to raise questions about the potential opportunity to create a dialogue with the physical controls we interact with.  While words like “smart” or “connected” get thrown around quite often, this work aims to show that there is a role for expression within the relationship we have with our devices.  Expression within this context is defined as how we can make user interfaces that leverage the advances in sensors and feedback in order to feel more human.  The work presents three scenarios that might exist within an Automotive context, and demonstrates solutions that encourage users to maintain visual attention on the task of driving.  The project was conducted by running a series of short sprints that were focused on specific problems, the intention of this approach was to identify unique opportunities for future design work to explore.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:24:09Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2009-08-26Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:10:23Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 barbosa_rt_me_bauru.pdf: 24045722 bytes, checksum: 3d151b1930dc37ceef14f367e83f1cab (MD5) / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / Esta dissertação buscou através de uma pesquisa contextual conhecer e comprovar a realidade cultural tecnológica dos Designers brasileiros em relação às tecnologias contemporâneas de prototipagem, em que as informações disponíveis possam ser utilizadas em ações de melhorias e estratégias que interfiram na trajetória da área do Design brasileiro. Procurou-se conhecer a cultura tecnológica dos profissionais de Design em relação às tecnologias de prototipagem rápida e se eles efetivamente utilizam as tecnologias contemporâneas de prototipagem de maneira adequada durante o desenvolvimento dos produtos industriais. Espera-se que através da compreensão das relações que se estabelecem entre o uso da prototipagem rápida no desenvolvimento dos produtos industriais e o contexto do Design, possa-se inferir sobre a eficácia da prototipagem rápida como uma linguagem instrumental de aprendizado e eficiência competitiva. Este objeto de estudo constitui-se uma pesquisa de campo cuja característica principal foi a investigação da realidade tencológica dos Designers brasileiros, compreendendo assuntos relacionados à ciência e a tecnologia e suas relações com o Design, às tecnologias contemporâneas de prototipagem, às relações entre a tecnologia e a indústria e questões relacionadas entre o ensino e Design / This thesis intends a contextual research for discovering evidences of the cultural reality technology about the Brazilians Designers on the contemporary prototyping technologies. All information's may be used in improvements and strategic actions that interfere with the trajectory of the Brazilian Design because this research seeks know the technological culture of the Designers about rapid prototyping and it they effectively use appropriate contemporary technology for prototyping during the development of industrial products. It is hoped that by understanding the relations established between the rapid prototyping use in the development of industrial products and context of Design can be useful to the effectiveness of rapid prototyping as a vehicle for language learning and competitive performance. This object of study is a field research whose main characteristics was investigations of the technological reality of the Brazilian Designers and issues related to science and technology and their relationship to the Design, about contemporary technologies for prototyping, about relations between the technology and industry and issues related to education and Design subjects

This diploma thesis in theoretical part describes methods of Reverse engineering and Rapid prototyping. Each method describes its characteristics, pros and cons and usability. Practical part deals with application of these methods on part of a ledge of Škoda 1000 MB, digitalization of object, creating a new volume model, analyzing its dimensions and geometry using deviation analysis, creating prototype, choosing suitable manufacturing technology and technical-economical aspects.

The development of protype applications with sensors and actuators in the automation industry requires tools that are independent of manufacturer, and are flexible enough to be modified or extended for any specific requirements. Currently, developing prototypes with industrial sensors and actuators is not straightforward. First of all, the exchange of information depends on the industrial protocol that these devices have. Second, a specific configuration and installation is done based on the hardware that is used, such as automation controllers or industrial gateways. This means that the development for a specific industrial protocol, highly depends on the hardware and the software that vendors provide. In this work we propose a rapid-prototyping framework based on Arduino to solve this problem. For this project we have focused to work with the IO-Link protocol. The framework consists of an Arduino shield that acts as the physical layer, and a software that implements the IO-Link Master protocol. The main advantage of such framework is that an application with industrial devices can be rapid-prototyped with ease as its vendor independent, open-source and can be ported easily to other Arduino compatible boards. In comparison, a typical approach requires proprietary hardware, is not easy to port to another system and is closed-source.

Entwicklung und Test eines Prototypen nach den Maßstäben des Usage Centered Desings (nach Constantine und Lockwood). Der Prototyp beschäftigt sich mit der Organisation / Planung von Schulungen im Kontext geflüchteter Menschen in den Ländern Südsudan und Uganda und verfolgt dabei den mobile first Ansatz. Augenmerk wird auf die Gestalung einer benutzungsoptmierten Applikation in einem kulturell fremden Kontext gelegt.:I. Einleitung A. Krieg im Südsudan und dessen Auswirkungen B. #ASKnet 1. Ziel 2. Mitglieder und Organisation C. ASKtraining II. Usage-Centered Design A. User groups B. Interviews C. Role Modeling 1. User Role 2. Focal Roles 3. User Role Map D. Task Modeling 1. Personas 2. Scenarios 3. Conventional Use Cases 4. Essential Use Cases 5. Use Case Map 6. Focal Use Case E. Interface Contents and Navigation 1. Interaction Context 2. Tools and Materials 3. Context Navigation Map 4. Funktionsumfang und Prinzipien III. Visual Design A. Sketching B. Interaktiver Prototyp 1. Design 2. Prototyping 3. Icons IV. Tests und Evaluation A. Usability Test 1. Planung des Tests 2. Ausführung des Tests B. Evaluation V. Perspektive VI. Reflexion VII. Danksagung VIII.Literaturverzeichnis IX. Abbildungsverzeichnis X. Anhang A. Fragenkatalog Interviews - erste Runde B. Zusammenfassung Interviews - erste Runde C. Fragenkatalog Interviews - zweite Runde D. Services provided by Application E. Role Model F. Personas G. Scenarios H. Conventional Use Cases I. Essential Use Cases J. Use Case Map K. Interaction Context L. Tools and Materials M. Context Navigation Map N. Sketches O. Interaktiver Prototyp P. Usability Test - Vorbereitung Q. Usability Test - Aufgaben R. Usability Test - Proband:innen S. Usability Test - Evaluation: Tabelle T. Usability Test - Evaluation: Bericht

In the power generation sector, more specifically, the gas turbine industry, competition has forced the lead time-to-market for product advancements to be more important than ever. For design engineers, this means that product design iterations and final product development must be completed within both critical time windows and budgetary constraints. Therefore, two areas that have received significant attention in the research and in practice are: (1) rapid prototyping technology development, and (2) rapid prototyping technology selection. Rapid prototyping technology selection is the focus of this research. In practice, selecting the rapid prototyping method that is acceptable for a specific design application is a daunting task. With technological advancements in both rapid prototyping and conventional machining methods, it is difficult for both a novice design engineer as well as an experienced design engineer to decide not only what rapid prototyping method could be applicable, but also if a rapid prototyping method would even be advantageous over a more conventional machining method and where in the manufacturing process any of these processes would be utilized. This research proposes an expert system that assists a design engineer through the decision process relating to the investment casting of a superalloy gas turbine engine component. Investment casting is a well-known technique for the production of many superalloy gas turbine parts such as gas turbine blades and vanes. In fact, investment-cast turbine blades remain the state of the art in gas turbine blade design. The proposed automated expert system allows the engineer to effectively assess rapid prototyping iii opportunities for desired gas turbine blade application. The system serves as a starting point in presenting an engineer with commercially-available state-of-the-art rapid prototyping options, brief explanations of each option and the advantages and disadvantages of each option. It is not intended to suggest an optimal solution as there is not only one unique answer. For instance, cost and time factors vary depending upon the individual needs of a company at any particular time as well as existing strategic partnerships with particular foundries and vendors. The performance of the proposed expert system is assessed using two real-world case studies. The first case study shows how the expert system can advise the design engineer when suggesting rapid manufacturing in place of investment casting. The second case study shows how rapid prototyping can be used for creating part patterns for use within the investment casting process. The results from these case studies are telling in that their implementations potentially result in an 82 to 94% reduction in design decision lead time and a 92 to 97% cost savings.

Point-of-care DNA diagnostics for resource-limited settings require high sensitivity and low limits of detection but is constrained by a limitation on the complexity of instrumentation and resource consumption. To assist in the research and development of such technology, rapid-prototyping offers quick turnaround times from ideation to proof-of-concept testing at reduced costs. All-solution processed electrodes which exhibit micro/nano-scale wrinkling and porosity were rapidly-prototyped. Probe density was shown to be tunable with these electrodes and densities were greater than planar electrodes due to a surface area enhancement. Such electrodes also demonstrated favorable characteristics for the electrocatalytic detection of DNA hybridization. Characterization of hybridization efficiency for DNA biosensors often require the determination of probe and target DNA densities in separate experiments, relying on averaged measurements which lose device specificity. A new method to quantify hybridization efficiency was developed which allows the label-free, sequential determination of probe DNA and target DNA density in one experiment, allowing electrode-specific characterization of hybridization efficiency. / Thesis / Master of Applied Science (MASc)

Many types of devices based on power converters have been proposed and studied for utility applications. In recent years most of the control systems for these converters have been digital. Unfortunately, such digital controllers, which are often based on a digital signal processor (DSP), are difficult to model in simulation. Thus, hardware prototypes are usually required. This thesis presents a tool for fast prototyping that helps overcome these difficulties. Namely, a hardware-in-the-loop simulation is provided for the digital controller in order to evaluate control algorithms without the voltage source converter and power system. The controller in the loop design methodology is described and the division between the real-time power system model and the hardware controller with an interface is shown. Also, the modulation type, integration time step selection and synchronization between the controller and the real-time system simulation are discussed. The hardware configuration for the real-time simulator and the software implementation of the simulator is discussed. In this thesis an example application of a shunt active compensator following this formal procedure is presented. The active compensator prototyping was first developed in MATLAB/Simulink. Then, following a formal design procedure, the power system was modeled in a digital simulator and the controller was implemented in a digital controller board. Finally, a hardware-in-the-loop test was carried out to validate the performance of the hardware controller for the active compensator. Although the tools and methods presented here are aimed at shunt connected current controller application, they may be generalized for use in the development of any digitally controlled power electronic converter.