Evaluating the Directed Intuitive Approach for Bioinspired Design

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (7) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Glier ◽  
Joanna Tsenn ◽  
Julie S. Linsey ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Design Methods ◽  
Design Knowledge ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Bioinspired Design ◽  
Engineering Problems ◽  
Novice Designers ◽  
The Impact

Bioinspired design, the practice of looking to nature to find inspiration for solutions to engineering problems, is increasingly a desired approach to design. It allows designers to tap a wealth of time-tested solutions to difficult problems in a domain less considered by designers. Only recently have researchers developed organized, systematic methods for bioinspired design. Traditionally, bioinspired design has been conducted without the benefit of any organized method. Designers relied on the informal “directed intuitive approach” of bioinspired design, which simply directs designers to consider how nature might solve a problem. This paper presents an experiment to explore the impact of the directed approach on idea generation. This experiment is foundationally important to bioinspired engineering design method research. The results of this experiment serve as a fundamental baseline and benchmark for the comparison of more systematic, and often more involved, bioinspired design methods. A group of 121 novice designers are given one of two design problems and instructed to either generate solutions using the directed approach or to generate solutions without being prompted in any additional fashion. Based on the findings presented here, the directed approach offers designers no advantage in the average number of nonredundant ideas, quality, novelty, or variety of the solutions produced. In conclusion, systematic and organized methods for bioinspired design should be sought to effectively leverage nature's design knowledge.

Evaluating the Directed Method for Bioinspired Design

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael W. Glier ◽  
Joanna Tsenn ◽  
Julie S. Linsey ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Bioinspired Design ◽  
Translation Tools ◽  
Significant Difference ◽  
Active Research ◽  
The Impact

Bioinspired design, the practice of looking to nature to find inspiration for engineering design, is becoming an increasingly desired approach to design. It allows designers to tap a wealth of time-tested solutions to difficult problems in a domain rarely considered by designers. Only recently have researchers developed organized, systematic methods for bioinspired design. These methods include BioTRIZ, an extension of functional modeling for bioinspired design, engineering-to-biology keyword translation tools, and specialized design tools like DANE and SAPPHIRE. These organized methods are currently active research efforts. Traditionally, however, bioinspired design has been conducted without the benefit of any organized method. Without the support of formal methods, designers have relied on the “directed method” of bioinspired design. The directed method approach simply directs designers to consider how nature might approach a problem in order to help designers find solutions. This paper presents an experiment to explore the impact upon idea generation of simply contemplating how nature would solve a design problem. This experiment is foundationally important to bioinspired engineering design method research. The results of this experiment serve as a fundamental baseline and benchmark for the comparison of more systematic, and often more involved, bioinspired design methods. A group of 121 novice designers are given one of two design problems and instructed to either generate solutions using the “directed method,” considering how nature would solve the problem, or to generate solutions without being prompted to use any method. Based on the findings presented here, the directed method offers designers no advantage in the average number of non-redundant ideas the designers can produce, the average quality of their solutions, the average solution novelty, or the variety of solutions proposed. Overall, this investigation finds no significant difference in idea generation between the directed method and the control condition. In conclusion, systematic and organized methods for bioinspired design should instead be sought to effectively leverage nature’s design knowledge.

The Impact of Team-Based Product Dissection on Design Novelty

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Toh ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller ◽  
Gül E. Okudan Kremer
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Education ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Design Concepts ◽  
Engineering Design Education ◽  
Current Design ◽  
The Impact

Although design novelty is a critical area of research in engineering design, most research in this space has focused on understanding and developing formal idea generation methods instead of focusing on the impact of current design practices. This is problematic because formal techniques are often not adopted in industry due to the burdensome steps often included in these methods, which limit the practicality and adoption of these methods. This study seeks to understand the impact of product dissection, a design method widely utilized in academia and industry, on design novelty in order to produce recommendations for the use or alterations of this method for supporting novelty in design. To investigate the impact of dissection, a study was conducted with 76 engineering students who completed a team-based dissection of an electric toothbrush and then individually generated ideas. The relationships between involvement in the dissection activity, the product dissected, the novelty and quantity of the ideas developed were investigated. The results reveal that team members who were more involved in the dissection activity generated concepts that were more novel than those who did not. In addition, the type of the dissected product also had an influence on design novelty. Finally, a positive correlation between the number of ideas generated and the novelty of the design concepts was identified. The results from this study are used to provide recommendations for leveraging product dissection for enhancing novelty in engineering design education and practice.

Preferences and Correlated Uncertainties in Engineering Design

2003 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tomonori Honda ◽  
Erik K. Antonsson
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Variable ◽  
Design Space ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Performance Variables ◽  
Design Variables ◽  
Engineering Design Problems ◽  
Engineering Problems ◽  
And Performance

The Method of Imprecision (MOI) is a multi-objective design method that maximizes the overall degree of both design and performance preferences. Sets of design variables are iteratively selected, and the corresponding performances are approximately computed. The designer’s judgment (expressed as preferences) are combined (aggregated) with the customer’s preferences, to determine the overall preference for sets of points in the design space. In addition to degrees of preference for values of the design and performance variables, engineering design problems also typically include uncertainties caused by uncontrolled variations, for example, measuring and fabrication limitations. This paper illustrates the computation of expected preference for cases where the uncertainties are uncorrelated, and also where the uncertainties are correlated. The result is a “best” set of design variable values for engineering problems, where the overall aggregated preference is maximized. As is illustrated by the examples shown here, where both preferences and uncontrolled variations are present, the presence of uncertainties can have an important effect on the choice of the overall best set of design variable values.

Evaluating the impact of Idea-Inspire 4.0 on analogical transfer of concepts

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 431-448 ◽  
Author(s):  
L. Siddharth ◽  
Amaresh Chakrabarti
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Biological System ◽  
Biological Systems ◽  
Knowledge Bases ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Function Decomposition ◽  
Engineering Design Problems ◽  
Biological Domain ◽  
Biological Concepts ◽  
The Impact

AbstractThe biological domain has the potential to offer a rich source of analogies to solve engineering design problems. However, due to the complexity embedded in biological systems, adding to the lack of structured, detailed, and searchable knowledge bases, engineering designers find it hard to access the knowledge in the biological domain, which therefore poses challenges in understanding the biological concepts in order to apply these concepts to engineering design problems. In order to assist the engineering designers in problem-solving, we report, in this paper, a web-based tool called Idea-Inspire 4.0 that supports analogical design using two broad features. First, the tool provides access to a number of biological systems using a searchable knowledge base. Second, it explains each one of these biological systems using a multi-modal representation: that is, using function decomposition model, text, function model, image, video, and audio. In this paper, we report two experiments that test how well the multi-modal representation in Idea-Inspire 4.0 supports understanding and application of biological concepts in engineering design problems. In one experiment, we use Bloom's method to test “analysis” and “synthesis” levels of understanding of a biological system. In the next experiment, we provide an engineering design problem along with a biological-analogous system and examine the novelty and requirement-satisfaction (two major indicators of creativity) of resulting design solutions. In both the experiments, the biological system (analogue) was provided using Idea-Inspire 4.0 as well as using a conventional text-image representation so that the efficacy of Idea-Inspire 4.0 is tested using a benchmark.

scholarly journals EVALUATING THE IMPACT OF TABLET COMPUTERS ON DESIGN ENGINEERING

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Remon Pop-Iliev ◽  
Scott Nokleby ◽  
George Platanitis
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Design Tool ◽  
Free Form ◽  
Design Engineering ◽  
Pilot Program ◽  
Tablet Computers ◽  
Record Keeping ◽  
Cad Cam ◽  
The Impact

Since 2005, with the endowment of the NSERC-GMCL Chair in Innovative Design Engineering at UOIT, and the Laptop-based, web-centric teaching approach, an ideal setting for the creation, prompt adoption, and implementation of advanced and innovative practices in teaching design engineering have been implemented, in addition to the use of traditional methods. A pilot program was recently completed to evaluate the use of Tablets in an engineering course. Tablets are currently used by faculty for teaching purposes at UOIT, but the program aims to integrate the use of Tablets within courses in the engineering design curriculum, namely for using CAD/CAM/CAE software. As CAD software capabilities improve, greater memory and computer speed is required, making the currently used conventional Laptops less useful for engineering design. In addition, Laptops do not lend themselves to graphical, free-form idea generation. It is intended that Tablets, with improved memory and processing speed, will facilitate CAD software usage, and hence, improve and enhance the overall design learning and application experience. Also, students can take advantage of software such as Microsoft OneNote to create preliminary sketches of designs and improve record-keeping of decisions during team meetings. In this pilot program, Tablet computers were issued to students and instruction personnel in a fourth-year Advanced Mechatronics course at UOIT. In this context, students were able to more efficiently carry out design assignments for term design projects, and students and instructors were able to evaluate the benefits of using Tablets. Overall, it was determined that Tablets were better as an engineering design tool compared to traditional Laptops.

Can Design Teams Be Empathically Creative? A Simulation-Based Investigation on the Role of Team Empathy on Concept Generation and Selection

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mohammad Alsager Alzayed ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller ◽  
Jessica Menold ◽  
Jacquelyn Huff ◽  
Christopher McComb
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Process ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Computational Simulation ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
First Year ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Team Members ◽  
Design Activities ◽  
The Impact

Abstract Research on empathy has been surging in popularity in the engineering design community since empathy is known to help designers develop a deeper understanding of the users’ needs. Because of this, the design community has been invested in devising and assessing empathic design activities. However, research on empathy has been primarily limited to individuals, meaning we do not know how it impacts team performance, particularly in the concept generation and selection stages of the design process. Specifically, it is unknown how the empathic composition of teams, average (elevation) and standard deviation (diversity) of team members’ empathy, would impact design outcomes in the concept generation and selection stages of the design process. Therefore, the goal of the current study was to investigate the impact of team trait empathy on concept generation and selection in an engineering design student project. This was accomplished through a computational simulation of 13,482 teams of noninteracting brainstorming individuals generated by a statistical bootstrapping technique drawing upon a design repository of 806 ideas generated by first-year engineering students. The main findings from the study indicate that the elevation in team empathy positively impacted simulated teams’ unique idea generation and selection while the diversity in team empathy positively impacted teams’ generation of useful ideas. The results from this study can be used to guide team formation in engineering design.

Design Games for In-Situ Design

2013 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 1-22 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erik Kristiansen
Keyword(s):  
Computer Games ◽  
Design Method ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Design Methods ◽  
Design Work ◽  
Pervasive Games ◽  
Contextual Design ◽  
Game Board ◽  
Design Ideas

The mobile culture has spawned a host of context-based products, like location-based and tag-based applications. This presents a new challenge for the designer. There is a need of design methods that acknowledge the context and allows it to influence the design ideas. This article focuses on a design problem where an in-situ design practice may further the early design process: the case of designing a pervasive game. Pervasive games are computer games, played using the city as a game board and often using mobile phones with GPS. Some contextual design methods exist, but the author proposes an approach that calls for the designer to conceptualise and perform ideas in-situ, that is on the site, where the game is supposed to be played. The problem was to design a creativity method that incorporated in-situ design work and which generated game concepts for pervasive games. The proposed design method, called sitestorming, is based on a game using Situationistic individual exploration of the site and different types of game cards, followed by a joint evaluation of the generated ideas. A series of evaluations showed that the designers found the method enjoyable to use, that the method motivated idea generation, and that using in-situ design influenced their design ideas.

The Impact of Example Modality and Physical Interactions on Design Creativity

2014 ◽  
Vol 136 (9) ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine A. Toh ◽  
Scarlett R. Miller
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Three Dimensional ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Controlled Study ◽  
First Year ◽  
Design Creativity ◽  
Physical Interactions ◽  
2D And 3D ◽  
The Impact

Interacting with example products is an essential and widely practiced method in engineering design, yet little information exists on how the representation (pictorial or physical) or interaction a designer has with an example impacts design creativity. This is problematic because without this knowledge we do not understand how examples affect idea generation or how we can effectively modify or develop design methods to support example usage practices. In this paper, we report the results of a controlled study with first year engineering design students (N = 89) developed to investigate the impact of a designer's interaction with either a two-dimensional (2D) pictorial image or a three-dimensional (3D) product (through visual inspection or product dissection activities) and the resulting functional focus and creativity of the ideas developed. The results of this study reveal that participants who interacted with the physical example produced ideas that were less novel and less functionally focused than those who interacted with the 2D representation. Additionally, the results showed that participants who dissected the product produced a higher variety of ideas than those that visually inspected it. These results contribute to our understanding of the benefits and role of 2D and 3D designer-product interactions during idea development. We use these findings to develop recommendations for the use of designer-product interactions throughout the design process.

Influence of Different Representation of Requirements on Idea Generation: An Experimental Study

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akash Patel ◽  
Joshua D. Summers ◽  
Sourabh Karmakar
Keyword(s):  
Experimental Study ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Mechanical Engineering ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Problem Statement ◽  
Engineering Project ◽  
Design Problems ◽  
Is Research ◽  
Requirements Document ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The objective of this research is to understand how different representations of requirements influence idea generation in terms of quantity, addressment, sketch detail, novelty, and variety of conceptual sketches. Requirements are statements of need, desires, and wishes of the stakeholders that are used by engineers to frame the problem. Essentially, requirements are the raison d’etre for any engineering project. As the requirements document provides constraints and criteria for a design, it defines and determines the success of a project. While there is research studying the effect of requirements on the conceptual sketch, little study has focused one the impact of different requirement representations on solution development. An experimental study was conducted with 52 fourth year mechanical engineering undergraduate students. Two design problems were formulated with three different representations: a problem statement with embedded requirements, a problem statement and a traditional requirement list, and a problem statement with contextualized scrum stories. Each student was provided each design problems with two different representations of requirements. It was found that the use of contextualized scrum story representations significantly affected the conceptual sketch in the novelty of solution fragments and addressment of requirements, while no significant change in variety, sketch detail, and quantity was seen. Also, the contextualized representation positively affected all metrics but the sketch quantity. Finally, it was found that quantity is not directly related to the number of requirements addressed in the sketches.

Design Fixation and Its Mitigation: A Study on the Role of Expertise

2013 ◽  
Vol 135 (5) ◽  
Author(s):  
Vimal K. Viswanathan ◽  
Julie S. Linsey
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Design ◽  
Design Problem ◽  
Solution Space ◽  
Idea Generation ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Control Group ◽  
Design Fixation ◽  
Novice Designers ◽  
Novel Products

Engineering idea generation plays a vital role in the development of novel products. Prior studies have shown that designers fixate to the features of example solutions and replicate these features in their ideas. This type of fixation acts as a major hindrance in idea generation, as it restricts the solution space where designers search for their ideas. Building upon the study by Linsey et al. [2010, “A Study of Design Fixation, Its Mitigation and Perception in Engineering Design Faculty,” ASME Trans. J. Mech. Des., 132, 041003], this study hypothesizes that designers fixate to example features and this fixation can be mitigated using certain defixation materials including alternate representations of the design problem. To investigate this, the experiment conducted by Linsey et al. [2010] with engineering design faculty is replicated with novice designers. Participants generate ideas for a design problem in three groups: one group working with a fixating example, a second group working with the same example along with alternate representations of the design problem and a control group. The obtained results show that both the novice designers and design faculty fixate to the same extent, whereas the defixation materials have differential effect on the two groups. This result indicates that design researchers need to be very careful in developing methods and guidelines that are formulated and tested with studies on novice designers. The effectiveness of such measures may vary with the level of expertise of the designer.

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