The remote management of equipment is part of the functionalities granted by the design principles of Industry 4.0. However, some critical operations are managed by operators, machine setup and initialization serve as a significant illustration. Since the initialization is a repetitive task, industrial robots with a smart vision system can undertake these duties, enhancing the autonomy and flexibility of the manufacturing process. The smart vision system is considered essential for the implementation of several characteristics of Industry 4.0. This paper introduces a novel solution for controlling manufacturing machines using an embedded camera on the robot. This implementation requires the development of an interactive interface, designed in accordance with the supervision system known as Manufacturing Execution System. The framework is implemented inside a manufacturing cell, demonstrating a quick response time and an improvement between the cameras.

Precise sustainability assessment becomes increasingly important in decision-making, marketing, and regulations. Therefore, reliable and comparable LCA becomes mandatory. Currently, primary data is rarely available due to vastly complex value chains. Secondary data from eco-databases provide a remedy to estimate the sustainability impacts of up- and downstream processes. While giving insights and estimations, this data is seldom fitting exactly to the own processes and lacks comparability. Therefore, this paper proposes a method to close the gap between unreliable secondary data and unavailable primary data. This gap is to be closed by the integration of simulated process data. CAM is a tool during the work preparation to assess the design's manufacturability, decrease set-up times and optimize the NC code. However, integrating DES into LCA is still subject to research and will be discussed in this paper. This paper answers the question of the necessary steps to integrate the simulated production process in an LCA to increase the quality and reliability of sustainability indicators. A method is presented, and the implementation of the steps with the help of a developed assistance system on an example is performed.

A low cost robotic-assisted prototype for finger and hand rehabilitation of people affected by a stroke is presented. The system was developed by a team of undergraduate students led by a Design lecturer in collaboration with the Rehabilitation Unit of the Peñablanca Public Hospital in Chile.

The system consists of a flexion sensor equipped glove, a hand exoskeleton and an Arduino control unit. The patient wears the glove in his healthy hand. When s/he performs movements with the healthy hand, the sensors register the flexion of the fingers and send this information to the servo motors installed in an exoskeleton attached to the affected hand. In this way, the affected hand reproduces the movement of the healthy hand. The system uses a combination of the mirror therapy (the patient sees his/her affected hand moving in the same way that the healthy hand does) and passive exercising (as the exoskeleton produces the movement of the hand affected by the stroke). The combination of two types of therapy in a single low cost system makes the present work unique. In the near future, the developed prototype will be used to validate the effectiveness of the new proposed robotic therapy.

Prototypes are often used as a tool in the product development process and their usage is advised in many guidelines, frameworks and product development methods. Those prototypes achieve different goals of which most relate to getting new insights and information about the product in development. For the development of those prototypes however, significantly less development methods are available compared to the number of methods for the development of products. Investigating the process of using a prototype leads to the idea that the main purpose of those prototypes is describable as learning about the product. This idea is elaborated further and followed by the introduction of the detailed process model for prototyping which is primarily based on the detailed process model for products. However, the purpose of the prototype differs from the purpose of the product which leads to some significant changes of the model. To give an example of a prototyping process, the development of a sensor- integrating elastic claw coupling is introduced and analysed. In addition, this paper discusses the question, how other product development models may be applied to the development of prototypes.

When designing assistive devices for children with disabilities, designers mostly consider technical and functional aspects and overlook factors that affect their usage from children’s perspective. Therefore, in most cases, assistive devices do not fully meet the needs of the children and may create a negative effect on children’s well-being. To explore the opinion’s of children using 3D printed hand prosthetics in Country-Xx, individual generative sessions were conducted with four children with limb deficiency. Generative tools are used to engage children and encourage them to express themselves in relation to prosthesis use. The main aim was to investigate how children provide design relevant information that may help designers to achieve improved assistive devices that support children’s physical, emotional and social wellbeing. Children’s feedback related to prosthetic usage categorized under two topics; expectations of children for prosthesis use and children’s priority expectation for the prosthesis. The findings are argued to be useful and usable by NGOs, product designers and design researchers who work with children with disabilities.

The paper presents the application of non-specialized lexical database and semantic metrics on transcripts of co-design protocols. Three different and previously analyzed design protocols of co-creative sessions in the field of packaging design, carried out with different supporting tools, are used as test-bench to highlight the potential of this approach. The results show that metrics about the Information Content and the Similarity maps with sufficient precision the differences between ICT- and non-ICT-supported sessions so that it is possible to envision future refinement of the approach.

It is of vital importance to explore and understand future users' needs and requirements in the early phases of the product development process. However, in times of social distancing meeting users might not be possible. The project reported on in this paper has investigated the possibilities of conducting advanced user studies online. In total 30 small experimental studies have been conducted. Common digital tools that were used were e.g. Zoom, Teams, Mural, Miro, Snapchat, and Instagram.

The data was analyzed in a thematic content analysis by the authors on Mural. Identified challenges were excluding not tech-savvy user groups, missing out on interpersonal interaction and observations, as well as difficulties creating participant commitment and trust. On the positive side were perceived efficiency, a more levelled power distribution between participants, and ease of engagement and data retrieval for tech-savvy users.

Identified best practices included lowering social barriers through warm up activities and techniques to support open discussion during workshops. Furthermore, engagement could be supported through private social media groups, regular reminders, as well as clear communication of purpose and goal of the activities.

Additive manufacturing (AM) technologies enable the design of new products due to their potentials. The potential of function integration can be extended through a combination of AM with a component integrating technology forming a hybrid integrating additive manufacturing technology (hiAM). With a created development method optimization areas within a product are identified on a functional level using characteristics, structural configurations and integrated functional areas. These are derived analysing examples in literature. The method is applied to a mechanical arm and hand prosthesis.

This paper looks at the positive effects of partial status anonymity in face-to-face co-creation workshops. Results suggest that especially during the early phases of co-creation, i.e. idea generation, participants experience more freedom to express themselves without self-imposed barriers. We observed positive effects in terms of (1) lowering or even suspending the perceived status among team members, (2) increased motivation, (3) freedom to speak and positive disposition to listen, (4) willingness to consider perspectives from other team members.

Additive manufacturing methods present prospects for designed mechanical deformation via the integration of controlled anisotropic lattice structure forms. Their assimilation into a Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) process would create a novel framework for the design of compliant mechanisms (CM). The method uses lattice structures to replace rigid multi-part mechanisms, with integrated and controlled flexibility into a single, compact, and precise component. In recent years, a lot of research has gone into making algorithms that enable users to generate CMs for their designs. But by relying on algorithms to design solutions, are they neglecting to fully understand how these mechanisms work. This work undertakes the design and development of a novel DfAM Framework, that utilises controlled lattice structure deformations to create a standardised method of CM design. The authors have developed a method for this, whilst allowing users to tailor CMs to their design, by using a wide selection of pretested structures. Indicating suitable structures for their design using an integrated novel taxonomy. The framework is tested and developed using a series of case studies.

This study is grounded upon the cognitive process and knowledge representation, analyzes the differences in perceptions between designers and users by applying schema theory. Per design process, we disassembled the semantic words that represent the design concept, and re-construct the representative visual imagery library. We experimented the imagery library with selective designers and users, and through their selections of the images, we uncovered: 1. The differences largely exist in concept interpretation and imagery selection between designers and users, which has strong relationship with their different schema; 2. The experiment revealed the fact that designers are inclined to understand the concept by disassembling the elements, and have obvious tendency of professionalism, while users’ interpretation prefers complete forms and life-oriented; 3. As compared with users, designers relatively prefer brand-new, creative elements in selecting visualized representation.

Transferring natural language requirements to use case diagrams helps to avoid inherent ambiguities. However, this is usually a manual, time-consuming task that can be accelerated by utilizing Artificial Intelligence in terms of Natural Language Processing. Thus, this contribution proposes a conceptual framework for automatically grouping interrelated functional requirements and deriving use case diagrams by combining formerly isolated approaches. Moreover, the latter are evaluated by a qualitative potential analysis to support their future industrial application.

Despite its significant advantages in terms of design freedom and the wide range of processable materials, the Binder Jetting technology has not yet received substantial attention in the healthcare field, especially concerning the fabrication of metal components. Hence, the paper investigates how this technology could be exploited to innovate the medical instrument field. Based on selected case studies, some preliminary design indications are derived on how to properly consider the various phases (i.e., printing, depowdering, and sintering) and related challenges of the Binder Jetting process.

The value of models is well recognised in product and systems engineering. Modelling languages and diagrams are used to capture mental models and to handle model complexity. Literature research indicates that there are only very few approaches to utilise the potential of virtual and augmented reality for supporting tasks in model based (systems) engineering. The paper at hand contributes a new morphology of intuitive interaction for Immersive Abstraction as a holistic approach to extend that coverage. It presents a holistic framework to categorise solutions and future research directions.

Systems design, being a socio-technical discipline, is highly affected by available technologies, the global economy, the state of the environment, and social issues. Hence, in recent years, the ultimate objective of design started to shift from best-performance systems to ones providing value to customers, enterprises, and society. This paper presents a holistic concept of system value, equipping the stakeholders participating in the design process with a broad view of this measure. The contribution of this paper includes a proposal for general system value taxonomy, which can be used as a foundation for a comprehensive, case-specific, system value model (SVM). As an all-round perspective of value is possible only when all stakeholders are represented, we suggest deploying the PSI framework for mapping the relevant stakeholders. The system value analysis of Tesla's Model Y electrical vehicle is demonstrated, as a test case for SVM application. We conclude that a detailed analysis of SVM, performed by a carefully chosen group of diverse stakeholders, highlights less conventionally discussed aspects of the system during design decision processes, hence is expected to improve the system's overall value.

Sustainable production transition requires new paradigms and strategies, as well as alternative materials. Recently, an increasing number of innovative materials were developed. Such novelties greatly affected the design practice, widening the materic possibilities for designed products. However, traditional material classification does not apply well for these new materials trend. In this paper, the authors cooperated with design students to identify an iterative tracing activity of the new material trends for design, finalised to embed in the same work new tendencies that may rise in future.

The maker movement has garnered interest from many disparate fields, from engineering to business management, to behavioural science, to city planning. The reason for this interest no doubt stems from the promised potential of the maker movement to revolutionize not only product creation and manufacturing, but in extension the economy around it. This paper examines existing literature across disciplines for evidence of what the maker movement has achieved so far, with a focus on implications for the field of Industrial Design.

Design principles from the field of design engineering require that a product be designed as unambiguous, safe and simple as possible. Simplicity results on the one hand from an objective product-relevant side, on the other hand from the experience and knowledge of the user. A product that is perceived as simple by one person may seem complicated to another. From this, the questions arise, with which attributes simplicity can be described and how these are to be captured. In this paper, an evaluation system for the subjective attributes of simplicity is created using the fuzzy sets approach.

This paper analyses the use of design methods and information and communication technology (ICTs) tools in design sprint (DS) activities. Team members, team leaders, and coaches of five international student teams were interviewed (40 interviews in total) regarding their use of design methods and ICT tools during three DS activities: problem definition, conceptual design, and embodiment design. The results show that teams utilise various methods through three approaches: one method for the task, several methods for the task, or adjusting methods. Teams considered several aspects when deciding which method to utilise: the possibility of work distribution, the time needed to execute the method and their prior experience in using the method. The results on using ICT tools suggest that teams mainly use the collaborative whiteboard and Computer-aided design (CAD). In this context, tools that enable continuous sharing of the work in progress (e.g., cloud-based tools) show great potential for DS activities. Finally, the results show a potential to integrate various tools in order to enable easy transition between tasks (e.g., a transition from collaborative whiteboard to CAD modelling).

Engineering standards are an important source of knowledge in product development. Despite the increasing digitalisation, the provision and usage of standards is characterised by lots of manual steps. This research paper aims at applying automatic knowledge graph creation in the domain of engineering standards to enable machine-actionable standards. For this, a formula knowledge graph ontology as well as suitable information extraction techniques are developed. The concept is validated using the example of DIN ISO 281, showing the overall capability of automatic knowledge graph creation.