The production of reusable gecko-inspired dry adhesives has traditionally been done with complex nanofabrication methods such as lithography and PDMS casting. This article presents a way of producing and testing dry adhesive samples using consumer-grade AM machines and equipment typically available in a Makerspace. The samples produced exhibit adhesive properties depending on the preload and surface structure, and we conclude that consumer-grade AM is suitable for rapid prototyping and testing of dry adhesion. However, it is limited by the scale and accuracy compared to traditional methods.

Composite filaments are getting increased attention in additive manufacturing (AM). More and better solutions for filament production are needed to assist researchers in discovering new materials capable of producing AM-made high-performance parts. This article presents a method for producing composite filament, including an open-source, low-cost automatic composite feeder designed to increase the accuracy and quality of the filament. The feeder includes a fibre screw designed through an iterative prototyping process to accurately control the filament's fibre percentage while reducing lumps' occurrence in a single step. An experiment evaluating the quality of filament made of Polylactic Acid (PLA) and carbon fibre (CF) tested the use of the feeder compared to manual mixing. Filament with a nominal diameter of 2.85mm with 4.5%, 7.9%, 11.2% and 14.5% CF was made. The results suggest that the composite feeder improved the filament quality. The filament diameter RMSE value was reduced from 0.08 to 0.06 and 0.15 to 0.13 for both 4.5% and 11.2%, respectively. The article concludes that the feeder design may help researchers develop and discover new materials while improving the quality of the filament.

In the last few years, the growing need of highly reliable and time-effective strategies to perform preliminary design of complex systems has led industries to adopt the Model Based System Engineering (MBSE) approach. In MBSE, systems are split into multiple sub-systems and the relevant physical phenomena are described via analytical or numerical models. When a significant number of design variables are to be considered, a smart approach to reduce the number of analyses to perform would be to make use of the Global Sensitivity Analysis (GSA) to higlight those variables that have a more significant influence on the system output. Moreover, an even more significant reduction of computational cost to perform the GSA can be achieved if the complex system modelled via the MBSE approach is exported under the Functional Mock-Up Interface (FMI) norm. In this context, this paper proposes an original approach to address the study of two constructive solutions of an acceleration measuring device typically used on airbags for which the use of a new solution characterized by a porous material is compared with a classical one.

This paper develops a novelty measure for patents. We devise a text-based novelty measure using natural language processing (NLP) techniques. The proposed method is applied on patents that belong to a common category, which represents a subset of patents under a specific patent class. We then extract the novelty-value profile of those patents and discuss a use case for product design and development (i.e., extracting patent novelty and predicting inventive value).

In Additive Manufacturing (AM), new generations of polymer composites presented as engineering- grade materials provide high-end mechanical properties with the design freedom AM provides. Interlayer anisotropy is the main challenge in both in-situ optimization and post-analysis in transitioning from prototypes to high-performance components in fused filament fabrication (FFF). Recent studies show a direct correlation between layer fusion temperature and mechanical properties. In this paper, we present synchronized position and temperature data and study how a component changes based on layer height and geometry. An IR sensor transfers data while printing a G-code generated by FullControllGcode, printing in a single direction and recording temperature in front of the nozzle. Results show that within each layer, a Δt of 20°C at thinner geometries, the heat loss will provide a reduction in mechanical properties and further heat loss occurs when moving away from the heated bed. By using the presented temperature mesh in further studies, post- printed anisotropic components can be analyzed by FEM, and the FFF process can be adaptively optimized based on location, size and geometry.

This paper presents an open-source novel intravenous cannulation task trainer developed during the Covid- 19 pandemic for unsupervised clinical skill practice. Multiple user errors were uncovered when observing 13 registered nurses using the task trainer during a two-hour unsupervised skill training session. These insights raise the question of how OSH needs to share more than just device descriptions and assembly instructions- as designs are being shared only in its current state of an ongoing project, sharing insights, user errors and test results should be encouraged and prioritized.

Developing appropriate assistive technology to be manufactured and maintained within the local context of a low-resource setting requires alternative design principles and designerly ways to those used when designing in, or for, more resourced regions of the world. This case study offers an empirical account of the design of SafariSeat, an all-terrain wheelchair which has been designed, tested, manufactured and turned into a sustainable enterprise in East Africa. The wheelchair was developed with intentions to reduce inequality and help alleviate poverty in low-resource communities by improving users' health, wellbeing and participation in society, whilst creating and facilitating local jobs to support communities. Having developed SafariSeat with a human-centred design approach, a local mindset, and prioritisation of usability and affordability, this case study is used to reflect on the applied design principles, practices and processes whilst providing contextual insights for other designers seeking to work in a similar way. The study discusses challenges encountered whilst designing in a low-resource setting, and highlights how local collaboration and partnerships can help lead to the creation of a more sustainable solution.

During the cold season, the cold protective products are often short during evacuation life after a natural disaster. If evacuees can make and wear simple cold protective gears by using materials obtainable on site, it will reduce the burden on the evacuees in emergent situation. Therefore, we investigated the structure constructed by folding newsprint paper, which can improve the heat retention effect and be applied to various body shapes. Focusing on the glide reflection structure repeating a smaller chamber, the basic size was determined by experiments with reference to the accordion shape, and the experimental results indicated that the heat retention effect was significantly greater than that of a mere air layer and those of ordinary fabrics. Next, it was found that the apex angle of structure had no significant difference in the heat retention effect. Then, the dimensions of the structure were determined to maintain the air layer under the pressure of the clothes by simulation of structural analyses. Finally, we made a temporary cold protective gear that can practically cover the trunk of the body and found that the heat retention effect was significantly higher than that of unprocessed newsprint and that of accordion shape.

Open-source hardware (OSH) development is a new design paradigm from a commercial perspective. Openly sharing designs of technical products is a step towards democratising access to new technologies for the benefit of individuals and communities in society. At the core of the open-source hardware definition lies the freedom for anyone to replicate the hardware based on the design. Thus, enabling this freedom is a step towards developing a successful OSH. Previous research supposes that a bill of materials and assembly instructions are enough for this. In this study, we question this assumption and investigate what other factors may influence replicability of an OSH. Using data from a survey and interviews with OSH practitioners, we identify and describe these factors, which relate to the documentation, the design and the context of the person replicating the hardware. Using these insights, we present a diagram of the replication process along with questions the person replicating the hardware would ask to check whether an OSH is replicable. Finally, we synthesise this information into practical advice for OSH projects to increase the replicability of the designs they produce, and thus the likelihood of their project's success.

Open source hardware is hardware whose design is shared online so that anyone can study, modify, distribute, make, and sell it. In spite of the increasing popularity of this alternative IP management approach, the field of OSH remains fragmented of diverse practices seeking for settlement. This challenges providers of groupware solutions to capture the specific needs of open source product development practitioners. This contribution therefore delivers a list of basic requirements and verifies them by comparing offered functions of existing groupware solutions.

Computer tools are commonly used to assess designs. We develop a toolchain using open source code libraries in Python to provide an open source, interactive robust design improvement toolchain. A reference folder contains a script that reads an input parameter value file and runs the simulation. The toolchain executes uncertainty quantification steps by replicating the reference folder. This is repeated for design points, and mean and sigma graphs generated versus each design variable. This fits within a workflow of defining variation modes, design variables, and toolchain execution.

The open source design (OSD) is an autonomous community dedicated to design new hardware products, peer-to-peer, with collaborative design and intellectual property copyleft, using web platforms to share projects. The research about these platforms indicates absence of important configuration management features as versioning, headlines and coding. One possible explanation for such finding is that these products are developed by non-designers. This argument was investigated comparing projects from two OSD communities, on the same theme, but with different origins. The hypothesis is that academically-influenced communities present better design management practices for repositories than others created by non-specialists. The hypothesis was not verified and the results show that there is no difference in the proportion of BO types or level of detail. However, it was identified five distinct characteristics: those of academic origin the communication is better detailed, the purpose is associated with methodological support, the structure of information promotes redundancy, the target-audience is the technicians and the success of project is associated with the number of interactions.

University incubators are an opportunity to promote the dissemination of research, change teaching practices and contribute to territorial economic development. In this article we present a structural and dynamic analysis of such an innovation system of a Swedish eco-innovation system by proposing elements for analysing the success of such innovation systems.

Free contributors have successfully shown the potential in large/complex software co-creation in the Free and Open Source Software Movement, triggering many discussions and exploration ventures from academia to industry and to the government. Though many research efforts explored whether the same level of co-creation efforts could take place broadly in the hardware realm, very few research studies focus on profit-seeking hardware projects initiated by companies. In fact, the specific nature of being tangible and profitable makes company-led open source hardware projects suspicious to be really “open” to contributors. Community has been identified as the critical driver in many open projects. By reviewing the evolution of company-community interactions over time and different community behaviors in different open development context, authors in this paper hope to identify best community- company interaction forms for open source hardware companies. Using grounded theory and case studies, we construct a framework to describe and identify company community's different behaviors and different roles.

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.

Analyzing value creation and capture mechanisms of open source hardware startup companies, this paper illustrates how an open source strategy can make economical sense for hardware startups. By interviewing 37 open source hardware company leaders, 12 company community members as well as analyzing forum data of 3 open source hardware companies; we realize that by open sourcing the design of hardware, a company can naturally establish its community, which is a key element for a company's success. Establishing a community can increase customer perceived value, decrease product development and sales cost, shorten product go-to-market time, and incubate startups with knowledge, experience and resources. These advantages can compensate for the risks associated with open source strategies and can make open source design a viable product development strategy for hardware startups.

Open source design of hardware products is an emerging phenomenon that takes more and more importance today's in the society. However, open source (hardware) design implies a tremendous change in both design practices and philosophy because it is partly related to the movements of creative commons and the sharing economy. From this perspective one could think that participation is crucial in the success of open source design projects. In this paper, we analyse 9 case studies in the light of 3 hypotheses. If many studies highlight the potential of the crowd as a resource for design tasks, our study shows that for open source design communities the participation is not massive. In this study, we used an activity-based approach to build our model. As open source design processes are fairly unstructured and based on voluntary participation, it is impossible to adopt a classical task-based model. With the help of this model, we were able evaluate the overall size of the active community, the participation rate with regards to the activities. This study paves the way to deeper and extensive studies on how to support communities engaged in open source design of hardware products.

The design of systems today often involves computer simulation to assess performance and design margins. Understanding how variability erases design margin is important to assure adequacy of margins, especially in optimization efforts. In this paper, we develop a toolchain using open source code libraries in Python, and encapsulate it in Jupyter notebooks, to provide an open source, interactive uncertainty quantification and sensitivity analysis toolchain. This works generally with simulation tools, where a reference folder is created containing a script that reads an input file of parameter values and runs the simulation. With that easily created, the toolchain executes the necessary uncertainty quantification steps with replicates of that reference folder. This approach fits within a broader workflow outlined that defines the variation modes to study, maps to simulation inputs, and screens the variables for sensitivity before conducting an uncertainty quantification. An example is shown in the simulation analysis of a Stirling engine.