Browsing by Subject "Design methodology"

Now showing 1 - 9 of 9
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    Autobiographical memories and design
    (2004) Pecha, Shelley Marie; Olsen, Daniel M., 1963-
    As a designer who has frequent emotional bonds with objects and places, I became curious as to how and why these things captivate me. Why do we cherish what we do? Is it possible to design with this in mind and make meaningfulness an intrinsic part of the design process and outcome? Since our past experiences make up who we are as people, individually and collectively, I start my design investigations with autobiographical memories. Through this methodology I have found a way to capture the essence of memories and present them in new forms. Do these new forms have a deeper level of meaning? The following is my 2-year experiment to try to find out.
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    Design pro-action : the development of a process
    (2002) Nityananda, Ajay; Catterall, Kate
    In the course of this report I discuss the route that I took to come to an understanding of Design and its societal role, the development of a context for my work, and the nature of my design process. I thereby hope to lay bare the rudiments of the “system” behind my process, and final work--in other words, my methodology. Additionally, I clarify my views on Design’s disciplinary position vis-à-vis scientific and technological disciplines. I also espouse a vision wherein Design assumes a defining position within modern human society. Accompanying this vision is my call for a more active Design practice, in support of which I have outlined the possibilities inherent in the specific innovation of the pro-active object.
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    Design toward dialogue : a graphic design methodology
    (2004) Paredes, Xochitl Angela; Taylor, Chris, 1965-
    This report emphasizes the social design aspect possible in graphic design. It focuses on creating a dialectical environment where critical thinking can begin and flourish. A methodology of graphic design is presented as it relates to social design. How this methodology was created is discussed by presenting what is contrary, what is analogous to it, as well as, introducing positive design influences. Terms relating to this methodology are defined. Finally, works by the author are submitted as examples of how this graphic design methodology functions.
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    Development of a design methodology and application to advance the field of highly mobile robotics
    (2011-05) Pace, Patrick Wayne; Wood, Kristin L.; Wood, John J.
    Developing innovative ideas as part of engineering design can be limited by the field of technology and the engineer's or design team's understanding of the field. Without sufficient understanding of an emerging technical field, ideation may be hampered by reinventing the proverbial wheel or by a lack of knowledge of the underlying physical principles and state of technology. The research presented here seeks to develop a tool and methodology intended to strengthen a designer’s or design team’s understanding of a field and relevant technologies in order to foster creative and innovative solutions. The presented inductive methodology consists of conducting a thorough review of existing relevant developing or commercially available technologies in order to obtain characteristic property data to be used as a basis of understanding. Analysis of the plotted data may lead to understanding existing trends, identifying voids where opportunities exist to expand the design space and general insights into the field. The effectiveness of using empirical data to look for innovation is investigated in the domain of highly mobile robots. Senior cadets from USAFA and UT Austin perform concept generation sessions before and after utilizing the proposed methodology to validate the effectiveness of the approach. The study at UT Austin validates the proposed methodology by measuring the quantity, quality, and novelty of the concepts generated before and after exposure to the methodology. These experiments demonstrate that state-of-technology design tools provide an effective foundation and platform for designers to generate a larger quantity of concepts. To further investigate the effectiveness of the proposed methodology, it is used to develop a device within the field of highly mobile robotics. There exist applications of highly mobile robots which require innovative solutions with regard to overcoming obstacles, payload capacity, energy storage and minimizing power requirements. The methodology allows for the development of innovative concepts, and the embodiment and manufacture of a particular solution. The mechanical design solutions to multiple design challenges are presented, and the prototyped device proves capable of expanding the existing design space in terms of its performance with respect to the metrics mentioned above.
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    Experiences of rupture
    (2005) Carroll, Ledia Pearl; Taylor, Chris, 1965-
    I am interested in a mode of inquiry that reveals existing conditions to people through direct experience of an artifact or phenomena. My work ranges from objects, to overt experience, to the documentation of observed situations. These projects tend to be situated in and use materials from both natural and constructed landscapes. They are science or mapping projects that explore fundamental aspects of the world. When they provide multiple perspectives at once they blur boundaries between indoors and outdoors, above and below, the past and the present, or socially permitted and not allowed. Through these projects, I create open conditions of possibility, of rupture, and lines of flight from the everyday experience of time. This document is divided into four distinct sections. First I will outline some art movements that have made me think about the seamlessness and rupture in daily experience. Then I will examine representation systems that are generative for my work and follow with a section on my design methodology. The final section describes my projects.
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    Foundations of a reverse engineering methodology
    (2011-05) Guillory, Jeremy Barrett; Wood, Kristin L.; Crawford, Richard H.
    Reverse engineering is broadly defined as the process of analyzing existing products to learn how to create better products in the future. Including reverse engineering as part of the engineering design process can provide a number of benefits, including a more thorough understanding of existing products, lower cost for the redesign of products, and faster times to market. While reverse engineering can be applied to a wide range of domains, this thesis deals with methodologies for extracting technical data from electro-mechanical products for the purpose of recreating them functionally and dimensionally, to an acceptable level of accuracy. An integrated and evolved reverse engineering methodology is presented. This new methodology is built upon previous work, and results from an effort to integrate all previous methods into the simplest and most useful form. Five novel reverse engineering techniques are introduced to solve problems previously unaddressed in the literature: Bounding Pertinent Geometry, Reassembly by Function, Determining Sample Size, Estimating Production Volume and Accounting for Physical Degradation. Throughout the thesis, a running example of the reverse engineering of the Craftsman Auto Hammer is used to illustrate the application of the evolved methodology.
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    Lifestreaming as a life design methodology
    (2010-05) Mullen, Jessica E.; Catterall, Kate; Hall, Peter
    My research explores the potential of lifestreaming as a life design methodology. Life design is the design of one’s daily activities, habits and relationships. Like graphic or industrial design, life design can be approached using a specific methodology to solve problems–in the case of life design, problems of individual, daily life. “Lifestream” was first defined by computer scientist David Gelernter as a software architecture consisting of a time-ordered stream of documents. Lifestreaming has evolved into the act of documenting and sharing aspects of daily existence online. A lifestream website collects the things you choose to publish (e. g., photos, tweets, videos, or blog posts) and displays them in reverse-chronological order. Putting one’s life online might provide the critical perspective to help redesign it. After practicing lifestreaming for two years and performing four lifestream website experiments, I have devised a lifestreaming system that encourages users to gain more control over personal advancement and deliberate decision-making.
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    Methodology for creating human-centered robots : design and system integration of a compliant mobile base
    (2012-05) Wong, Pius Duc-min; Sentis, Luis; Deshpande, Ashish
    Robots have growing potential to enter the daily lives of people at home, at work, and in cities, for a variety of service, care, and entertainment tasks. However, several challenges currently prevent widespread production and use of such human-centered robots. The goal of this thesis was first to help overcome one of these broad challenges: the lack of basic safety in human-robot physical interactions. Whole-body compliant control algorithms had been previously simulated that could allow safer movement of complex robots, such as humanoids, but no such robots had yet been documented to actually implement these algorithms. Therefore a wheeled humanoid robot "Dreamer" was developed to implement the algorithms and explore additional concepts in human-safe robotics. The lower mobile base part of Dreamer, dubbed "Trikey," is the focus of this work. Trikey was iteratively developed, undergoing cycles of concept generation, design, modeling, fabrication, integration, testing, and refinement. Test results showed that Trikey and Dreamer safely performed movements under whole-body compliant control, which is a novel achievement. Dreamer will be a platform for future research and education in new human-friendly traits and behaviors. Finally, this thesis attempts to address a second broad challenge to advancing the field: the lack of standard design methodology for human-centered robots. Based on the experience of building Trikey and Dreamer, a set of consistent design guidelines and metrics for the field are suggested. They account for the complex nature of such systems, which must address safety, performance, user-friendliness, and the capability for intelligent behavior.
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    Using the FRDPARRC design methodology to drive innovation in the HETDEX PFIP support adjustable strut assembly
    (2010-12) Molina, Homar; Nichols, Steven P.; Beno, Joseph H.
    This thesis provides background information on the Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET), HET Dark Energy Experiment (HETDEX), Gough-Stewart platforms (GSP), the Prime Focus Instrument Package (PFIP) support structure, and the design methodology used to design said support structure. Each component is analyzed from the point of view of Professor Alex Slocum’s FRDPARRC design methodology. Each aspect of the design is shown to have been derived by following the steps of Slocum’s design method. Material selection, manufacturing techniques, and integration of off-the-shelf components into the support system are also discussed in reference to FRDPARRC. The assembly procedure for the PFIP structure is outlined. Finally, using specific examples from the detailed design, the FRDPARRC method itself is analyzed and its ability to drive innovation in design is evaluated.