Session: 02-06-01: eXtended Reality & Digital Design

Paper Number: 145588

145588 - A Design Tool to Support Decisions on the Use of Digital vs. Physical Prototyping 

Design planning is essential to successful design implementation.  A critical part of this planning is the strategy for prototyping.  A variety of aspects of prototyping can be planned, including the number of concepts developed in parallel, the number of prototype iterations, separate subsystem prototyping, and the use of scaling.  Another key aspect of prototyping strategy is deciding if digital or physical prototyping will be used (or both).  In many design challenges, it can be difficult to determine which prototyping option are best. This current research provides a method specifically for assisting designers as they make decisions regarding the creation of digital and/or physical prototypes.  The method uses a weighted design matrix (WDM) based on three critical aspects of the design process: cost, schedule and performance. 

The WDM requires designers to rate effectiveness of both digital and physical prototyping options  as these options impact cost, schedule and performance. Performance is further broken down into two subcategories that rate the ability of the prototype (digital or physical) to delight stakeholders and to meet design requirements.  As the design team builds the WDM, bar graphs are automatically generated for cost, schedule and performance; visually indicating preference for digital or physical prototyping in an easy-to-assess manner. 

A second part of the WDM method asks the design team to rate flexibility vs. rigidity of the cost schedule and performance aspects of the project.  This is used to weight the bar graphs for cost, schedule and performance.  For example, if cost is rated as very rigid, but schedule is flexible, then the weighted input to the bar graph for cost will increase and schedule will decrease.   A third part of the WDM method allows design teams to evaluate both their skill set and also the team’s resources in the areas of digital vs. physical prototyping.  This is also used to weight the bar graphs that show preference for digital or physical prototyping.  For example, if a design team indicates they have very little competence in the digital prototyping area, then that is reflected in a decrease in the preference for digital prototyping. 

Previous work on this topic was published with only limited substantiation of the validity of the method.  Specifically, student prototyping teams were asked to evaluate the WDM method post-hoc by stepping through the method and examining whether using the method before beginning prototyping would have altered the actual prototyping strategy the teams implemented for their projects.  The evaluation suggested some utility for the WDM method because it indicated that the team’s prototyping strategies would have been altered if WDM had been originally utilized.   However, since the assessment was performed post-hoc, it does not robustly confirm whether this method improves prototyping strategic outcomes or overall project success rates.

The research reported here has two new aspects that build on previous work.  First, we have altered the process for using the WDM based on feedback from initial users to improve its usability and effectiveness.  Second, this paper reports on assessment of the WDM method, as used in its intended sequence, where the WDM is implemented as a decision-aid tool, before the prototyping process has taken place.   Two project design teams used the WDM method as part of the prototype planning process, and in both cases, the WDM was seen to positively impact the planning.  The teams also provided their perceived assessments on the ease-of-use and clarity of the WDM process.  Again, the results were positive, and suggest next steps and new areas of research for prototype planning decision tools.

Presenting Author: Dan Jensen Westmont College

Presenting Author Biography: Dr. Dan Jensen is the Westmont Endowed Professor of Engineering and the Director of the Engineering program at Westmont College. He was a Professor of Engineering Mechanics at the U.S. Air Force Academy for 21 years before he retired. He received his B.S. (Mechanical Engineering), M.S. (Applied Mechanics) and Ph.D. (Aerospace Engineering Science) from the University of Colorado at Boulder. He is a Fellow at the International Design Center (Co-located with Singapore University of Technology and Design and MIT). Dr Jensen has authored over 140 refereed papers and has been awarded (with collaborators) approximately $4.5 million of consulting and research grants.

Authors:

Dan Jensen Westmont College
Lindsey Mcintire Air Force Research Lab
John Mcintire Air Force Research Lab
Greg Reich Air Force Research Lab
Maria Judy Westmont College
Elijah Cicileo Westmont College