‘Future Factories’: developing individualised production methods

'Future Factories' is an exploration of the possibilities for flexibility in the manufacture of artefacts inherent in digitally driven production techniques. The concept considers individualised production – in which a random element of variance over parameters such as the relative positioning of features, scale, proportion, surface texture, and the like is introduced by the computer within a parameter envelope defined by the designer. This paper is the feasibility study of, and design of, a production system for the 'Future Factories' concept. In 'Future Factories', a production system is envisaged in which the consumer is presented with a 3D digital model of the design. The design is presented as an animation showing the design morphing within a parameter envelope specified by the designer. At any given point the consumer may freeze the design, place an order, and generate the relevant digital production files (.stl etc.). A unique, individual artefact will then be manufactured using Rapid Prototyping techniques. This may be achieved directly, via Stereo Laser Sintering in a suitable material for example, or indirectly via the production of a single use tool or pattern. This paper presents results from research conducted as part of the Designer in Residence project at the School of Design Technology, University of Huddersfield. Firstly a selection of design concepts with associated parameter envelopes are created using relevant 3D design software. Animations are then created showing the design moving within its parameter envelope. A new computer program is being developed to enable the generation of digital production files direct from a selected animation frame. There will be a study of existing rapid prototyping techniques with regard to their suitability for direct manufacture of this type and speculation on future potential

Evolving individualised consumer products

The origins of this project began in 2002 with experimentation into the application of computer generated random form to 3D product design. Advances in the Rapid Prototyping industry were offering the possibility of mass-produced one-off consumer products. Computer based 3D solid models were created that would randomly mutate within parameter envelopes set by the designer. At any given point the mutation could be halted and a real-world product generated via digital manufacture (Rapid Prototyping). This fi rst stage of the work has already been reported on (Atkinson and Dean, 2003). The next phase of the program has been to introduce evolutionary development so that, via the computer generated random mutation, the model develops generation by generation in a desired direction (though not necessarily to a predictable outcome). This requires an element of selection. There are several examples of computer based evolutionary design experiments that use human by-eye selection methods, notably Richard Dawkins’ ‘Biomorph’ system (Dawkins 1993). The aim of this project is an automated system that selects on some measure of desirability and rejects outright any functional failures. Each FutureFactories product form is defined by a parametric CAD (Computer-Aided-Design) model. When evolution is initiated, a series of mutant designs are generated each with a single parameter, selected at random, adjusted by a small pre-determined step. The step may be positive or negative; this again is determined at random. The resulting set of mutant progeny is then assessed for their visual ‘success’ using a quotient. The quotient aims to access the level of visual interest in a form. As the application is 3D products, there are physical parameters to consider, for instance ‘hard points’ generated by the envelopes of internal components which may not be intruded upon. If any of the offspring do not meet the necessary physical criteria they are rejected. Animation is employed to extrapolate between iteration to present the evolution as a smooth metamorphosis. Product forms and associated development criteria have been created capable of evolutionary development over many generations. The resulting designs are both surprising and unpredictable

‘Future factories’: teaching Techné

The phenomenon of the ‘Artist-in-Residence’ has a long-standing precedent in many areas of social and business activity where the imperative to present a different perspective on a number of aspects of everyday activity and to bring art into otherwise aesthetically impoverished environments has been seen to be of great benefit. Consequently, their appearance in corporations and state institutions is well known. Their place in an art education setting is perhaps less frequent, but by no means unusual, as the educational value of regular exposure to a ‘qualified’ or ‘experienced’ practitioner carrying out their own work has long been recognised. However, the use of a ‘Designer-in-Residence’ in a design for production education setting (as opposed to a designer-maker or craft environment) is perhaps even less well documented. The School of Design Technology at the University of Huddersfield recently decided to allocate an amount of research funding to provide an ‘Artist-in-Residence’ to work alongside Fine Art students, and a ‘Designer-in-Residence’ to work alongside Product and Transport design students for a period of one year. The detailed description of the role of the Designer-in-Residence in educational terms; the benefits to students in improving project management and time planning; and seeing the pace of professional design work in real time are substantial, but perhaps the subject of a slightly different paper to this one. Here, we wish instead to concentrate not so much on the process of using a Designer-in-Residence, but on the content of the particular project being undertaken, the far-reaching implications the work has for the practice of design and design education both on a theoretical and philosophical as well as a more pragmatic level. The title of the project ‘Future Factories’ describes the exploration of the potential for the direct digital manufacturing, using the latest CAD 3D modelling and rapid prototyping techniques, in which a random element of variance is introduced by the computer software. The outputs from this practice-based research project are expected to consist of a number of inspirational products produced as a result of the residency itself, which will be exhibited in a traditional gallery environment and later digitally – either on-line or by CD-ROM dissemination. Alongside the practice-based research outputs, it is hoped there will be a publication describing the parallel Designer-in-Residence and Artist-in-Residence projects at Huddersfield in a pedagogic context, as well as a number of different academic papers (of which this is one) addressing the different theoretical and contextual issues raised by the content of the ‘Future Factories’ project

From Vernacular to Personalised and Sustainable

open access articleThe social and environmental role of closed oriental balco-nies (Mashrabiyas) remains a significant vernacular aspect of Middle Eastern architecture. However, changes in architectural style, social needs, and the high manufacturing cost of Mashrabiya materials and techniques, Bahraini houses lost their very distinctive window veils. The research aims to validate a new Mashrabiya product for 21st cen-tury Bahraini houses using new manufacturing technologies. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is now at the heart of evolutionary technologies. Contextual information drawn from relevant theory, ethnography and practice is used to form a methodological framework for the new AM Mashrabiya. Additionally, interviews with architects, manufacturers and residents are the methods used to define a new AM Mashrabiya prototype that is then functionally and economically compared to oth-er manufacturing techniques. Prototypes of new AM screens are de-veloped. The main results set boundaries for the viability of AM to produce Mashrabiya and promote a sustainable way of reviving their use within Middle Eastern dwellings

Contrast Adaptation Contributes to Contrast-Invariance of Orientation Tuning of Primate V1 Cells

BACKGROUND: Studies in rodents and carnivores have shown that orientation tuning width of single neurons does not change when stimulus contrast is modified. However, in these studies, stimuli were presented for a relatively long duration (e. g., 4 seconds), making it possible that contrast adaptation contributed to contrast-invariance of orientation tuning. Our first purpose was to determine, in marmoset area V1, whether orientation tuning is still contrast-invariant with the stimulation duration is comparable to that of a visual fixation. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We performed extracellular recordings and examined orientation tuning of single-units using static sine-wave gratings that were flashed for 200 msec. Sixteen orientations and three contrast levels, representing low, medium and high values in the range of effective contrasts for each neuron, were randomly intermixed. Contrast adaptation being a slow phenomenon, cells did not have enough time to adapt to each contrast individually. With this stimulation protocol, we found that the tuning width obtained at intermediate contrast was reduced to 89% (median), and that at low contrast to 76%, of that obtained at high contrast. Therefore, when probed with briefly flashed stimuli, orientation tuning is not contrast-invariant in marmoset V1. Our second purpose was to determine whether contrast adaptation contributes to contrast-invariance of orientation tuning. Stationary gratings were presented, as previously, for 200 msec with randomly varying orientations, but the contrast was kept constant within stimulation blocks lasting >20 sec, allowing for adaptation to the single contrast in use. In these conditions, tuning widths obtained at low contrast were still significantly less than at high contrast (median 85%). However, tuning widths obtained with medium and high contrast stimuli no longer differed significantly. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Orientation tuning does not appear to be contrast-invariant when briefly flashed stimuli vary in both contrast and orientation, but contrast adaptation partially restores contrast-invariance of orientation tuning

Towards a Muon Collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work.Comment: 118 pages, 103 figure

Towards a muon collider

A muon collider would enable the big jump ahead in energy reach that is needed for a fruitful exploration of fundamental interactions. The challenges of producing muon collisions at high luminosity and 10 TeV centre of mass energy are being investigated by the recently-formed International Muon Collider Collaboration. This Review summarises the status and the recent advances on muon colliders design, physics and detector studies. The aim is to provide a global perspective of the field and to outline directions for future work

The James Webb Space Telescope Mission

Twenty-six years ago a small committee report, building on earlier studies, expounded a compelling and poetic vision for the future of astronomy, calling for an infrared-optimized space telescope with an aperture of at least $4m$. With the support of their governments in the US, Europe, and Canada, 20,000 people realized that vision as the $6.5m$ James Webb Space Telescope. A generation of astronomers will celebrate their accomplishments for the life of the mission, potentially as long as 20 years, and beyond. This report and the scientific discoveries that follow are extended thank-you notes to the 20,000 team members. The telescope is working perfectly, with much better image quality than expected. In this and accompanying papers, we give a brief history, describe the observatory, outline its objectives and current observing program, and discuss the inventions and people who made it possible. We cite detailed reports on the design and the measured performance on orbit.Comment: Accepted by PASP for the special issue on The James Webb Space Telescope Overview, 29 pages, 4 figure

What Design Research Does ... : 62 Cards Highlighting the Power and Impact of UK-based Design Research in Addressing a Range of Complex Social, Economic, Cultural and Environmental Issues

Design research makes a significant contribution to the UK economy and society as a whole. Ever since the establishment of the Government Schools of Design in the nineteenth century, the UK has been widely acknowledged as an international leader in design research. Following this lead, the What Design Research Does… cards highlight the wide range of social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts that design research, funded and based in the UK, makes all over the world. The 62 cards illustrate unambiguously the positive changes that contemporary UK-based design researchers are making in many complex issues. Each What Design Research Does… card lists the challenges and issues faced by the design researchers, who they collaborated with, the research methods and approaches taken, the outcomes of the design research, what the main results and findings have been, and what impact the design research has had. In short, the What Design Research Does… cards clearly articulate the breadth of social, economic, cultural and environmental impacts that UK-based design researchers are achieving today