Tableau de manipulation pour patients atteints de la maladie d'Alzheimer

L'invention TIPATSMA (Tableau Interactif pour Patients atteints de Troubles Sévères de la Maladie d'Alzheimer) se rapporte à un tableau interactif destiné aux patients atteints de la maladie d'Alzheimer

PLM and design education: a collaborative experiment on a mechanical device

The authors would like to thanks Ms Andia Montes C. and Mr Nelson J. for their helpful suggestions received during this experimentThe shift from sequential to concurrent engineering has initiated changes in the way design projects are managed. In order to assist designers, numerous effective tools have been devised for collaborative engineering, which are also well suited to the business world. Faced with these new challenges, practices in design training must evolve to allow students to be mindful of these evolutions as well as to be able to manage projects in these new work environments. After presenting a state of the art of collaborative tools used in product design, our paper presents an experiment focusing on the codesign of a complex mechanical product. This experiment was carried out between two centers of the Arts et Metiers ParisTech School of Engineering, located in Paris and Angers. We analyze the results obtained in this experiment and discuss some ways to improve future projects for inter-centre training programs in design engineering.The shift from sequential to concurrent engineering has initiated changes in the way design projects are managed. In order to assist designers, numerous effective tools have been devised for collaborative engineering, which are also well suited to the business world. Faced with these new challenges, practices in design training must evolve to allow students to be mindful of these evolutions as well as to be able to manage projects in these new work environments. After presenting a state of the art of collaborative tools used in product design, our paper presents an experiment focusing on the codesign of a complex mechanical product. This experiment was carried out between two centers of the Arts et Metiers ParisTech School of Engineering, located in Paris and Angers. We analyze the results obtained in this experiment and discuss some ways to improve future projects for inter-centre training programs in design engineering

The value of TRIZ and its derivatives for interdisciplinary group problem solving

The value of TRIZ for technological problem solving is widely recognized. Initially designed for an inventor working (alone) on a technical problem, it is today often used as a tool for group creativity. In this article, we report on a an experiment which was designed in order to investigate the value of concepts and tools of TRIZ and its derivatives like USIT for joint problem identification, modeling and creative problem solving in a non-technological domain by multidisciplinary teams. Further, we briefly discuss the categorization of the outcome of the creative process by a combination of TRIZ and USIT analysis tools

Collaborative design tools in engineering education: Insight to choose the appropriate PLM software

The shift from sequential to concurrent engineering has led to changes in the way design projects are managed. In order to assist designers, many effective tools have been developed to support collaborative engineering. Nowadays, industrial scenarios encourage companies to adopt product lifecycle management solutions, even if they may not be able to understand their benefits. Indeed, product lifecycle management roadmap is quite difficult to implement and return on invest can take time. Moreover, many free solutions with comparable functionalities are developed, which have been increasingly successful. In this article, we test different configurations of software to make a comparison between free software and market solutions. In this experiment, 72 students in a Master’s degree course aimed to design mechanical products by using dedicated software to assist collaborative distributed design, using two different configurations: free and commercial solutions. The research question to be solved is: as engineering educators, what is the most efficient way to train our students to collaborative distributed design? This experiment allowed us to compare design functionalities between the two configurations, in order to determine ways to improve efficiency in a collaborative distributed design situation. Finally, the feedback generated in this experiment allowed us to adapt training practices in engineering education

A Shared Framework of Reference, a First Step Toward Engineers’ and Biologists’ Synergic Reasoning in Biomimetic Design Teams

Biomimetic practice requires a diverse set of knowledge from both biology and engineering. Several researchers have been supporting the integration of biologists within biomimetic design teams in order to meet those biological requirements and improve the effectiveness of biomimetic processes. However, interdisciplinarity practices create well-known communication challenges. Based on functional representations (like SAPPhIRE or function behavior structure (FBS)), several approaches to model biological information have been investigated in the literature. Nonetheless, actual communication processes within interdisciplinary biomimetic design teams are yet to be studied. Following this research axis, this publication focuses on communication noises and wonders if a shared framework of reference can be defined to improve communication between biologists and engineers? Through the comparison of processes and graphic representations between biology and engineering design, a set of guidelines is defined to structure a shared framework of reference. Within this framework, a new tool referred to as LINKAGE is then proposed to assist interdisciplinary communication during the biomimetic process

Biological Practices and Fields, Missing Pieces of the Biomimetics’ Methodological Puzzle

Facing current biomimetics impediments, recent studies have supported the integration within biomimetic teams of a new actor having biological knowledge and know-how. This actor is referred to as the “biomimetician” in this article. However, whereas biology is often considered a homogenous whole in the methodological literature targeting biomimetics, it actually gathers fundamentally different fields. Each of these fields is structured around specific practices, tools, and reasoning. Based on this observation, we wondered which knowledge and know-how, and so biological fields, should characterize biomimeticians. Following the design research methodology, this article thus investigates the operational integration of two biological fields, namely ecology and phylogenetics, as a starting point in the establishment of the biomimetician’s biological tools and practices. After a descriptive phase identifying specific needs and potential conceptual bridges, we presented various ways of applying biological expertise during biomimetic processes in the prescriptive phase of the study. Finally, we discussed current limitations and future research axes

Biomimetics, where are the biologists?

Engineering design, as the science framing the practice of design through the elaboration of tools and processes, is constantly evolving towards new innovative strategies. To thrive in their extremely competitive environment, it appears that both industrial and natural worlds are highly dependent on innovation, optimisation and selection. These commonalities have led designers to look to living beings for inspiration. This innovation strategy, referred to as biomimetics, isn’t a new approach but its methodological aspects are still under development. This article deals with biologists’ contribution throughout the biomimetic design process. After introducing the context and the experimental protocol, we investigated the impact of possessing a background in biology during the practice of biomimetics and compared our findings with experts’ opinion. The main idea of this article is to show that to forego the integration of biologists is highly restrictive and may be one of the reasons explaining the difficulties of implementing biomimetics in the industrial context. Hence, this article argues for a new methodological framework taking into account biologists, allowing biomimetic teams to become truly interdisciplinary

PLM and design education: a collaborative experiment on a mechanical device

The authors would like to thanks Ms Andia Montes C. and Mr Nelson J. for their helpful suggestions received during this experimentThe shift from sequential to concurrent engineering has initiated changes in the way design projects are managed. In order to assist designers, numerous effective tools have been devised for collaborative engineering, which are also well suited to the business world. Faced with these new challenges, practices in design training must evolve to allow students to be mindful of these evolutions as well as to be able to manage projects in these new work environments. After presenting a state of the art of collaborative tools used in product design, our paper presents an experiment focusing on the codesign of a complex mechanical product. This experiment was carried out between two centers of the Arts et Metiers ParisTech School of Engineering, located in Paris and Angers. We analyze the results obtained in this experiment and discuss some ways to improve future projects for inter-centre training programs in design engineering

Tableau de manipulation pour patients atteints de la maladie d'Alzheimer

L'invention TIPATSMA (Tableau Interactif pour Patients atteints de Troubles Sévères de la Maladie d'Alzheimer) se rapporte à un tableau interactif destiné aux patients atteints de la maladie d'Alzheimer

Integration of an eco-design process within an SME: knowledge feedback on a recent development of a new range of hospital carts

Nowadays, in order to face increasing competition, businesses must differentiate through innovation, but also crucially by positioning themselves with respect to environmental concerns, in order to improve brand image. SMEs are particularly plagued with a lack in human, financial and time resources to integrate such aspects to design. In this paper, we propose a gradual approach (short-, medium- and long-term) to implement an eco-design process in SMEs. This process comprises four stages: analysis, sensitisation, eco-design strategy and sustained improvement. A first experimentation, in collaboration with a SME (MulTiroir-Controlec), allowed us to integrate this eco-design process in the development of a new product range of hospital carts. We present the results of the product development as well as an experience feedback on the project; today the company integrates this eco-design approach in its strategy