Biocards and Level of Abstraction

Biocards are formal descriptions of biological phenomena and their underlying functional principles. They are used in bioinspired design to document search results and to communicate the findings for use in the further design process. The present study explored the effect of abstraction level used in biocards. This was done in two workshops conducted with design students in Denmark and India. Students were given a design assignment and instructions for how to perform the BID ideation work. Half of the students were given biocards with abstract descriptions while the other half got biocards with concrete descriptions. The novelty of found solutions was evaluated by the students by rating novelty of each solution on a scale from 1 to 5. Mean values for abstract descriptions were 0,3 higher than for concrete descriptions indicating that more innovative solutions were found when students used biocards with abstract descriptions compared to concrete descriptions. The difference in mean value is significant with a confidence level better than 1%. It seems likely that more abstract descriptions in biocards helps avoiding design fixation in biomimetic design work

Comparing novelty of designs from biological-inspiration with those from brainstorming

This research aims to understand the significance of biological-analogies in fostering novelty by comparing biological-analogies with other design methods for idea generation. Among other design methods, brainstorming was chosen here as benchmark. Four studies were conducted to compare: (i) the levels of abstraction at which concepts were ideated using biological inspiration (represented using biocards) with that using traditional brainstorming; and (ii) the novelty of concepts produced by using these two design methods. Concepts produced in these studies were evaluated for levels of abstraction at which they were ideated, average novelty, and proportion of high-novelty concepts. Results suggest that concepts generated using biocards were ideated at higher abstraction levels than those using brainstorming, but neither were at the highest abstraction levels. The average novelty of concepts produced using biocards was found to be greater than that using brainstorming; however, no statistically significant difference was found in the proportion of high-novelty concepts. We suspect the lack of biological knowledge and cultural difference among the subjects involved in our studies as the two reasons behind the results. The results demonstrate that the design methods substantially influence the novelty of concepts generated, while indicating the need for better training in effective use of biological-analogies

Towards Automatic Classification of Description of Analogies into SAPPhIRE Constructs

The motivation behind this research is to aid designers in retrieving a large number of analogies relevant to the design problem under consideration. The objective of the work reported here is to automatically classify natural-language descriptions of analogies into constructs of SAPPhIRE model of causality-a common causal language that was developed for describing the functioning of natural and artificial systems. This should provide the benefit of utilizing the enormous data available on the Internet, while also providing focused search results. Using supervised classification approach, the accuracy (cross-validation) achieved in classification of natural-language descriptions of analogies into the constructs of SAPPhIRE model was 0.70 +/- 0.08

Conceptual Design in Metalworking Microenterprises: An Empirical Study in Tanzania

Product design is a key aspect of human intelligence and creativity, attracting not only experts but also workers and self-employed without any formal design training. Although numerous people in developing countries design and manufacture simple products in metalworking microenterprises, there is very little systematic knowledge about their design process. This paper aims to fill this gap in design knowledge. We aim at investigating some aspects of design process in the metalworking microenterprises in Tanzania. The findings reveal how they identify needs, and generate and evaluate concepts.open access</p

Conceptual Design in Informal Metalworking Microenterprises of Tanzania

Product design is a key aspect of human intelligence and creativity, attracting not only experts but also people without any formal design training. Although numerous people in developing countries design and manufacture products in metalworking microenterprises in the informal sector, there is still little knowledge about their design process. This paper aims to fill this gap in design knowledge. We aim to investigate the design processes in metalworking microenterprises in the informal sector of Tanzania. In particular, we aim to explore how these microenterprises identify consumer needs and requirements, how they determine the specifications for the product, how they generate and evaluate alternative product concepts, and how they define product details. To address these aims, semistructured interviews were carried out in metalworking microenterprises operating in the informal sector of Tanzania. The findings reveal many facets of their design processes, providing a sound basis upon which design methods and tools can be developed to support their design activities

Idea Inspire 3.0-A Tool for Analogical Design

There is a continuous demand for novel and innovative products in the market. In order to develop novel ideas, natural systems are considered to be superior source of inspiration. In order to assist designers in ideation, an analogical design tool called Idea Inspire 3.0 is developed; it is a revised version of Idea-Inspire developed in 2005. The latest version is web-based, and supports retrieval, visualizationand addition of systems. It uses a novel, dynamic representation with amulti-system, multi-instance SAPPhIRE model as basis, and a multi-modal explanation for enhanced understanding that shouldlead to better ideation. In this paper, these latest features of Idea-Inspire along with their potential benefits are discussed