About integration opportunities between TRIZ and biomimetics for inventive design

AbstractThis paper presents the first results of a Ph.D. program aimed at investigating the domain interface between TRIZ and Biomimetics within the scope of inventive design. Indeed, a few authors have already proposed as a relevant direction of research the identification of integration opportunities between TRIZ and Biomimetics towards a more effective and efficient inventive design methodology. The paper presents a comparison between the tools based on functional modeling used during the process of problem solving within TRIZ and Biomimetics. This comparison intends to elicit overlaps, complementarities and incongruences of these techniques. The indications about how to improve the process of describing natural solutions in an engineering way and how to describe technical problems in order to use natural information as source of inspiration are given by analyzing few examples. The results are discussed in terms of necessary modifications in the engineering problem description in order to use a database of biological functions (i.e. the Biomimicry Taxonomy) as a source of natural knowledge in the process of inventive design

Supporting sustainable innovation through TRIZ system thinking

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INFORMATION EXTRACTED FROM PATENTS AS CREATIVE STIMULI FOR PRODUCT INNOVATION

This paper investigates the impact of information extracted from patents on the creative performance of R&D engineers involved in new product design tasks. The creative stimuli originated by domain specific patent sources are proposed in the form of problem-solutions maps possibly enriched with TRIZ contradiction models related to the challenges addressed by the patents. The effectiveness of this kind of creative stimuli has been checked with a two-phase experiment that involved 56 professional engineers as testers subdivided into design teams of 2 people each. The teams were initially asked to brainstorm and generate innovative ideas in the field of devices for walking support (walkers). The 28 teams were, then, exposed to 4 different treatments (7 teams each): simple brainstorming as control group, problem-solution maps with and without related TRIZ contradiction models, patent-text used as far-field sources of analogy. The results of the experiment show that the problem-solution maps alone enhance variety of generated solutions, while enriched by the TRIZ contradiction models have a higher impact on novelty despite with a smaller variety

Modelling the dynamics of products and processes requirements

AbstractThis paper proposes a new modelling framework aimed at overcoming the current limitations of existing techniques for the representation of products and processes within a Technology Forecasting study. Starting from the review of the available modelling approaches, the authors define system requirements as the key elements to represent both drivers and barriers for the evolution of technical systems, analysed in the context of a business process. The new proposal allows such requirements to be mapped in an integrated and scalable model connecting finished goods with the related business processes, so as to collect the knowledge from different experts and stakeholders in a unified and manageable description, thus reducing the risks due to uncertain and partial representation.The paper presents also an example of application in the field of pharmaceutical tablet manufacturing, focusing on the industrial processes requiring the granulation of pharmaceutical powders. An in-depth discussion about the emerged criticalities supports the definition of further developments to make this approach more repeatable and suitable for Technology Forecasting methodologies

Preliminary Studies on Human Approaches to Inventive Design Tasks with a TRIZ Perspective

AbstractAmong the open research issues in the field of inventive design, a careful attention should be dedicated to the definition of means to measure and improve the efficiency of educational and training processes as well as to assess the benefits of the introduction of TRIZ expertise into R&D and engineering teams. In fact, while TRIZ methods and tools have gained a certain acknowledgment as a means to improve problem solving and inventive design skills, a dominant model about its introduction in an industrial organization is still missing. The paper presents a study aimed at measuring the impact of TRIZ learning (tools and logic) with respect to individuals’ talent. The paper proposes an original methodology to investigate human approaches to inventive design tasks: definition of the test (Sample group and control group, Inventive problems); evaluation criteria (Aptitude to follow a logical problem analysis path; Aptitude to explore various perspectives of the problem; Aptitude to generalization; Overall correctness of the problem analysis task; Completeness of the analysis); comparison and correlation criteria (Pearson correlation). The proposed investigation methodology is clarified through the description of an exemplary application in design courses at Politecnico di Milano and at the Università di Firenze