Prototyping

Presenter: Nils Seipel

TL;DR Nils tips from many failures:

• Do not let go of the target customer
• First, work with pen and paper before you go to the prototype!
• Kill your darlings!
• Resist the urge to “finish”.
• Never invest too much! Always look at how you can get the information/knowledge most easily.

Common questions

Feasibility: How to produce?
Viability: Do people want your product, are they willing to pay?
What does production cost you? Does your product scale?
Desirability: Is your product better than others? Does the target group need it?
Usability: Is it portable? How easily can you use it?

Further advantages

Helps with thinking:
The physical form of an idea releases you from keeping it in mind.
Helps with communication:
Words can have different meanings, but a physical object is much clearer for everyone involved.
You can also just show it to potential users.
Helps to innovate:
By following different approaches simultaneously, e.g., different prototypes,
it becomes easier to drop ideas. Basicly, this comes down to “Kill your darlings”.
Don’t invest to much time and effort into one idea.

Prototyping concepts

Classic Prototyping:

• Proof of concept: Show that you can produce something with the same methods used for your final product.
• Slow method, up to a quarter of the development time is used for construction.

Rapid Prototyping:

• Makes use of digital tools, e.g., 3D models, which are not necessarily used for the final product.
• Tools are chosen in order to enable a high frequency of iterations and feedback.
• Can be faster and have a better time/cost ratio than “classic prototyping”

Rapid prototyping tools

Additive manufacturing -> 3D-printer

• Creates objects layerwise and allows the creation of complex structures.

Substractive manufacturing -> CNC-Router

• Cuts forms out of raw materials.
• Allows for more robust objects in comparison to 3D printing.
• Not all geometries are possible.

Cutting methods
Cutting objects out of a layer of base materials, e.g., aluminum plate.
Waterjet cutting: nearly all materials of every thickness and hardness are possible.
Laser cutting: Fast and cheap. Not possible with strong reflective or heat-sensitive materials.

Microcontroller -> Arduino

• Development platform for physical programming.
• Collect input from different sensors, e.g., CO2 concentration in room air.
• Output: e.g, control a small motor, lights or displays

Digital tools

• 3D scan objects to get an easy-to-manipulate version of a physical object.
• Use an online library of 3D objects.
• Construct in a CAD-tool like TinkerCAD, FreeCAD.
• TinkerCAD is also great for planning circuits. See also fritzing

Where to start

• Visit a Makerspace near you. Makerspaces are open workshops that often host a variety of the tools mentioned above.
  You can search for a makerspace here: https://maker-faire.de/makerspaces/
• If you live in Giessen, you may want to visit https://makerspace-giessen.de/