The environmental burden of packaging is huge. However, redesigning packaging to make it more sustainable without damaging its other functions is not always easy and can have a negative impact on consumers’ choice. In this paper, we adopt a user-perspective and test the effects of packaging appearance and a better eco-label on consumers’ responses. Based on the literature, we designed an eco- label using a traffic light system with an objective sustainability score enabling to compare the sustainability of different packages. The results of our experimental study (N=120) show that while a sustainable (vs. typical) appearance in packaging has a positive effect on perceived sustainability, it has a negative effect on perceived usability. However, we demonstrate that the presence of a high score on the eco-label positively impacts the perceived sustainability of both the sustainable and the typical packages and the choice intentions. This eco-label also enabled to mitigate the negative effects of the sustainable appearance on perceived usability. Designers and policy-makers can use the results of this paper to positively influence evaluations of and choice for sustainable packaging.

Industry 4.0 is a great opportunity and a great challenge for enterprises. Nowadays, how to adjust the strategy according to the new situation to deal with the opportunities and challenges brought by Industry 4.0 is a hot topic. The paper investigates what is Industry 4.0 and compares the different fourth industry revolution programs in various countries and takes advantage of bibliometric to investigate which technologies play an important role in Industry 4.0. What is more, the status quo, challenges and development directions faced in various fields in the industrial 4.0 era are elaborated. The paper not only combs the research direction for researchers, but also presents the status quo of practical application for enterprises. The paper contributes to showing a leading role for theory and practice of industry 4.0.

One challenge within idea management of the front end of the design process is the handling of radical ideas, meaning ideas with a high degree of novelty. Companies are approaching radical and incremental ideas frequently with the same methods, although many reasoned claims exists for treating ideas differently according to the degree of novelty. The paper aims to address the fact that ambidexterity does not play any specific role in the front end. Therefore, a framework of an extended idea process model based on the idea of ambidexterity is shown and initial test results are presented.

The objective evaluation of empirical studies is an important part when assessing demand and validating design methods. However, metrics that can also map cognitive processes during design are still lacking. In order to address this problem, an online study with 12 participants was conducted. The aim of this investigation was to find a relation between cognitive load and performance in engineering design tasks. To assess the cognitive load, the NASA-RTLX questionnaire was used as an established measurement tool and was related to the results achieved by the participants. The results show that there is a correlation between the two investigated parameters. Based on a statistical analysis a correlation between increasing cognitive load and a decrease in performance could be identified. The tasks used produce comparable results to other studies investigating cognitive load, but the task causing the highest cognitive load shows the widest scatter in performance. The u-curve as suggested by the state of the art was not visible in the study’s results, but the cognitive load should be nevertheless used for studies of design processes, because it may reveal a need for methodical support.

Current robotic solutions are able to manage specialized tasks, but they cannot perform intelligent actions which are based on experience. Autonomous robots that are able to succeed in complex environments like production plants need the ability to customize their capabilities. With the usage of artificial intelligence (AI) it is possible to train robot control policies without explicitly programming how to achieve desired goals. We introduce AI Motion Control (AIMC) a generic approach to develop control policies for diverse robots, environments and manipulation tasks. For safety reasons, but also to save investments and development time, motion control policies can first be trained in simulation and then transferred to real applications. This work uses the descriptive study I according to Blessing and Chakrabarti and is about the identification of this research gap. We combine latest motion control and reinforcement learning results and show the potential of AIMC for robotic technologies with industrial use cases.

Human augmentation is a thriving research field that aims to amplify human abilities through the development of technological improvements as an integral part of the human body. Human augmentation products may be made for anyone, ranging from healthy users wanting to enhance their human abilities to users who face temporary or permanent disabilities, physical impairments, or perilous situations that oblige them to use these products.

This article attempts to introduce readers to the domain of human augmentation by providing a thorough formulation of the concept and its related terms to develop a more solid structural basis. Additionally, a categorical and dimensional classification of the field was given. Based on these findings, we then proposed a novel framework in the form of a diagrammatic presentation of both classifications, which could enable product designers to better understand and characterize the type of human augmentation product they are designing by determining its location in the diagram. Finally, the proposed framework was evaluated by introducing and classifying several significant human augmentation products most of which have proven to successfully exceed human abilities.

New technologies have always been disruptive for established systems and processes. Additive Manufacturing (AM) is proving to be one such process which has the potential to disrupt handicraft and its manufacturing processes. AM is customisable, adopt multiple materials and is not restricted by the manufacturing process. Our research discusses this global phenomenon with case studies to highlights the growth of a new kind of professionals known as ‘Digital Artisans’. These artisans will assimilate the latest technologies with the cultural practices of the societies to create a new genre of products. The evolution of such artisans will be majorly led by people who have an equal inclination towards art and science and can act as the bridge between the handicrafts and technology. The development of such artisans will be supported by academics that will serve as a cradle and expose them to AM, design and handicraft. Its will also help in paving the growth of contemporary artisans who will utilise the strength of algorithms, artificial intelligence, CAD software and traditional aesthetics to create handicrafts of the future.

Based on the theoretical research of 3D printing and circular economy, combined with case studies, this paper analyzes the advantages of 3D printing in realizing circular economy and its influence on designers from the perspectives of “reduce”, “reuse”, “recycle” and distributed manufacturing. As a technological innovation, 3D printing not only promoted the transformation from linear economy to circular economy, but also had a certain impact on the role and skills of traditional designers.

Drones are becoming more popular within military applications and civil aviation by hobbyists and business. Achieving a natural Human-Drone Interaction (HDI) would enable unskilled drone pilots to take part in the flying of these devices and more generally easy the use of drones. The research within this paper focuses on the design and development of a Natural User Interface (NUI) allowing a user to pilot a drone with body gestures. A Microsoft Kinect was used to capture the user’s body information which was processed by a motion recognition algorithm and converted into commands for the drone. The implementation of a Graphical User Interface (GUI) gives feedback to the user. Visual feedback from the drone’s onboard camera is provided on a screen and an interactive menu controlled by body gestures and allowing the choice of functionalities such as photo and video capture or take-off and landing has been implemented. This research resulted in an efficient and functional system, more instinctive, natural, immersive and fun than piloting using a physical controller, including innovative aspects such as the implementation of additional functionalities to the drone's piloting and control of the flight speed.

As a result of the increasing challenges in the field of lightweight constructions, the demand for efficient joining technologies is continuously rising. For this purpose, cold forming processes offer an environmental friendly and fast alternative to established joining methods (e.g. welding). However, to ensure a high reliability, not only the selection of an appropriate procedure, but also the dimensioning of the individual joint is essential. While product designers can rely on a wide range of design principles for thermal processes, the dimensioning and evaluation of mechanical joining processes is mainly based on expert knowledge and a few experimental tests. Although few studies already investigated the numerical analysis of mechanical joints, an approach for the sustainable and consistent optimization of the strength and reliability of joining connections for varying use-cases is not available yet. Motivated by this lack, this paper presents an approach for the automated transfer of information within the process chain and the data-based analysis of mechanical joints by using clinching as an example. Therefore, the CRISP-DM reference model is used for the systematic data mining.

Prototyping is an essential activity in product development, but novice designers lack awareness and purpose when they prototype. To foster prototyping mindsets in novice designers, we introduce a prototyping support tool that structures prototyping activities. This paper outlines the Prototyping Planner's development, evolution, and evaluation by 125 novice designers. The majority of novice designers’ experienced that the Prototyping Planner helped them create purposeful prototypes and evaluate results from prototyping.

Creativity is very important for designers, and methods to stimulate designers' creativity are the long-term focus of art design education. The senses are an important channel for designers to receive information and define core issues. Stimulating the designer's senses can help enhance their perception and creativity, and is of great benefit for the quality and efficiency of the design outcome. Today's interactive media technology provides more possibilities and advantages for designers' perception and sensation. The purpose of this research is to explore a way to stimulate the designer's senses through the use of interactive media, thereby improving the designer's design thinking and creativity, and providing designers with innovative design support. By means of interactive ground projection and experiments, and discussion of the advantages of interactive media to stimulate designers' senses, this research proposes innovations in art design educational media, which is valuable for the training and learning of designers and the development of virtual education environment in the future.

Immersive visualisations introduce new possibilities for experiencing design, and as such for presenting information. To date, studies in design have focused mostly on immersive visualisations supporting product decisions. However, little attention has been paid to information presentation, e.g. in design reviews, for decisions in the boardroom, and/or for client presentations. This study with industry practitioners identifies information presentation practices and challenges, develops an immersive visualisation prototype, and explores opportunities for the use of immersive visualisations.

For the development of intelligent technical systems, Systems Engineering and Solution Patterns are the guarantee for success. In order to avoid cost-intensive iterations, the documentation and reuse of solution knowledge is addressed during the systems design. Using an interdisciplinary specification technique, a uniform structuring of Solution Patterns as well as the composition in a multidimensional knowledge space takes place. This is the basis of an associated systematics for a solution pattern-based system design of mechatronic systems, which is validated by two cooperating DeltaRobots.

This paper provides an overview and appraisal of the International Design Engineering Annual (IDEA) challenge - a virtually hosted design hackathon run with the aim of generating a design research dataset that can provide insights into design activities at virtually hosted hackathons. The resulting dataset consists of 200+ prototypes with over 1300 connections providing insights into the products, processes and people involved in the design process. The paper also provides recommendations for future deployments of virtual hackathons for design research.

Companies are under increasing pressure from global competition while at the same they need to offer flexible products to meet individual customer requirements. Therefore, modularised capital goods are designed and manufactured to meet both challenges. This paper presents an approach to identify necessary changes in the production process and summarises the changes in the automotive and aerospace industries due to modularisation. Three key findings are identified: increased outsourcing potential, production in a value creation network with specialised manufacturers and joint investments.

Additive manufacturing (AM), which was first applied for rapid prototyping, is now becoming a real option for small-batch production of final products. Further expansion of AM is closely correlated to production costs. AM can only become competitive to traditional manufacturing methods if a product is designed for AM already from the beginning as it is an expensive technology that should only be applied if it adds enough value to the product. The aim of this paper is to increase cost awareness in the conceptual design phase and to support product developers in doing AM cost estimation and process selection. The proposed model integrates design for AM and costs calculation. The input data to the process is preliminary design and design requirements. The main contribution of this paper is the multi-criteria AM function, which enables concurrent consideration of different technical and economical criteria. The multi-criteria AM function helps to compare how AM processing and product design parameters influence the product cost. The holistic overview of different options increases the solution space and enables product optimization in several iterations.

The advent of additive manufacturing (AM) in recent years have had a significant impact on the design process. Because of new manufacturing technology, a new area of research emerged – Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) with newly developed design support methods and tools. This paper looks into the current status of the field regarding the conceptual design of AM products, with the focus on how literature sources treat design heuristics and design principles in the context of DfAM. To answer the research question, a systematic literature review was conducted. The results are analysed, compared and discussed on three main points: the definition of the design heuristics and the design principles, level of support they provide, as well as where and how they are used inside the design process. The paper highlights the similarities and differences between design heuristics and design principles in the context of DfAM.

Extending the lifespan of products and parts is seen as a solution in the transition towards a circular economy. There are many proposed design approaches argued to facilitate this. However, extending the lifespan of products and parts is not always desirable, and product developers should instead strive to design for a specific longevity; the product's optimal lifetime. The latter in turn depends on many various contextual factors, and this paper has identified the three main contextual factors as; the user, the business, and the resource efficiency. Considering these three appropriately can help product developers to define their product's optimal lifetime. Altogether, these components promote the mindset of Design for Longevity. Specifically, as extracted from this paper: “Design for Longevity aims at designing products with an optimal lifetime, where optimal means taking the user, the business and the resource efficiency perspectives into account when designing the life of a product”. A Design for Longevity framework is proposed and evaluated in this paper, and it is concluded that the proposed Design for Longevity framework can support product developers to implement the Design for Longevity mindset.

In the digital era, products’ forms do not necessarily follow their function. Design fixation may happen when a designer attempts to generate diverse concepts. New design heuristics for digital design were extracted to support designers in the early conceptual design stage. Ten design heuristics were extracted from 998 RedDot award-winning concept designs (2013-2017) through a five-step process. It was preliminarily tested by four practitioners and proved to have positively influenced their conceptual design.