Design and Technology: Product Design (9252) | New and Emerging Technologies

🚀 New and Emerging Technologies: Shaping the Future of Design 🚀

Welcome to one of the most exciting chapters in Product Design! This section, "New and Emerging Technologies," is all about how the world of manufacturing and design is changing faster than ever before.

Think of it this way: the tools and materials available to designers today are completely different from those available just 10 years ago. Understanding these new technologies isn't just theory—it's essential for creating innovative and competitive products!

Don't worry if some of the names sound complicated (like 'Additive Manufacturing'); we will break them down into simple, easy-to-understand concepts. Let’s dive in!

1. Automation and Robotics

Automation and Robotics are key to modern high-volume manufacturing. They describe systems and machines that perform tasks with little or no human interaction.

What is Automation?

Automation is the use of control systems and technologies to operate equipment automatically. It’s usually set up for a specific, repeatable task.

• Example: A system that automatically sorts packages in a warehouse or controls the temperature in a large industrial oven.

What are Robotics?

Robots are specific types of automated machines that are often flexible, meaning they can be reprogrammed to perform different tasks. They are essential in environments where precision, speed, and consistency are critical.

Why are Robots Important in Production?

Using robots offers huge advantages for manufacturers:

1. Accuracy and Consistency: Robots can perform the same task exactly the same way thousands of times without tiring or making mistakes.
2. Speed: They work much faster than humans in repetitive tasks (e.g., welding car parts or placing microchips).
3. Safety: They can work in dangerous environments (high heat, toxic chemicals, heavy lifting).
4. Cost Efficiency: While expensive initially, they save money long-term by reducing labour costs and waste.

🔥 Key Takeaway: Automation and Robotics boost efficiency, accuracy, and safety, revolutionising how products are mass-produced.

2. Computer-Aided Design and Manufacturing (CAD/CAM)

CAD/CAM is perhaps the most fundamental technology change in modern design. It connects the design process directly to the manufacturing process.

A. Computer-Aided Design (CAD)

CAD involves using computer software to create, modify, analyse, and document a design.

• Benefits of CAD:
  • 3D Modelling: Designers can view the product from all angles before it’s even made.
  • Easy Editing: Making changes is quick and cheap—no need to redraw everything by hand!
  • Simulation: Software can test how strong a part is or how it performs in different conditions (e.g., wind resistance).
  • Sharing: Designs can be instantly shared globally with manufacturers.

B. Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM)

CAM involves using computer software to control machine tools and machinery during the manufacturing process. The files created in CAD are fed directly into the CAM machinery.

• Examples of CAM Machines:
  • CNC Routers: Cut wood or plastic precisely.
  • Laser Cutters: Cut thin materials like acrylic or plywood using a high-powered laser.
  • CNC Lathes/Mills: Shape metal parts with incredible accuracy.

💡 Did You Know? This seamless link between CAD and CAM ensures fidelity—meaning the physical product matches the digital design perfectly.

3. Rapid Prototyping (Additive Manufacturing)

Rapid prototyping is the quick creation of a physical model or component. The most famous form of rapid prototyping is 3D printing.

What is Additive Manufacturing?

This is the technical term for 3D printing. Unlike traditional manufacturing (where you cut material away—called subtractive manufacturing), Additive Manufacturing builds a product layer by tiny layer.

Step-by-Step 3D Printing (Simplified)

1. Design in CAD: Create the 3D model on the computer.
2. Slicing: The software "slices" the 3D model into thousands of super-thin layers.
3. Printing: The machine reads the layer data and deposits or cures material (like plastic filament, resin, or metal powder) one layer at a time until the product is complete.

Impact on Design and Production

• Iteration and Testing: Designers can quickly print a part, test it, find a flaw, go back to CAD, fix it, and print a new version the next day. This speeds up the development process dramatically.
• Mass Customisation: It allows for unique, one-off products to be made cheaply (e.g., custom hearing aids, prosthetic limbs, or personalised phone cases).
• Complex Geometries: It can produce shapes that are impossible or too expensive to make using traditional cutting or moulding methods.

🔥 Key Takeaway: Rapid Prototyping allows designers to test and refine products much faster, leading to higher quality final designs.

4. Smart and Modern Materials

New technologies are constantly leading to the development of materials with incredible properties. We separate these generally into 'Smart' and 'Modern' materials.

A. Smart Materials

Smart Materials are materials that sense and react to changes in their environment (like temperature, light, moisture, or pressure), usually returning to their original state when the condition goes back to normal.

Analogy: Think of a smart material as having a little internal 'switch'.

• Photochromic Materials: Change colour when exposed to UV light (e.g., lenses in transitional sunglasses).
• Thermochromic Materials: Change colour when the temperature changes (e.g., baby feeding spoons or battery test strips).
• Shape Memory Alloys (SMA): Can be bent out of shape, but return to their original, programmed shape when heated (e.g., used in orthodontic braces or aerospace components).

B. Modern Materials

Modern Materials are materials that have been engineered and developed in laboratories to have superior properties for specific tasks. They often don't react to the environment like smart materials, but they are exceptionally strong, light, or resistant.

• Kevlar: Extremely strong synthetic fibre, used in body armour and puncture-resistant clothing.
• Carbon Fibre Composites: Extremely light and incredibly strong material (often stronger than steel), made by combining carbon fibres with a resin (used extensively in Formula 1 cars, bicycles, and aerospace).
• Graphene: One of the strongest, thinnest, and most electrically conductive materials known.

🔥 Key Takeaway: These new materials allow designers to create products that are lighter, stronger, safer, or that actively respond to the user's needs.

5. Impact of Technology on Enterprise and Production

The new technologies we've discussed don't just affect how we make things; they affect how businesses operate and sell products.

A. Changes to Scales of Production

Historically, manufacturing was based on mass production (making millions of the exact same item). Emerging technologies allow for two new, flexible approaches:

• Mass Customisation: Using technology (like CAD and 3D printing) to allow consumers to personalise a product that is otherwise mass-produced (e.g., Nike allowing you to pick the colour scheme for your trainers).
• Flexible Manufacturing Systems (FMS): Production lines that can quickly switch between making different products simply by reprogramming the robots and CAM machinery.

B. Enterprise and Funding

Technology has changed how designers and inventors get their ideas off the ground:

• Crowdfunding: This is where an individual or small business raises money for a project or product idea from a large number of people, usually through online platforms (e.g., Kickstarter or Indiegogo). This bypasses traditional bank loans.

C. Virtual Retail and Marketing

Technology helps businesses sell their products in new ways:

• Virtual Reality (VR) / Augmented Reality (AR): Used to market products, allowing customers to "try on" clothes, view furniture in their house, or take a 360-degree tour of a product before buying.
• Digital Prototyping: Using high-quality 3D renders and animations (created in CAD) instead of expensive physical models for marketing purposes.

Don't worry if this seems tricky at first! Just remember that emerging technologies generally mean more flexibility, more accuracy, and more customisation in the world of product design.