industrial design engineering inventive problem solving

Breadcrumbs Section. Click here to navigate to respective pages.

Industrial Design Engineering

DOI link for Industrial Design Engineering

Get Citation

Designing new products and improving existing ones is a continual process. Industrial design engineering is an industrial engineering process applied to product designs that are to be manufactured through techniques of production operations. Excellent industrial design engineering programs are essential for the nation’s industry to succeed in selling useful and ecologically justifiable and usable products on a market flooded with goods and services. This unique text on industrial design engineering integrates basic knowledge, insight, and working methods from industrial engineering and product design subjects. Industrial Design Engineering: Inventive Problem Solving provides a combination of engineering thinking and design skills that give the researchers, practitioners, and students an excellent foundation for participation in product development projects and techniques for establishing and managing such projects. The design principles are presented around examples related to the designing of products, goods, and services. Case studies are developed around real problems and are based on the customer’s needs.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1 | 24  pages, enduring sonnet: evolving industrial design engineering, chapter 2 | 38  pages, monte carlo simulation: would an industrial engineer flip a coin like a poet, chapter 3 | 28  pages, safety, reliability, and risk management: “all the astronauts landing on mars are engineers; we are bringing them home safely …”, chapter 4 | 42  pages, design for environmental risk engineering, chapter 5 | 34  pages, cellular manufacturing: mitigating risk and uncertainty, chapter 6 | 32  pages, system risk engineering, chapter 7 | 26  pages, contingency planning, logistics, and lean manufacturing: rolling out the storm, chapter 8 | 40  pages, risk communications and continuous improvement: poetic process engineering, chapter 9 | 34  pages, on the river of industrial design engineering: flow of poetic thinking.

• Privacy Policy
• Terms & Conditions
• Cookie Policy
• Taylor & Francis Online
• Taylor & Francis Group
• Students/Researchers
• Librarians/Institutions

Connect with us

Registered in England & Wales No. 3099067 5 Howick Place | London | SW1P 1WG © 2024 Informa UK Limited

1st Edition

Industrial Design Engineering Inventive Problem Solving

• Taylor & Francis eBooks (Institutional Purchase) Opens in new tab or window

Description

Designing new products and improving existing ones is a continual process. Industrial design engineering is an industrial engineering process applied to product designs that are to be manufactured through techniques of production operations. Excellent industrial design engineering programs are essential for the nation’s industry to succeed in selling useful and ecologically justifiable and usable products on a market flooded with goods and services. This unique text on industrial design engineering integrates basic knowledge, insight, and working methods from industrial engineering and product design subjects. Industrial Design Engineering: Inventive Problem Solving provides a combination of engineering thinking and design skills that give the researchers, practitioners, and students an excellent foundation for participation in product development projects and techniques for establishing and managing such projects. The design principles are presented around examples related to the designing of products, goods, and services. Case studies are developed around real problems and are based on the customer’s needs.  

Table of Contents

John X. Wang received his PH.D. degree in Reliability Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD in 1995. He was then with GE Transportation as an Engineering Six Sigma Black Belt, leading propulsion systems reliability and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) projects while teaching GE-Gannon University’s Graduate Co-Op programs and National Technological University professional short course, and serving as a member of the IEEE Reliability Society Risk Management Committee. He has worked as a Corporate Master Black Belt at Visteon Corporation, Reliability Engineering Manager at Whirlpool Corporation, E6 Reliability Engineer at Panduit Corp., and Principal Systems Engineer at Rockwell Collins. In 2009, he received an Individual Achievement Award when working as a Principal Systems Engineer at Raytheon Company. He joined GE Aviation Systems in 2010, where he was awarded the distinguished title of Principal Engineer – Reliability (CTH – Controlled Title Holder) in 2013. As a Certified Reliability Engineering certified by American Society for Quality, Dr. Wang has authored/coauthored numerous books and papers on reliability engineering, risk engineering, engineering decision making under uncertainty, robust design and Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, and green electronics manufacturing. He has been affiliated with Austrian Aerospace Agency/European Space Agency, Vienna University of Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, and Tsinghua University in China. Having presented various professional short courses and seminars, Dr. Wang has performed joint research with the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and the Norwegian Institute of Technology. Since "knowledge, expertise, and scientific results are well known internationally," Dr. Wang has been invited to present at various national & international engineering events. As a highly accomplished inventor of various industrial designs and patent applications, Dr. Wang serves as an Editor at Nano Research and Applications and is a member of BAOJ Nanotechnology Editorial Board. Dr. John X. Wang, a CRC Press Featured Author, has been a Top Contributor of LinkedIn's Poetry Editors & Poets group. Dr. Wang has contributed to the discussions including: Writing a sonnet is notoriously difficult due to the strict pentameter and rhyming pattern; does anyone prefer/enjoy writing this form of poetry? Do you proceed by images or by words when you write?

About VitalSource eBooks

VitalSource is a leading provider of eBooks.

• Access your materials anywhere, at anytime.
• Customer preferences like text size, font type, page color and more.
• Take annotations in line as you read.

Multiple eBook Copies

This eBook is already in your shopping cart. If you would like to replace it with a different purchasing option please remove the current eBook option from your cart.

Book Preview

The country you have selected will result in the following:

• Product pricing will be adjusted to match the corresponding currency.
• The title Perception will be removed from your cart because it is not available in this region.

• Higher Education Textbooks
• Engineering Textbooks

Sorry, there was a problem.

Download the free Kindle app and start reading Kindle books instantly on your smartphone, tablet or computer – no Kindle device required .

Read instantly on your browser with Kindle for Web.

Using your mobile phone camera, scan the code below and download the Kindle app.

Image Unavailable

• To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Industrial Design Engineering: Inventive Problem Solving Paperback – 31 March 2021

Save extra with 3 offers.

• Free Delivery

10 days Replacement

• Amazon Delivered
• Pay on Delivery
• Secure transaction

Replacement Instructions

Purchase options and add-ons

Designing new products and improving existing ones is a continual process. Industrial design engineering is an industrial engineering process applied to product designs that are to be manufactured through techniques of production operations. Excellent industrial design engineering programs are essential for the nation’s industry to succeed in selling useful and ecologically justifiable and usable products on a market flooded with goods and services. This unique text on industrial design engineering integrates basic knowledge, insight, and working methods from industrial engineering and product design subjects. Industrial Design Engineering: Inventive Problem Solving provides a combination of engineering thinking and design skills that give the researchers, practitioners, and students an excellent foundation for participation in product development projects and techniques for establishing and managing such projects. The design principles are presented around examples related to the designing of products, goods, and services. Case studies are developed around real problems and are based on the customer’s needs.

• ISBN-10 0367782332
• ISBN-13 978-0367782337
• Edition 1st
• Publication date 31 March 2021
• Language English
• Dimensions 23.4 x 15.6 x 1.81 cm
• Print length 340 pages
• See all details

Product description

About the author.

John X. Wang received his PH.D. degree in Reliability Engineering from the University of Maryland, College Park, MD in 1995. He was then with GE Transportation as an Engineering Six Sigma Black Belt, leading propulsion systems reliability and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) projects while teaching GE-Gannon University’s Graduate Co-Op programs and National Technological University professional short course, and serving as a member of the IEEE Reliability Society Risk Management Committee. He has worked as a Corporate Master Black Belt at Visteon Corporation, Reliability Engineering Manager at Whirlpool Corporation, E6 Reliability Engineer at Panduit Corp., and Principal Systems Engineer at Rockwell Collins. In 2009, he received an Individual Achievement Award when working as a Principal Systems Engineer at Raytheon Company. He joined GE Aviation Systems in 2010, where he was awarded the distinguished title of Principal Engineer – Reliability (CTH – Controlled Title Holder) in 2013. As a Certified Reliability Engineering certified by American Society for Quality, Dr. Wang has authored/coauthored numerous books and papers on reliability engineering, risk engineering, engineering decision making under uncertainty, robust design and Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, and green electronics manufacturing. He has been affiliated with Austrian Aerospace Agency/European Space Agency, Vienna University of Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, and Tsinghua University in China. Having presented various professional short courses and seminars, Dr. Wang has performed joint research with the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and the Norwegian Institute of Technology. Since "knowledge, expertise, and scientific results are well known internationally," Dr. Wang has been invited to present at various national & international engineering events. As a highly accomplished inventor of various industrial designs and patent applications, Dr. Wang serves as an Editor at Nano Research and Applications and is a member of BAOJ Nanotechnology Editorial Board. Dr. John X. Wang, a CRC Press Featured Author, has been a Top Contributor of LinkedIn's Poetry Editors & Poets group. Dr. Wang has contributed to the discussions including:

• Writing a sonnet is notoriously difficult due to the strict pentameter and rhyming pattern; does anyone prefer/enjoy writing this form of poetry?
• Do you proceed by images or by words when you write?

Product details

• Publisher ‏ : ‎ CRC Press; 1st edition (31 March 2021)
• Language ‏ : ‎ English
• Paperback ‏ : ‎ 340 pages
• ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0367782332
• ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0367782337
• Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 485 g
• Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 23.4 x 15.6 x 1.81 cm
• Country of Origin ‏ : ‎ India

About the author

John x. wang.

John X. Wang is Senior Principal Functional Safety Engineer at Flex, where he is responsible for functional safety activities for products being developed by the global engineering team. Dr. Wang has served as Senior Principal Safety Engineer (Member of Product Safety Board) at Cobham Mission Systems, where he twice received Nomination as Employee of the Month Awards and Received Nomination of C.A.R.E (Certified, Ambassadors, Responsive, Exceptional) Award.

Dr. Wang received his PhD degree in reliability engineering from University of Maryland, College Park, MD, in 1995. He was then with the GE Transportation as an Engineering Six Sigma Black Belt, leading propulsion systems reliability and Design for Six Sigma (DFSS) projects while teaching GE-Gannon University’s Graduate Co-Op programs and National Technological University professional short course, and serving as a member of the IEEE Reliability Society Risk Management Committee. He has worked as a Corporate Master Black Belt at Visteon Corporation, Reliability Engineering Manager at Whirlpool Corporation, E6 Reliability Engineer at Panduit Corp., Principal Systems Engineer at Rockwell Collins. In 2009, he received an Individual Achievement Award when working as a Principal Systems Engineer at Raytheon Company. He joined GE Aviation Systems in 2010, where he was awarded the distinguished title of Principal Engineer – Reliability (CTH - Controlled Title Holder) in 2013. Dr. Wang has been a Group Engineer, leading computer vision programs and robotics development at Danfoss Power Solutions.

As a Certified Reliability Engineer certified by American Society for Quality, Dr. Wang has authored/coauthored numerous books and papers on reliability engineering, risk engineering, engineering decision making under uncertainty, robust design and Six Sigma, lean manufacturing, green electronics manufacturing, cellular manufacturing, & industrial design engineering. He has been affiliated with Austrian Aerospace Agency/European Space Agency, Vienna University of Technology, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich, Paul Scherrer Institute in Switzerland, and Tsinghua University in China.

Having presented various professional short courses and seminars, Dr. Wang has performed joint research with the Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands and the Norwegian Institute of Technology.

Since "knowledge, expertise, and scientific results are well known internationally," Dr. Wang has been invited to present at various national & international engineering events.

Ph.D., Reliability Engineering, University of Maryland at College Park

Areas of Research / Professional Expertise

Risk Engineering, Reliability Engineering, Lean Six Sigma, Decision Making Under Uncertainty, Business Communication, Green Electronics Manufacturing, Cellular Manufacturing and industrial design engineering.

Personal Interests

Poetry - having authored published poems.

Customer reviews

• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 5 star 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 4 star 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 3 star 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 2 star 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%
• 5 star 4 star 3 star 2 star 1 star 1 star 0% 0% 0% 0% 0% 0%

No customer reviews

• Press Releases
• Amazon Science
• Sell on Amazon
• Sell under Amazon Accelerator
• Protect and Build Your Brand
• Amazon Global Selling
• Supply to Amazon
• Become an Affiliate
• Fulfilment by Amazon
• Advertise Your Products
• Amazon Pay on Merchants
• Your Account
• Returns Centre
• Recalls and Product Safety Alerts
• 100% Purchase Protection
• Amazon App Download

• Conditions of Use & Sale
• Privacy Notice
• Interest-Based Ads

(Stanford users can avoid this Captcha by logging in.)

• Send to text email RefWorks EndNote printer

Industrial design engineering : inventive problem solving

Available online, more options.

• Find it at other libraries via WorldCat
• Contributors

Description

Creators/contributors, contents/summary.

• chapter 1 Enduring sonnet: Evolving industrial design engineering
• chapter 2 Monte Carlo simulation: Would an industrial engineer flip a coin like a poet?
• chapter 3 Safety, reliability, and risk management: All the astronauts landing on Mars are engineers
• we are bringing them home safely
• chapter 4 Design for environmental risk engineering
• chapter 5 Cellular manufacturing: Mitigating risk and uncertainty
• chapter 6 System risk engineering
• chapter 7 Contingency planning, logistics, and Lean manufacturing: Rolling out the storm
• chapter 8 Risk communications and continuous improvement: Poetic process engineering
• chapter 9 On the river of industrial design engineering: Flow of poetic thinking

Bibliographic information

Browse related items.

• Stanford Home
• Maps & Directions
• Search Stanford
• Emergency Info
• Terms of Use
• Non-Discrimination
• Accessibility

© Stanford University , Stanford , California 94305 .

• For educators

Industrial Design Engineering 1st edition

Inventive problem solving.

John X Wang

Out of Stock

Industrial Design Engineering (1st edition)

Some editions change by only 10%

Book Details

Standard Shipping Options

• Standard shipping
• 2-day shipping
• 1-day shipping

Return Policy

• Physical textbooks must be returned within 21 days of ordering
• eTextbooks must be canceled within 10 days of ordering See policy details

Rent 📙Industrial Design Engineering 1st edition (978-1498709606) today, or search our site for other 📚textbooks by John X. Wang. Every textbook comes with a 21-day "Any Reason" guarantee. Published by CRC Press.

Publisher Description

Designing new products and improving existing ones is a continual process. Industrial design engineering is an industrial engineering process applied to product designs that are to be manufactured through techniques of production operations. Excellent industrial design engineering programs are essential for the nation’s industry to succeed in selling useful and ecologically justifiable and usable products on a market flooded with goods and services. This unique text on industrial design engineering integrates basic knowledge, insight, and working methods from industrial engineering and product design subjects. Industrial Design Engineering: Inventive Problem Solving provides a combination of engineering thinking and design skills that give the researchers, practitioners, and students an excellent foundation for participation in product development projects and techniques for establishing and managing such projects. The design principles are presented around examples related to the designing of products, goods, and services. Case studies are developed around real problems and are based on the customer’s needs.

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Enduring Sonnet: Evolving Industrial Design Engineering "A mind forever voyaging through strange seas of thought."

1.2 Enduring Sonnet: Most Elastic form of Industrial Communication

1.3 Evolution, Engineering Breakthrough and Industrial Design Engineering

1.4 The River: Where the First Major Civilizations were born

1.5 "La Mer": The Ocean and Civilization

1.6 Industrial Design Engineering and the Advent of Philosophy

1.7 Industrial Design Engineering and Supply Chain Risk Engineering

1.8 Industrial Design Engineering and Evolution Technological Revolution

1.8.1 Agricultural Revolution

1.8.2 Technological Revolution

1.8.3 Military Revolution

1.8.4 Engineering and Artistic Revolution

1.9 Year 1942 New Front of Industrial Design Engineering

1.10 Creation of Renaissance Art and Industrial Design

1.11 Science’s Impact on Industrial Design Engineering

Chapter 2 Monte Carlo Simulations: Would an Industrial Engineer Flip a Coin like a Poet?

2.1 Industrial Revolution and Industrial Design Engineering

2.2 Pioneering Mass Production Methods for Industrial Design Engineering

2.3 Pioneering Manufacturing Engineering for Industrial Design Engineering

2.4 Industrial Revolution and Impacts on Environment and Global Economy

2.5 Industrial Revolution and Philosophy

2.6 Influence of Liberal Arts and Politics on Industrial Design Engineering

2.7 The Influence of Poetic Thinking on Industrial Design Engineering

2.8 The Rise of Physics on Industrial Design Engineering

2.9 Mathematics and Philosophy: Intellectual Leadership for Inventions

2.10 The World is fiction, a product of the Mind

2.11 The Invention of New Physics: Foundation of Modern Industrial Design Engineering

2.12 Unprecedented Boom in Literature and Technology

2.13 Paradox and Influence on Scientific Thinking

Chapter 3 Safety, Reliability, and Risk Management: "All the Astronauts landing on Mars are Engineers; We are bringing them home safely…"

3.1 Optical Quantum Technologies, enlightening "Star Wars: The Force Awakens"

3.2 Applying Fault-Tolerant Quantum computing to mitigate risk and uncertainty

3.3 Entanglement: How to flip a Quantum Coin at nanometer scale?

3.4 Flip a Quantum Coin at nanometer scale: Heads-up and Tails-up at the same time

3.5 ‘Give me back my Hometown’: Where my success starts…

3.6 The Bridges of Magpies: A Thanksgiving Reflection about Risk Engineering

3.7 From Nobel Prize Medicine 2015 to Risk Engineering of Industrial Products

3.8 "The Imitation Game" to Mitigate Risk and Uncertainty

3.9 Sleeping Bear Dunes: A Legend about Safety and Strength

3.10 Safety First – Risk Engineering

3.11 America on Wheels: Safe and Green with the Help of Nanotechnology

Chapter 4 Design for Environmental Risk Engineering

4.1 Reflecting by Mammoth’s Hilly Woodlands: Creating Environmental Sensible Products

4.2 Back to Future Green – Sustaining snow for future White Christmas’

4.3 Eco-Cruise over the River – Green and Blue

4.4 Can we travel back to the "Future Green" with Quantum System Engineering?

4.5 Provide Solar Holiday Lighting with a Simple Green Electronics Project

4.5.1 Collecting Sunlight

4.5.2 Providing Solar Energy Storage

4.5.3 Detecting Darkness

4.6 Back to a Sustainable Future: Green Computing towards Lower Carbon Emissions

4.6.1 Today’s Challenge with Carbon Emissions

4.6.2 ‘Green’ Computing Product Design Criteria

4.6.3 ‘Green’ Materials

4.6.4 ‘Green’ Product Manufacture

4.6.5 ‘Green’ Product Disposal

4.6.6 Back to the Future Green – Redefining "Green Electronics"

4.7 Solar Roasted Turkey: Have a Green Thanksgiving

4.8 Saga of Singapore: Story about criticality to achieve Sustainability

4.9 Nano Research & Applications enable Green Additive Electronics Manufacturing

4.10 We are Young as long as our World is Green

4.11 Engineering Environmental Sensible and Reliable "Green" Electronics

4.12 From the World’s first working Laser to Vertical-Cavity Surface-Emitting Lasers

4.13 Green Electronics Manufacturing of Transformers at Age of Extinction

4.14 "Gone with the Wind" always: De Zwaan as the only authentic, working Dutch Windmill in the United States

4.15 Great Smokey Mountains: Risk Engineering of Our Grand Ecosystems

4.16 Ebola Prevention: Risk Engineering of our Global Health System at our times

4.17 Women are from Venus? Men are from Mars? – Universal Risk Engineering?

4.17.1 Venus: Risk Engineering based on Arrhenius Model?

4.17.2 Mars: Low-Cycle Fatigue Reliability Modeling?

4.18 Ecosystem Risk Engineering

4.19 Environmental Art and Ecological Risk Engineering: Grand River Sculpture

4.20 Plunging like a Polar Bear: Mitigating Risk & Uncertainty in Alaska’s ice waters

Chapter 5 Cellular Manufacturing: Mitigating Risk and Uncertainty

5.1 Cellular Manufacturing of "The Invisible" at nano-scale

5.2 Cellular Manufacturing: Mitigating Risk & Uncertainty with Nano Solar Assembly

5.3 Cellular Manufacturing of The Scorch Trials

5.4 The World is flat: Cellular Manufacturing in a World which id flat yet spherical

5.5 Bottled Cocktail: Cellular Manufacturing in the Beverage Industry

5.6 Integrate TRIZ into Cellular Manufacturing to improve productivity

5.7 Optimize Topology for Networked Virtual Cellular Manufacturing (NVCM)

5.8 Euchre and Cellular Manufacturing: Mitigating Risk and Uncertainty

5.9 Psychology Regression: Why past entangled with present?

5.10 How to regress in a Halloween night?

5.11 "The Boy": The game of mitigating Psychological Risk and Uncertainty

5.12 Shanghai stampede tragedy: Need Risk Engineering for Traffic Risk Control

5.13 The Opening of Suez Canal: Gateway to Risk Engineering

5.14 How to prevent a Ping-Pong ball from "falling back?"

5.15 Dancing with the Fire: Entertaining Risk Engineering

5.15.1 Firewalking on the Sun

5.15.2 Fire Apparatuses

5.15.3 Materials and Construction

5.15.4 Important factors in Equipment Construction

5.15.5 Fuels

5.15.6 Risk Engineering

5.15.7 History

5.15.8 Modern Developments in Fire Performance

5.15.9 Physics of Firewalking/Fire Dancing

Chapter 6 System Risk Engineering

6.1 Edith Clarke and Power Systems Risk Engineering

6.2 Encoding the geometry of navigating our stars: Flyby Pluto and Beyond

6.3 From Radioactive Isotopes, Space Nuclear Power, to "Mission to Mars"

6.4 "All the astronauts who landed on the Moon were Engineers…"

6.5 European Space Agency’s Intermediate Experimental Vehicle splashes down safely

6.6 Systems Risk Engineering: Shall we vote electronically in November’s election?

6.7 Risk Engineering of the first Transatlantic Telegraph Cable

6.8 A Nation’s Strength: How a building stands up?

6.9 Risk Engineering and Political Science

6.10 The Lake of No Name and Thinking of Chinese Poetry

6.11 Baseball Reliability Engineering

6.12 Entropy among the Forest of Fault Trees: When two roads are "really about the same"

6.13 With Vision, Space Station, and Action, Who could be Happier?

6.14 Decision-Making under Uncertainty: Eisenhower decides on D-Day

6.14.1 Weather Forecast

6.14.2 Eisenhower’s Decision

6.14.3 Great Victory

6.15 "Home is best": Engineers from the Moon to the Earth

6.15.1 Engineering a robust kite with Six Sigma

6.15.2 Eisenhower’s Decision

6.16 Design: Where Engineering Meets Art

6.17 "Edge of Tomorrow," Design for Survivability, and Stress-Strength Interference

6.18 Maze Runner vs. Labyrinth Seal

6.19 Axiomatic Design: Imagination inspires us to create

6.20 Flying to Venus: Axiomatic Design for Global Business Relationships

Chapter 7 Contingency Planning, Logistics, and Lean Manufacturing: Rolling out the Storm

7.1 Lean Manufacturing: Model T’s Dream Cruise

7.2 Lean Six Sigma: Leadership is a Choice

7.3 In an Aircraft, Changing a Light Bulb is an Avionics Engineering Problem

7.4 On the ship of continuous improvement, "Don’t give up the Ship…"

7.5 How can leaders fight short-termism for Industrial Design Engineering?

7.6 Statistical mean (average) can be statistically fatal

7.7 Industrial Engineering Design – It all starts with a dream

7.7.1 Kindergarten Classrooms: Where Engineering dreams start

7.7.2 The Starfish and Continuous Improvement: Every action, no matter how small, can make a difference

7.8 Manufacturing excellence flows with Robust Design, just like a great river

7.8.1 Robustness

7.8.2 Redundancy

7.9 We have the freedom to define our success

7.9.1 Personal branding and success in Industrial Design Engineering

7.9.2 Fearless Brands enjoy 7 degrees of freedom

7.10 Probabilistic Industrial Design: Probably we can have a statistical Black Friday

7.11 Industrial Engineering Thinking: Experimenting with plot to characterize life’s unholding

7.11.1 Challenge to engineering optimization: NP Hardness

7.11.2 Chip: Computing exact wire length is an NP-hard problem

7.11.3 Seek Best Solutions under Constraints

7.12 Quantum Security of Smart-Card

7.12.1 The Quantum Entanglement for the Smart-Card

7.12.2 The Teller Machine with Quantum Entanglement

Chapter 8 Risk Communications and Continuous Improvement: Poetic Process Engineering

8.1 Business Communication as a Critical Element of Industrial Design

8.1.1 "Should old acquaintance be forgot?" rhetorical question & business communication

8.1.2 "Should old acquaintance be forgot?" is a rhetorical question

8.2 Rolling into 2016L Brevity is the Soul of Business Communications

8.3 "Take Me Home": 4 Things Country Music teaches us about Business Communication

8.3.1 Tell a Story

8.3.2 Hook them – Establish Connection

8.3.3 Simplicity

8.3.4 Speak from the heart

8.4 "Action Speaks Louder than Words" – Movement & Gestures in Business Communication

8.5 Business Communication: Never underestimate our ability to persuade with our eye

8.5.1 Cultural Differences

8.5.2 Monologue or Dialogue

8.5.3 Nature of the Conversation

8.5.4 Risk Engineering of Non-Verbal Business Communication

8.5.5 Eye Contact, Eye Communication and Eye Roll

8.5.6 Three Easy Tips for using Eye Contact for Better Communication

8.5.7 Eye Cues

8.6 Teleportation: Can I leave my message with the moon/

8.7 Reflection on 4th: Collaborative Action and Pervasive Communication

8.8 Alice and Cheshire Cat: Risk Engineering of our Communication

8.9 Vocal Quality in Business Communication and Timbre in Claude Debussy’s La Mer

8.9.1 Vocal Quality and Timbre

8.9.2 La Mer and Timbre

8.9.3 Debussy by the Sea

8.9.4 Debussy and Poetry

8.9.5 Debussy and Impressionism

8.10 Debussy and Japanese artist Hokusai’s painting "The Great Wave of Kanagawa"

8.10.1 La Mer’s Structure

8.10.2 Movement 1. De l’aube a midi sur la mer ("From Dawn to noon on the Sea")

- (B minor)

8.10.3 Movement 2. Jeux de vagues ("Play of the Waves")

- Allegro (C sharp minor)

8.10.4 Movement 3. Dialogue du vent et de la mer ("Dialogue of the Wind and the Sea")

8.10.5 La Mer’s Influence

8.10.6 Like a fine wine, La Mer is an extraordinary masterpiece of musical paintings…

8.10.7 Is there a smile in our voice?

8.11 Getting to "Yes" – Reaching agreement across the miles

8.11.1 First Principle: Separating People and Issues

8.11.2 Second Principle: Focus on Interests

8.11.3 Third Principle: Generate Options

8.11.4 Fourth Principle: Use Objective Criteria

8.11.5 Fifth Principle: Bottom-Line Based Communication According to Lean Manufacturing

8.11.6 Six Principle: Risk Engineering and Management

Chapter 9 On the River of Industrial Design Engineering: Flow of Poetic Thinking

9.1 "And Quiet Flows the Don" with Integrity

9.1.1 Integrity and Babe Ruth’s Baseball Reliability Scorecard

9.1.2 Bully Pulpit to Communicate and Persuade

9.1.3 Where Knowledge and Authority Live

9.1.4 Integrity and Industrial Design Engineering

9.2 Art of "Communicating with a Glance": From Impressionism to Elevator Speech

9.2.1 When to use an Elevator Pitch

9.2.2 Know your Audience

9.2.3 Know Yourself

9.2.4 Outline your Talk

9.2.5 Create an Elevator Pitch

9.2.6 Finalize your Speech

9.3 Probabilistic Nature of Poetic Expression

9.4 Mid-Autumn Night: Would we share the same moon?

9.4.1 Moon and Business Communication

9.4.2 Case Study: What would we learn about Cross-Cultural Communication by Staring at the Moon?

9.5 5 Whys for Business Innovation: Simple yet Smart

9.5.1 5-whys: A formula to Better Problem Solving

9.5.2 Innovation Games: Play is the Highest Form of Industrial Design Engineering

9.6 Industrial Engineering Thinking vs. Poetic Thinking

9.7 Hamlet’s Action: Decision making under Uncertainty

9.7.1 Action is Contradictory

9.7.2 Action is Arresting

9.7.3 Various setbacks occur over the course of action

9.7.4 Action is Decisive

9.7.5 Action results in a triumphant conclusion

9.8 Engineering Dialogue on Lake Lucerne: How to think and express our impression poetically?

9.9 Would a Poet flip a coin like an Engineer?

9.10 Poem appeared in Poetry Quarterly: Winter/Summer 2012 Edition

9.11 Tulip Time, Cherry Blossom, and Risk Engineering

9.12 The River: Flow of Poetic Thinking

Popular Textbooks

Quality Management for Organizational Excellence

David L. Goetsch, David Goetsch, Stanley Davis

ISBN-13: 9780133791853

Lean Production Simplified

Pascal Dennis

ISBN-13: 9781498708876

Donna C. Summers, Donna C. S. Summers

ISBN-13: 9780131592490

Essentials of Quality with Cases and Experiential Exercises

Victor E. Sower, V. E. Sower, Sower

ISBN-13: 9780470509593

Learning to See

Dan Jones, Jim Womack, Mike Rother, John Shook

ISBN-13: 9780966784305

Out of the Crisis

W. Edwards Deming

ISBN-13: 9780262541152

Server Busy

Our servers are getting hit pretty hard right now. To continue shopping, enter the characters as they are shown in the image below.

TRIZ – The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving

Current Research and Trends in French Academic Institutions

• © 2017
• Denis Cavallucci   ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1815-5601 0

INSA Strasbourg , Strasbourg Cedex, France

You can also search for this editor in PubMed   Google Scholar

• Provides a comprehensive overview of various TRIZ-related research efforts in France
• Covers various areas from research, education, and industry
• Answers questions about both the successes and failures of TRIZ over the past 20 years
• Includes supplementary material: sn.pub/extras

15k Accesses

34 Citations

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this book

Subscribe and save.

• Get 10 units per month
• Download Article/Chapter or eBook
• 1 Unit = 1 Article or 1 Chapter
• Cancel anytime
• Available as PDF
• Read on any device
• Instant download
• Own it forever
• Compact, lightweight edition
• Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days
• Free shipping worldwide - see info
• Durable hardcover edition

Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout

Other ways to access

Licence this eBook for your library

Institutional subscriptions

About this book

The work presented here is generally intended for engineers, educators at all levels, industrialists, managers, researchers and political representatives. Offering a snapshot of various types of research conducted within the field of TRIZ in France, it represents a unique resource.

​It has been two decades since the TRIZ theory originating in Russia spread across the world. Every continent adopted it in a different manner – sometimes by glorifying its potential and its perspectives (the American way); sometimes by viewing it with mistrust and suspicion (the European way); and sometimes by adopting it as-is, without questioning it further (the Asian way). However, none of these models of adoption truly succeeded. Today, an assessment of TRIZ practices in education, industry and research is necessary. TRIZ has expanded to many different scientific disciplines and has allowed young researchers to reexamine the state of research in their field. To this end, a call was sent out to all known francophone research laboratories producing regular research about TRIZ. Eleven of them agreed to send one or more of their postdoctoral researchers to present their work during a seminar, regardless of the maturity or completeness of their efforts. It was followed by this book project, presenting one chapter for every current thesis in order to reveal the breadth, the richness and the perspectives that research about the TRIZ theory could offer our society. The topics dealt with e.g. the development of new methods inspired by TRIZ, educational practices, and measuring team impact.

Similar content being viewed by others

Problems in the Spreading of TRIZ in Argentina

Improving Self-efficacy in Solving Inventive Problems with TRIZ

Design Thinking and Innovative Problem Solving

• Theory of Inventive Problem Solving
• Innovation Strategies
• Problem Solving Strategies
• Design Engineering

Table of contents (11 chapters)

Front matter, finding innovative technical solutions in patents through improved evolution trends.

• Ulises Valverde, Jean-Pierre Nadeau, Dominique Scaravetti

Automated Extraction of Knowledge Useful to Populate Inventive Design Ontology from Patents

• Achille Souili, Denis Cavallucci

Modelling Industrial Design Contribution to Innovative Product or Service Design Process in a Highly Constrained Environment

• Philippe Blanchard, Pascal Crubleau, Hervé Christofol, Simon Richir

Teaching Competence for Organising Problem-Centred Teaching-Learning Process

• Renata Jonina, David Oget, Jacques Audran

Problem Graph for Warehousing Design

• David Damand, Marc Barth, Elvia Lepori

Key Indicators of Inventive Performance for Characterizing Design Activities in R&Ds: Application in Technological Design

• Ali Taheri, Denis Cavallucci, David Oget

Optimization Methods for Inventive Design

• Lei Lin, Ivana Rasovska, Roland De Guio, Sébastien Dubois

Contribution to Formalizing Links Between Invention and Optimization in the Inventive Design Method

• Thongchai Chinkatham, Dominique Knittel, Denis Cavallucci

Collaboration Framework for TRIZ-Based Open Computer-Aided Innovation

• René Lopez Flores, Jean Pierre Belaud, Stéphane Negny, Jean Marc Le Lann, Guillermo Cortes Robles

System Dynamics Modeling and TRIZ: A Practical Approach for Inventive Problem Solving

• Jesús Delgado-Maciel, Guillermo Cortes-Robles, Cuauhtémoc Sánchez-Ramírez, Giner Alor-Hernández, Jorge García-Alcaraz, Stéphane Negny

Conceptual Framework of an Intelligent System to Support Creative Workshops

• Alex Gabriel, Davy Monticolo, Mauricio Camargo, Mario Bourgault

Editors and Affiliations

Denis Cavallucci

About the editor

Bibliographic information.

Book Title : TRIZ – The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving

Book Subtitle : Current Research and Trends in French Academic Institutions

Editors : Denis Cavallucci

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-56593-4

Publisher : Springer Cham

eBook Packages : Computer Science , Computer Science (R0)

Copyright Information : Springer International Publishing AG 2017

Hardcover ISBN : 978-3-319-56592-7 Published: 03 August 2017

Softcover ISBN : 978-3-319-85951-4 Published: 03 August 2018

eBook ISBN : 978-3-319-56593-4 Published: 25 July 2017

Edition Number : 1

Number of Pages : XIV, 284

Number of Illustrations : 81 b/w illustrations, 63 illustrations in colour

Topics : Models and Principles , Innovation/Technology Management , Engineering Design , Software Engineering

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

• EDGE Awards
• Search Search
• Additive/3D Printing
• CAD/CAM Software++
• AUTOMATION & IIOT
• Motion Systems
• Data Sheets

• Editorial Comment

Inventive Problem Solving

When I joined Machine Design three years ago, my No.1 goal was to expand my knowledge of engineering best practices and its relationship to the manufacturing industry. To be successful, I would need to lean on my teammates for guidance and embed myself in the industry by latching onto real-world engineering examples worthy of sharing with our audiences.

Today, with a healthy dose of humility, I proudly accepted the invitation to write the editor’s note for Machine Design ’s first issue of 2023. Those in my immediate sphere of influence know my commitment and hold the bulk of my gratitude.

I’d be stretching the truth if I said the path to this moment was a fluke. The seeds for my deep interest in engineering was planted many years ago. As an MBA student, I was required to take an entire course devoted to The Theory of Inventive Problem Solving, or TRIZ . As a systematic approach, it provides a suite of tools for recognizing contradictions as they arise and solving them without compromise.

Students were asked to use TRIZ to solve engineering problems, such as designing a fan without blades (Dyson did that!) or redesigning a muffler to reduce noise. I learned that building off other ideas is a tried-and-true method of problem solving—and it inspires creativity. Adherents to TRIZ problem-solving algorithms can be found at many organizations, from Airbus, Saint-Gobain, Doosan Babcock, Kraft and QinetiQ to Trelleborg, Rolls Royce and BAE Systems.

From the innovator’s perspective, the notion of gaining access to others’ ideas and connecting the right things to solve new problems has a storied history. Roll back the concept to the 17th Century to connect with Sir Isaac Newton’s familiar line on scientific progress: “If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.” The famed expression, written in a letter in 1675 intended for physicist Robert Hooke (who devised Hooke’s law and built a new type of Gregorian telescope), was penned at a time when Newton engaged Hooke in intense correspondence about gravitation. (Their relationship reportedly soured later on.)

Contemporary concepts such as the metaverse and digital twins arguably can be equated to Newton’s 17th Century imagined ideas of mass, gravity and velocity, which we now take for granted. The concept of digital twins is an example of an invention that is building on itself, with each digital simulation rendering a smarter version of a product or system that is greater than the sum of its parts.

Building on past innovations to develop current technologies turned out to be a common thread among the articles curated for our January/February issue . A spotlight on the space economy launches Machine Design ’s exploration of questions and use cases on how aerospace, medical tech, semiconductor and other manufacturers are pursuing first-mover advantage in the private-sector space environment. SpaceRyde is a Canadian startup that has designed a three-stage small satellite launcher targeted for Earth and lunar orbit missions. The rocket system uses a stratospheric balloon (not a new invention) to bypass 99% of the atmosphere before the rocket launches from a proprietary rocket carrier. The manufacturer plans to build a network of smart rockets that can provide cost-effective ways to transport cargo to and from low-Earth orbit.

At the moment, the space economy generates most value by enabling activities on Earth. But thanks to greater access, lower costs and sophisticated technological innovations—notably in computer-aided design and 3D printing, artificial intelligence and autonomous robotics—business and engineering services in orbit may be at the tipping point.

One notable effect of latching onto the many ways science and technologies are reshaping engineering is that it also amplifies our awareness of the societal effects. Our recent insights into an American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) report on the general shift towards design for manufacturing indicate how new workflows, roles and skills will foster Industry 4.0 business outcomes. 

This year, count on Machine Design to track both proven and novel design engineering methods along the arc of technical and socio-economic change. There is a lot to explore, and I hope this issue inspires and provokes.

Your feedback ensures our relevance. Reach me at [email protected] .

Rehana Begg | Editor-in-Chief, Machine Design

As  Machine Design ’s content lead, Rehana Begg is tasked with elevating the voice of the design and multi-disciplinary engineer in the face of digital transformation and engineering innovation. Begg has more than 24 years of editorial experience and has spent the past decade in the trenches of industrial manufacturing, focusing on new technologies, manufacturing innovation and business. Her B2B career has taken her from corporate boardrooms to plant floors and underground mining stopes, covering everything from automation & IIoT, robotics, mechanical design and additive manufacturing to plant operations, maintenance, reliability and continuous improvement. Begg holds an MBA, a Master of Journalism degree, and a BA (Hons.) in Political Science. She is committed to lifelong learning and feeds her passion for innovation in publishing, transparent science and clear communication by attending relevant conferences and seminars/workshops. 

Follow Rehana Begg via the following social media handles:

X: @rehanabegg

LinkedIn: @rehanabegg and @MachineDesign

Continue Reading

Designing a Winning Medal: What’s Behind the Flub of This Year’s Bronze Medals?

Some Simple DFMA Magic for Sheet Metal

Sponsored recommendations.

Flexible Power and Energy Systems for the Evolving Factory

Advancing Automation with Linear Motors and Electric Cylinders

Gear Up for the Toughest Jobs!

Flexible Gear Unit Solutions for Tough Requirements

Voice your opinion, to join the conversation, and become an exclusive member of machine design, create an account today.

Manufacturing execution systems for the automotive industry

Ask the Inventor: What Room Does AI Leave for Inventing New Solutions?

Focus on Innovation as IMTS 2024 Opens in Chicago

What’s the Difference Between Bearing, Shear, and Tear-Out Stress?

CADDi Drawer Demos its System from Engineer’s Perspective

Planetary Gears: The Basics

Industrial 3D Printing: 10 Basics in 20 Minutes

• Original Article
• Open access
• Published: 26 November 2020

New Hybrid AD Methodology for Minimizing the Total Amount of Information Content: A Case Study of Rehabilitation Robot Design

• Tao Yang   ORCID: orcid.org/0000-0002-6840-6993 1 ,
• Xueshan Gao 2 , 3 &
• Fuquan Dai 4  

Chinese Journal of Mechanical Engineering volume  33 , Article number:  86 ( 2020 ) Cite this article

1844 Accesses

8 Citations

Metrics details

Converting customer needs into specific forms and providing consumers with services are crucial in product design. Currently, conversion is no longer difficult due to the development of modern technology, and various measures can be applied for product realization, thus increasing the complexity of analysis and evaluation in the design process. The focus of the design process has thus shifted from problem solving to minimizing the total amount of information content. This paper presents a New Hybrid Axiomatic Design (AD) Methodology based on iteratively matching and merging design parameters that meet the independence axiom and attribute constraints by applying trimming technology, the ideal final results, and technology evolution theory. The proposed method minimizes the total amount of information content and improves the design quality. Finally, a case study of a rehabilitation robot design for hemiplegic patients is presented. The results indicate that the iterative matching and merging of related attributes can minimize the total amount of information content, reduce the cost, and improve design efficiency. Additionally, evolutionary technology prediction can ensure product novelty and improve market competitiveness. The methodology provides an excellent way to design a new (or improved) product.

1 Introduction

With the development of technology, an increasing number of technical measures have become available to solve engineering problems. Designers and engineers are beginning to realize that there are multiple alternative technological solutions (design parameters) for achieving specific needs (customer requirements). In the contemporary era characterized by the explosive development of technology, customer demands have become personalized and diversified, and emphasis has been placed on quality and the customer experience [ 1 ]. However, traditional research focused on finding appropriate technical solutions based on customer needs, organizing the design process, and solving practical engineering problems is hampered by information occlusion, the limited knowledge and experience of engineers, and the lack of a systematic design philosophy for guiding the design process. In other words, designers were limited by technical factors, so they focused on the process of determining design parameters.

Suh [ 2 ] suggested that the information axiom could be used in optimal selection when multiple functional requirements (FRs) exist. Suh noted that one could minimize the information content by specifying the largest allowable tolerance when stating FRs and integrating the design parameters (DPs) into a single physical variable. Evaluation of design schemes through information axioms can optimize design schemes, increase the success rate of design and development, and enhance robustness [ 3 ‒ 6 ].

In recent years, many scholars have performed extensive research to expand and improve AD theory. Emilio Sarno et al. [ 7 ] associated TRIZ and reliability-centred maintenance (RCM) with AD to obtain practical solutions. Kremer et al. [ 8 ] presented an AD, TRIZ, and mixed integer programming (MIP) method to develop innovative designs. Ko [ 9 ] modelled an AD and TRIZ hybrid approach to solve contradictions.

Although these studies have successfully provided the basic principles and conceptual framework for product innovation design and improvement, most of these studies focused on the independence of axiomatic design, especially decoupling the design matrix if it is coupled. Most research on the information axiom has concentrated on the evaluation scheme. Krishnapillai and Zeid suggested that each designer has a unique way of generating design alternatives [ 10 ]. Each design alternative has advantages and disadvantages that affect customer satisfaction [ 11 ].

A novel systematic method is lacking that can help designers minimize the total amount of information content to create innovative products that can surprise customers in the context of new trends and competitive markets.

Suh [ 4 ] suggested that the information axiom can be used in optimal selection when multiple functional requirements exist. Suh noted that one could minimize the information content by specifying the largest allowable tolerance when stating FRs and integrating the design parameters into a single physical variable.

Although Suh proposed some guidelines for minimizing the total amount of information content, there is still a lack of specific practical technology for implementing the relevant work. The theory most similar to Suh’s information axiom concept is trimming theory [ 12 ], which aims to remove or integrate parts and components while maintaining system functionality [ 13 , 14 ]. However, trimming theory does not provide specific methods for identifying the design parameters that should be trimmed, does not define information content, and lacks a theoretical framework.

Therefore, we can redefine the meaning of minimizing the total amount of information content, which involves not only reducing the number of information components, the uncertainty of design parameters and the complexity of consumer operations but also enhancing robustness. This paper attempts to provide a new design model to avoid unnecessary complexity in the design system and enhance customer satisfaction and help designers simultaneously solve problems and evaluate projects.

This paper introduces the AD methodology, trimming technology, ideal final results, and evolution theory in Section 2 . Section 3 presents the proposed hybrid methodology. In Section 4 , a case study is investigated to justify and verify the method. Finally, the conclusions are summarized in Section 5 .

2 Methodology

To meet customer requirements and improve customer satisfaction, designers need to find the best designs among the alternative designs by continuously considering the principle, effect and structure of design parameters to achieve specific functions. In this process, to cope with fierce market competition, companies must improve the customer experience at the lowest cost, so the design process becomes complex. With developments in science and technology, there are now many ways to achieve specific functions and increase the amount of information processed. However, from the customer experience perspective, it is best to achieve these functions with as few operations as possible. The methodology described below was proposed to improve the traditional axiomatic design and minimize the total amount of information content under the premise of satisfying the independence axiom constraint based on AD theory, the trimming technique, the ideal final results (IFRs), and technology evolution theory.

2.1 Axiomatic Design

Suh proposed the AD concept in 1978 to maximize the productivity of a manufacturing system in all cases. Suh showed that when axiom conditions are satisfied, the robustness, performance, and reliability of the system and corresponding organization are improved.

Axiomatic design defines the process of product design as a procession of the designer choosing appropriate design parameters (DP) to achieve specific requirements. The main theoretical framework involves mapping relationships among customers, requirements and design parameters. The process includes 4 steps: (1) abstracting the customer needs (CNs); (2) mapping the customer needs in the FR space; (3) constructing the product function structural tree and determining design parameters to achieve specific functions based on the relevant principle, effect and structure (e.g., design parameters; DPs); and (4) mapping the selected optimal solution to the production process (with process variables; PVs). Finally, a product is obtained. According to the axiomatic principle, the mapping process and areas are shown in Figure 1 .

Mapping processes of domain sand areas (Suh, 1990)

In addition to the main theoretical framework, there are two design axioms for product design, which can be stated as follows.

Axiom 1 (the independence axiom) involves maintaining the functional requirements of independence. Specifically, when there are two or more functional requirements, every requirement should be met without affecting the others, which requires the selection of design parameters that meet the overall functional requirements as well as the individual functional requirements. When a DP changes, the corresponding FR changers and the other dependent FRs are affected.

Axiom 2 (the information axiom) involves minimizing the total amount of information content to obtain the conditions of the optimal scheme.

2.2 Trimming Technique

The trimming technique was first proposed by Litvin and Gerasimov in the mid-1990s and was first published in Russian and then in English [ 12 ]. Sheu and Ho developed a set of trimming methods with significant results [ 14 ].

Trimming is a method of deleting some components while enhancing system ideality and reducing costs [ 14 ]. Trimming can eliminate or reduce harmful effects on the system, improve maintainability, reduce the difficulty of operations, and reduce the system costs. These traits are all necessary in contemporary design. There are many complex products, and customers usually need to read complicated manuals and follow specific functions and steps. These steps can be simplified or avoided with trimming methods. Additionally, trimming can be used to minimize the total amount of information content.

2.3 Ideal Final Result

Obtaining the ideal final result (IFR) [ 15 , 16 ] is one step in the TRIZ [ 17 ‒ 19 ]. The following formula can express the IFR.

The ideal solution originally proposed by Altshuller is that the system develops in the direction of improving the ideal level of the system. Moreover, the IFRs achieve the most significant degree of self-service (self-realization, self-delivery, and self-control) in the case of a minimal change in the system.

This theory can help improve the existing technical system by considering the solution to the problem and obtaining an optimal solution by overcoming traditional boundaries and seeking new technical methods.

2.4 Technology Evolution Theory

Technology evolution theory is an essential branch of TRIZ. Altshuller suggested that the evolution of a technological system is not random but follows specific objective laws [ 18 , 19 ]. Many scholars have since enriched technology evolution theory [ 20 , 21 ]. The eight patterns of evolution proposed by Terninko et al. [ 22 ] were considered in the paper.

3 New Hybrid Axiomatic Design Methodology

The prerequisite for minimizing information is to determine the design parameters or functions required by a given operation. We first use AD theory to map functional requirements and design parameters for structural attribute correlation calculations. First, AD is adopted to analyse the design problem, decompose the main problem into a sub-hierarchy level problem and map design parameters. Then, the attributes of the design parameters are determined to be related or not, which is the core objective and key step in information minimization. We propose the following criteria for attribute-related judgement.

Determining whether functional requirements (FRs) are relevant or not.

The goal of this criterion is to determine whether some FRs can be achieved with a single design parameter (DP) based on an achievable index.

Determining whether design parameters (DPs) are relevant or not.

The objective of this criterion is to determine whether some components can be replaced with an intrinsic function or other components based on an achievable index.

Calculating the total amount of information content.

where I is the total amount of information content and p is probability.

The design parameters to which attributes are related should be iteratively matched and merged based on trimming techniques, the IFR, or technology evolution theory. After the above operations, we obtain the new design parameters and a new solution and then determine whether the new solution has the lowest information content. If not, the physical domain (PD) is transformed back to the functional domain (FD) based on zigzagging, which is the process of decomposing a design into hierarchies by alternating between domains and redescribing the design parameters as functional requirements. Finally, this process is repeated until the optimal solution is obtained.

An operational model is constructed to help designers conveniently use the proposed method in product design, as shown in Figure 2 (we propose a hybrid algorithm that includes mapping, zigzagging, and iterative matching and merging based on DPs, as shown in Appendix ).

Operational model for minimizing the total amount of information content

4 Case Study

4.1 defining the design problems.

Many regions have ageing societies, and there are many people with ambulatory dysfunction in those regions. Moreover, many areas are facing shortages of medical workers [ 23 ]. A rehabilitation robot is regarded as one way to solve this problem [ 24 , 25 ]. We worked with the China Rehabilitation Research Center (CRRC) to design a new mobile chaperonage lower limb rehabilitation training robot (MCLLRTR). The requirements of the robot are summarized as follows:

Assist impaired individuals in exercises for leg rehabilitation;

Detect and record the gait and recovery information;

Provide a flexible mechanical structure for patient security;

Have as few operational rules as possible for the lower limbs;

Have a low cost.

4.2 Innovative Process Based on the New Hybrid Methodology

Step 1: Define the necessary level of AD syntax.

According to the CRRC, the training content used in rehabilitation varies according to the level of dysfunction and physical condition. In this work, we mainly focused on late-stage rehabilitation training and the development of a mobile robot for rehabilitation training. The essential FR (FR 1 ) can be expressed as follows: the design parameters must be appropriate for a lower limb rehabilitation training robot.

An appropriate design parameter (DP 1 ) is required to satisfy FR 1 . Thus, DP 1 can be described based on the relevant conversion technology and structure.

There is only one design parameter (DP 1 ), and there is no property-related phenomenon. Therefore, we need to decompose FR and DP continuously.

According to DP 1 , the further decomposition of FR 1 represents the following FRs:

FR 11 : Provides a proper rehabilitation mechanism for rehabilitation training involving hemiplegic patients;

FR 12 : Able to detect and record gait and fall information;

FR 13 : Able to adjust dimensional parameters and ensure safety;

FR 14 : Provide simple operations with good interactivity; and

FR 15 : Have a low cost.

The FR hierarchy is constructed from the corresponding DP hierarchy.

The alternative solutions and various DPs are analysed based on the new hybrid methodology, as previously noted.

Step 2: Calculate the relevance index of each domain, i and j , to determine the design parameters to which attributes are related.

The final relevance index for each domain, i and j , is calculated based on the accumulation of weighted subrelevance indices from the abovementioned 3 criteria indices using Eq. ( 3 ).

where i and j are the indices of the relevance calculation and \({R}_{ij}\) is the final relevance index for DPs i and j, and its value ranges from −1 to 1. \({F}_{ij}\) , \({D}_{ij}\) , and \({P}_{ij}\) are the three relationship indices for i and j . These indices are related to the functional requirements, design parameters, and properties. \({\omega }_{F}\) ,  \({\omega }_{D}\) , and \({\omega }_{P}\) are the weights of the corresponding 3 indices. The weight of each factor is between 0 and 1, and the sum of the 3 weights is equal to 1.

Step 3: Iteratively match and merge the design parameters until the DP with the lowest information content is obtained.

We can identify the target DPs (according to the following iteration condition: if \({R}_{ij}>0.6\) ) that can be integrated or trimmed based on the relevance index and then iteratively combine them. According to FR 12 , the corresponding DP 12 should be able to detect gait and fall information and record the training time, number of steps, and movement speed. We conducted related investigations and research on the existing gait detection technology and summarized several common methods, such as those based on image detection [ 26 ], environmental perception-based detection [ 27 ], and wearable sensor detection [ 28 , 29 ].

We can use the hybrid model to minimize the total amount of information content. We identified DP 12 as the target of iterative combination based on the relevance index. According to trimming technique (1), as discussed in Section 2.2 , the IFRs (self-realization) and technology evolution theory (in this case, evolution rule 5: transition to a flexible system or a mobile system to improve controllability), as noted in Sections 2.3 and 2.4 , we finally met some detection requirements by arranging the photoelectric sensors at specific spatial locations and applying a novel classifier algorithm. The novel classifier algorithm is detailed in another paper [ 30 ‒ 32 ]. Compared to other sensor combination methods, the use of photoelectric sensors dramatically reduces the complexity of the design. We can list the design parameters that meet the functional requirements in the design matrix and calculate the information content of the design parameters. The relevance index and total amount of information content between the FR and DP matrices are given in Table 1 based on the new hybrid methodology, as previously discussed.

In this article, we use the accuracy rate of different alternative solutions as the basis for calculating the information content and set the recognition accuracy rate A i to calculate the information content using Eq. ( 4 ):

where TP + FN represents the number of samples that are positive, and P + N is the total number of samples.

As shown in Table 1 , we found that for gait detection and fall detection, the solution of wearable sensors has the least information content; for step counting, detecting the training time and detecting the patient’s walking speed, the solution of photoelectric sensors has the least information content.

To accurately recognize the various states of the patient in real time, we proposed a multi-sensor system to obtain multiple features and classify activities from different dimensions. The system board was designed with a STM32 microprocessor powered by a 5 V battery. To improve the accuracy of fall detection, we developed a tri-sensor detection system (as shown in Figure 3 ) for our specific rehabilitation robot. The photoelectric sensors collect the spatial distribution features of the gait for activity recognition. The tension sensors collect the directional features by sampling the difference in the same-side sensor signals. The accelerometer sensor collects kinematic information for activity recognition.

The tri-sensor detection system

Through the new hybrid methodology, we successfully designed a new low-cost robot that meets almost all the relevant requirements. Compared to the previous rehabilitation training robots, the cost of the new rehabilitation robot is reduced by as many as 42%, and it allows patients to achieve omnidirectional actuation with straightforward manipulation, which significantly improves patient satisfaction.

5 Conclusions

Previous work has documented the effectiveness and strength of AD in the process of product design. Moreover, many scholars have performed extensive research to enrich and perfect the related theory. However, these studies did not focus on minimizing the total amount of information content, which is important for improving system ideality and customer experience. In this study, we proposed an approach for minimizing the total amount of information content based on trimming technology, IFRs, and technology evolution theory. The method can designers generate technically better solutions and create innovative products that can surprise users considering new trends and competitive markets.

This approach consists of an operational model of new hybrid methodology and related algorithms. Through the grammar structure of AD theory, the hierarchy of FRs is decomposed and mapped to the DPs to determine the design parameters for which attributes are related based on the relevance index. Finally, we reduce the total amount of information content by iteratively matching and merging the design parameters that meet the independence axiom constraint, and the attributes are related based on trimming technology, the IFRs, and technology evolution theory. The operational model can help designers simultaneously solve problems and evaluate projects.

Notably, to the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to propose a new hybrid methodology based on the iterative matching and merging of design parameters to minimize the total amount of information content. Our results provide compelling evidence for the effectiveness of this approach. However, some limitations are worth noting. The iterative matching and merging process is time intensive, and some professional knowledge is required. Future work should focus on developing an effective control method for the iterative process.

M Kuniavsky. Observing the customer experience: a practitioners guide to customer research . San Francisco, USA: Morgan Kaufmann Publishers, 2003.

Google Scholar  

N P Suh. Axiomatic design-Advances and applications . New York: Oxford University Press, 2001.

Martin G Helander, Lin Li. Axiomatc design in ergonomics and an extension of the information axiom. Journal of Engineering Design , 2002, 13(4): 321-339.

Article   Google Scholar  

N P Suh. Axiomatic design theory for systems. Research in Engineering Design , 1998, 10: 189-209.

Osman Kulak, Cengiz Kahraman. Fuzzy multi-attribute selection among transportation companies using axiomatic design and analytic hierarchy process. Information Science , 2005, 170: 191-210.

Tichun Wang, Bingfa Chen, Liangfeng Bu. Multi-attribute optimal selection model of large-scale hydraulic turbine scheme design based on information axiom. Journal of Nanjing University of Aeronautics & Astronautics , 2011, 43(6): 822-826.

Emilio Sarno, Vipin Kumar, Wei Li. A hybrid methodology for enhancing reliability for large systems in conceptual design and its application to the design of a multiphase flow station. Research in Engineering Design , 2005, 16: 27-41.

G O Kremer, M C Chiu, C Y Lin, et al. Application of axiomatic design, TRIZ, and mixed integer programming to develop innovative designs: Alocomotive ballast arrangement case study. The International Journal of Advanced Manufacturing Technology , 2012, 61(5-8): 827-842.

Yao-Tsung Ko. Modeling a hybrid-compact design matrix for new product innovation. Computer & Industrial Engineering , 2017, 107: 345-359.

R Krishnapillai, A Zeid. Mapping product design specification for mass customization. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing , 2006, 17(1): 29-43.

Prabhat Kumar, Puneet Tandon. A paradigm for customer-driven product design approach using extended axiomatic design. Journal of Intelligent Manufacturing , 2019, 30(2): 589-603.

V M Gerasimov, S S Litvin. Osnovnye polozheniya metodiki provedeniya funktsionalno-stoimostnogo analiza. Metodicheskiye rekomendatsyi. TRIZ Journal , 1992, 3.2. (in Russian)

Q Li, G Cao, H Guo, et al. Product integrated innovation based on function. IFIP Advances in Information and Communication Technology , 2009, 304: 59-69.

D D Sheu, M Hou. TRIZ-based systematic device trimming method: theory and applications. The International Journal of Systematic Innovation , 2012, 2(1): 2-21.

D Daniel Sheu, Ming-Chuan Chiu, Dimitri Cayard. The 7 pillars of TRIZ philosophies. Computer & Industrial Engineering , 2020. 146: 106572.

Czesław Cempel. The ideal final result and contradiction matrix for machine condition monitoring with TRIZ. 5th International Congress of Technical Diagnostics , 2014, 588: 276-280.

G Altshuler. Creativity as an exact science: The theory of the solution of inventive problems . Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach, 1984.

Book   Google Scholar  

G Altshuler. And suddenly the inventor appeared TRIZ the theory of inventive problem solving. 2nd ed. Amsterdam: Gordon and Breach, 1996.

G Altshuller. Creativity as an exact science, Theory of Inventive problems solving. Moscow: Sovetskoye Radio, 1979.

Jesús Delgado-Maciel, Guillermo Cortés-Robles, CuauhtémocSánchez-Ramírez, et al. The evaluation of conceptual design through dynamic simulation: A proposal based on TRIZ and system dynamics. Computer & Industrial Engineering , 2020, 149: 106785.

Muhammad Mansoor, Norman Mariun, Noor IzzriAbdulWahab. Innovating problem solving for sustainable green roofs: Potential usage of TRIZ-Theory of inventive problem solving. Ecological Engineering , 2017, 99: 209-221.

J Terninko, A Zusman, B Zlotin. Systematic innovation: an introduction to TRIZ . Boca Raton: CRC Press LLC, 1998.

Syrine Soufi, Stéphane Chabrier, Laurent Bertoletti, et al. Lived experience of having a child with stroke: A qualitative study. European Journal of Paediatric Neurology , 2017, 21(3): 542-548.

Quan Liu, Jie Zuo, ChangZhu, et al. Design and control of soft rehabilitation robots actuated by pneumatic muscles: State of the art. Future Generation Computer Systems , 2020, 113: 620-634.

Di Shi, Wuxiang Zhang, Wei Zhang, et al. Assist-as-needed attitude control in three-dimensional space for robotic rehabilitation. Mechanism and Machine Theory , 2020, 154: 104044.

B Mirmahboub, S Samavi, N Karimi, et al. Automatic monocular system for human fall detection based on variations in silhouette area. IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Engineering , 2013, 60(2): 427-436.

D Litvak, Y Zigel, I Gannot. Fall detection of elderly through floor vibrations and sound. Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society. Proceedings of IEEE 30th Annual International Conference on Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society , Vancouver, BC, 2008: 4632-4635.

Yi-Cho Fang, Ren-Jye Dzeng. Accelerometer-based fall-portent detection algorithm for construction tiling operation. Automation in Construction , 2017, 84: 214-230.

Lin Chen, Rong Li, Hang Zhang, et al. Intelligent fall detection method based on accelerometer data from a wrist-worn smart watch. Measurement , 2019, 140: 215-226.

Tao Yang, Xueshan Gao, Jinmin Peng, et al. A novel activity recognition system for alternative control strategies of a lower limb rehabilitation robot. Applied Sciences , 2019, 9(19): 1-19.

Tao Yang, Xueshan Gao. Adaptive neural sliding-mode controller for alternabtive control strategies in lower limb rehabilitation. IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering , 2020, 28(1): 238-247.

Xueshan Gao, Tao Yang, Jinmin Peng. Logic-enhanced adaptive network-based fuzzy classifier for fall recognition in rehabilitation. IEEE Access , 2020, 8(1): 57105-57113.

Download references

Acknowledgements

The authors sincerely thanks to Doctor Yue Lin of IWINTALL.INC for his critical discussion and reading during manuscript preparation.

Supported by Research Startup Fund Project of Fujian University of Technology (Grant No. GY-Z20089), Science Foundation for Young Scholars of Fujian Province of China (Grant No. 2018J05099) and Education and Scientific Research Projects of Young Teachers in Fujian Province of China (Grant No. JAT160313).

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

School of Design, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou, 350118, China

School of Mechatronical Engineering, Beijing Institute of Technology, Beijing, 100118, China

Xueshan Gao

Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Fujian University of Technology, Fuzhou, 350118, China

Fujian Haiyuan Composite Materials Technology Co., Ltd., Fuzhou, China

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Contributions

TY was in charge of the whole trial; TY wrote the manuscript; XG and FD assisted with sampling and laboratory analyses. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Authors’ Information

Tao Yang, born in 1981. He received his PhD degree from Beijing Institute of Technology, China , in 2020. He is with School of Design, Fujian University of Technology, China . His research interests include industry design, man-machine system and rehabilitation robotics.

Xueshan Gao, born in 1966, is currently a professor and a PhD candidate supervisor at Beijing Institute of Technology, China . His research interests include mobile robot, medical robot. He is a senior member of Chinese mechanical Engineering Society (CMES) and a member of IEEE.

Fuquan Dai, born in 1987. He received his B.S. degree and PhD degree in engineering from Department of Microelectronics, Beijing Institute of Technology, China , in 2009, and 2015, respectively. From 2015 to now, he is with Department of Mechanical and Automotive Engineering, Fujian University of Technology, China . His research interest includes control theory that utilizes dynamics of physical systems, and robotics.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tao Yang .

Ethics declarations

Competing interests.

The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ .

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article.

Yang, T., Gao, X. & Dai, F. New Hybrid AD Methodology for Minimizing the Total Amount of Information Content: A Case Study of Rehabilitation Robot Design. Chin. J. Mech. Eng. 33 , 86 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s10033-020-00511-w

Download citation

Received : 22 October 2019

Revised : 10 November 2020

Accepted : 12 November 2020

Published : 26 November 2020

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1186/s10033-020-00511-w

Share this article

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Axiomatic design
• Amount of information content
• Rehabilitation robot