A case study on the use of open source hardware in mechanical engineering

Abstract

Open Source Hardware (OSH) enables innovative developments and business models. The OSH approach creates new forms of cross-company product development and community-based innovation processes. Open source has been state of the art in software industry for years. When it comes to OSH projects, however, the focus is primarily on the consumer sector. The use of OSH for industrial products, especially in mechanical engineering, is still in its early stages. The paper presents a case study on the development of an application module based on OSH components in a R&D testbed. The developed module is intended to enable electronic functional testing. For this purpose, the development process involved, among other things, creating solutions for a tool changing system. Using the case study, we analyse the advantages and disadvantages of the open source licenses used and derive implications for the R&D process. Building on this, various concepts for the use, adaptation and expansion of OSH components and the resulting implications for development processes and business models are presented. The case study is used to analyse which established open source software concepts can be transferred to material assets, but also which additional requirements arise from OSH components, e.g. in the area of safety.