Abstract
Prototyping physical artifacts is a fundamental activity for both product development in industrial and engineering design domains and the development of digital fabrication skills. Prototyping is also essential for human-centric problem-solving in design education. Digital fabrication assists in rapid prototype development through computer-aided design and manufacturing tools. Due to the spread of makerspaces like fabrication laboratories (FabLabs) around the world, the use of digital fabrication tools for prototyping in educational institutes is becoming increasingly common. Studies on the social, environmental, and economic sustainability of digital fabrication have been carried out. However, none of them focus on sustainability and prototyping-based digital fabrication tools or design education. To bridge this research gap, a conceptual framework for sustainable prototyping based on a five-stage design thinking model is proposed. The framework, which is based on a comprehensive literature review of social, economic, and environmental sustainability factors of digital fabrication, is applied to evaluate a prototyping process that took place in a FabLab in an education context aimed at enhancing sustainability. Three case studies are used to evaluate the proposed framework. Based on the findings, recommendations are presented for sustainable prototyping using digital fabrication tools.
Highlights
Various definitions of a prototype can be found in the literature [1,2,3]
Prototyping is an important aspect of design education, new product development, learning digital fabrication skills, and STEM education
The topic of sustainability is a main concern for digital fabrication tools used for product design, and its many facets have been widely studied over the last decade
Summary
Various definitions of a prototype can be found in the literature [1,2,3]. In this study, a prototype is defined as “a concrete representation of part or all of an interactive system”and as “a tangible artefact, not an abstract description that requires interpretation” [4].As the word prototype suggests, it is the outcome of the prototyping activity. Various definitions of a prototype can be found in the literature [1,2,3]. A prototype is defined as “a concrete representation of part or all of an interactive system”. As “a tangible artefact, not an abstract description that requires interpretation” [4]. As the word prototype suggests, it is the outcome of the prototyping activity. The prototyping activity and its outcome help to improve design [1,5,6]. Prototyping provides an opportunity to transform a design idea into a tangible form. This activity is frequently carried out by product development designers from the earlier stages of the design process
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