Guruprasad Kuppu Rao
Director and Mentor, ImaginariumA double Masters with 29 years of experience encompassing Industry and Academia, Rao's had stints at Titan, Tanishq and Crompton Greaves. A research scholar at IIT Bombay, he has also taught design at the National Institute of Fashion Technology, and holds 8 patents and 100-plus design registrations.
3D printing, when integrated with TRIZ, makes creative problem-solving simpler
ET CONTRIBUTORS|
Nov 22, 2017, 05.36 PM IST
We know that creativity is an essential part of product development and there are several methods that help develop innovative products and services.
For designers, there are several techniques and tools for idea generation, and most depend on the trigger that generates new ideas. One such idea-generating tool is TRIZ.
Also known as inventive problem-solving, TRIZ is a method which uses trigger principles based from patents, creating many cool and novel design ideas.
Despite being available for a while now, it has not been used extensively as many have found it challenging to learn TRIZ tools.
Gamification with 3D printed artefacts would make the TRIZ tools playful, and hence easy to adopt. Problems can be identified as those with 'known solutions' and those with 'unknown solutions'. 'Known solution' problems are citable from literature search and are found in technical articles.
'Unknown solution' problems may be termed as the creative problems, that require out-of-the-box solutions. The classical design methods always explore a typical solution set, not only for inspiration but also reinventing the wheel.
This is quite similar to how TRIZ goes about solution synthesis. One of the main principles in this technique is departing from the identified problem by means of abstraction, and lending a revised approach to the generic solution.
Creative designers have been using idea triggers from artefacts such as the tech box. They are good tools for both, lone designers or a group, and there have been attempts to combine TRIZ and Tech Box to leverage their strengths. Consequently, this has given birth to 'TRIZ- BOX' which facilitates the transformation of the abstract inventive principle into reality.
The physical TRIZ-Box has artefacts, like metal foam, sandwich structures, shape-memory alloy, and technical toys. These box contents, are, at times, a limitation when the domains overlap.
We know that 'one size fits all' does not work and so is the TRIZ -Box which has to be made as per the problem theme. This can be easily achieved by 3D printing them quickly and tweaked if needed, at a much lower cost.
TRIZ and 3D printed artefacts make a catalytic pair to help accelerate adoption of both for maximizing creative solutions.
For designers, there are several techniques and tools for idea generation, and most depend on the trigger that generates new ideas. One such idea-generating tool is TRIZ.
Also known as inventive problem-solving, TRIZ is a method which uses trigger principles based from patents, creating many cool and novel design ideas.
Despite being available for a while now, it has not been used extensively as many have found it challenging to learn TRIZ tools.
Gamification with 3D printed artefacts would make the TRIZ tools playful, and hence easy to adopt. Problems can be identified as those with 'known solutions' and those with 'unknown solutions'. 'Known solution' problems are citable from literature search and are found in technical articles.
'Unknown solution' problems may be termed as the creative problems, that require out-of-the-box solutions. The classical design methods always explore a typical solution set, not only for inspiration but also reinventing the wheel.
This is quite similar to how TRIZ goes about solution synthesis. One of the main principles in this technique is departing from the identified problem by means of abstraction, and lending a revised approach to the generic solution.
Creative designers have been using idea triggers from artefacts such as the tech box. They are good tools for both, lone designers or a group, and there have been attempts to combine TRIZ and Tech Box to leverage their strengths. Consequently, this has given birth to 'TRIZ- BOX' which facilitates the transformation of the abstract inventive principle into reality.
The physical TRIZ-Box has artefacts, like metal foam, sandwich structures, shape-memory alloy, and technical toys. These box contents, are, at times, a limitation when the domains overlap.
We know that 'one size fits all' does not work and so is the TRIZ -Box which has to be made as per the problem theme. This can be easily achieved by 3D printing them quickly and tweaked if needed, at a much lower cost.
TRIZ and 3D printed artefacts make a catalytic pair to help accelerate adoption of both for maximizing creative solutions.
Disclaimer: The opinions expressed in this column are that of the writer. The facts and opinions expressed here do not reflect the views of www.economictimes.com.
