Skateboards used in competitive events such as the Olympic Games are sophisticated products that have remained largely unchanged for over four decades. This presents an opportunity for improvement in the form of reduced weight and moment of inertia, while maintaining comparable stiffness to the most popular skateboard truck currently in use. To achieve this, topology optimization was employed with consideration of real-world loads, which are inherent to street skating. To ensure a reliable and predictable handling, a re-engineering of the benchmark truck was used. To assess the impact of weight reduction on the overall system, all skateboard components were modelled and assembled to compare the center of mass and moment of inertia with the benchmark. Following the virtual validation, the skateboard truck was printed via SLS with a weight reduction of 19 % compared to the benchmark.

sEMG biofeedback therapy can be used to treat arm paresis after a stroke by using surface mounted EMG electrodes to measure muscle activity in the forearm and provide visual feedback to the patient. Since current sEMG biofeedback systems rely on manual placement of a few large electrodes, they cannot be used to discriminate between individual extrinsic finger muscle activities, which is necessary for training everyday hand movements. In this paper, we present our concept for the development of a device that enables the resolution of individual finger activities. We have developed a method that uses and reduces information from large-scale sEMG scans of a person's forearm to identify suitable locations for the strategic placement of a minimal number of electrodes in a personalised forearm sleeve, which is the key component of an effective biofeedback device for everyday hand movements.

Inspired by nature, where organisms adapt their shapes to navigate complex challenges, engineering systems can benefit from reconfigurable designs that move beyond rigid, conventional strategies. Reconfiguration offers a promising solution for systems to adapt dynamically to changing operational requirements. Origami, known for its ability to transform from simple 2D sheets into intricate 3D structures, provides a powerful framework for designing adaptable and reconfigurable systems. In this study, a waterbomb origami-based (WOB) crawler is proposed featuring reverse movement without changing actuation. The unfolding and folding process of the WOB enables motion due to the friction between the vertex and the ground, whereas the reverse movement is achieved by leveraging the local bistability of one WOB crease.

Sensor-integrating, “gentelligent” components allow to “inherit” operational loads-data for design optimisations from one generation to the next. For area-wide acquisition and reliable transmission of this data, wireless sensor networks (WSN) are often used, but small sensor nodes for reconstructing deformations and loads, so-called shape sensing, are rarely considered as well as a methodical development of such sensor nodes. This paper presents the development of a small sensor node in accordance to the VDI 2206 for shape sensing with a prototype with strain gauges, HX711 A/D converters and an Arduino Nano 33 IoT microprocessor. An infrastructured WSN is built and tested on an aluminium part at a test rig. The shape sensing is carried out with three sensor nodes and the deformed shape is displayed on a server-website to demonstrate the functionality of the methodically developed WSN.

Designing healthcare interventions for children with complex health needs often overlooks the perspectives of key stakeholders, including children. Collaborative design is essential for creating solutions that integrate diverse viewpoints and bridge communication gaps. However, prior studies lack tools to align stakeholder perspectives in pediatric care. This study introduces Octo, an educational toy, as a boundary object to enhance communication among children aged 4 to 10 with congenital heart disease (CHD), their parents, and healthcare providers. Octo evolves from a prototype to a functional educational tool, fostering engagement through play while promoting health literacy and stakeholder collaboration. This research through design (RtD) demonstrates the effectiveness of boundary objects in advancing inclusive, child-led interventions and collaborative healthcare design.

Bio-inspired designs offer innovative solutions for optimizing heat exchangers, though their complexity often exceeds the capabilities of traditional manufacturing methods. Additive manufacturing (AM) enables intricate geometries with enhanced surface areas for improved heat transfer. This study presents a modular algorithm to integrate internal structures into heat exchanger designs, balancing thermal performance and manufacturability. A case study demonstrates the design, simulation, and production of internal structures, identifying the “Diamond Radial” structure as the optimal choice due to its high R-factor and potential to improve efficiency. Future work includes exploring multi-material components and designs for hydrogen storage and fuel cell applications, paving the way for more efficient, application-specific systems.

This study examines daily emotion regulation strategies of young adults aged 20-30 and proposes design opportunities for enhancing emotional well-being. Research with 29 participants revealed a preference for behavioral strategies (73.4%) over cognitive strategies (26.6%), particularly “Seek pleasure or relaxation” strategies. Significant differences were observed between positive and negative emotional contexts. Four main categories of emotion regulation strategies were identified: Disengagement, Seek pleasure or relaxation, Reallocate resources, and Engagement. Design opportunities were proposed based on these findings. This study enhances understanding of young adults’ emotion regulation and offers design strategies for product development. Future research should validate these strategies and explore personalized approaches, considering long-term impacts and ethics.

Design research is highly interdisciplinary, connecting to significant research problems such as the scientificity of design research and blurring boundaries of design disciplines. This paper adopts the perspective of philosophy of technology, regarding design as technical artifact-making activities. It endeavors to identify potential design research approaches based on the evolution of the philosophy of technology, and explain how these approaches have emerged, developed, and evolved. These include: analytic philosophy approach, pragmatism approach, and phenomenology approach. These three research approaches can represent the differentiation rules of design research in both independent and interrelated manners. The clarification can make the philosophical stances of technical artifact-making activities clearer, and provide philosophical references for future design meta-research.

Thanks to its design freedom, additive manufacturing (AM) offers the possibility of directly integrating functions and effects into parts. One of these effects is particle damping, which can significantly increase the damping of parts due to the friction of loose particles in closed cavities. However, the design of these cavities is challenging due to a large number of influencing factors. This article presents a tool that optimizes the component topology and creates particle damping cavities. Using the bidirectional evolutionary structure optimization method, an optimization of mass, stiffness, and damping is achieved. The verification of the tool shows that, in addition to reducing the part mass, the integration of the particle dampers is successfully implemented in compliance with the design principles from the literature. Furthermore, restrictions of the AM process were implemented.

Cyber-physical production systems (CPPS) are responsible for a significant portion of manufacturers’ carbon emissions. Since 80% of product-related environmental impacts are determined at the design stage, there is a need for CPPS manufacturers to focus on decarbonization at the design stage. To date, there is a lack of design-for-decarbonization guidance for CPPS. This paper proposes a procedural framework for the effective selection of decarbonization measures for the design of CPPS. A Decarbonization Wheel is developed to establish a product-specific decarbonization strategy. This tool is linked to a catalogue of decarbonization measures. A measure prioritization logic provides a structure for systematizing selected measures. The framework is validated in the case of an intelligent industrial control valve.

This study explores the design of a compatibility evaluation framework for integrating 3PL warehouse clients into semi-automated warehouse setups. Using Action Design Research (ADR), an artifact was developed that combines data-driven decision-making (DDD) and multi-criteria decision analysis. The framework, implemented in Microsoft Power BI, enables the evaluation of client compatibility based on configurable criteria and relevant metrics. It was co-created with stakeholders and tested using data from 33 warehouse clients, demonstrating its practical value in identifying operational fit while facilitating data-driven discussions. The study highlights the potential of structured decision frameworks in environments with limited data, offering generalizable insights for 3PL warehouses and similar contexts.

In response to the environmental challenges posed by climate change and shortened product lifecycles, businesses must prioritize the design of sustainable and adaptable products. Upgradeable products present a viable solution to incorporate environmental impacts by maintaining technological relevance and addressing evolving user and customer needs, thus minimizing resource waste. To develop an effective design support for this, it is essential to create a specified method-testbed. This work employed a guideline-based expert study, applying qualitative content analysis to eight interviews. The analysis identified 38 factors crucial for supporting the development of sustainable, upgradeable mechatronic systems. These factors were consolidated into distinct objectives, resulting in 13 requirements that represent the method-testbed for a design support aimed at strategic upgrade planning.

Gradually transforming abstract, conceptual ideas into physical assemblies is seen as one of the key competences of design engineers. Despite the general recognition of the Embodiment Design task as essential phase of every development process, a general methodical support seems either not available or, at least, not influential. Instead, Embodiment Design is often considered an expert task. In this context, our paper offers a discussion of embodiment design from a design methodology perspective. Drawing from a review of relevant literature, we explain why embodiment might be better understood as the representation of the physical artifact rather than a design phase, provide properties and characteristics of good embodiment solution, and give initial guidance for the transition from the creative exploration of concepts to the actual search for satisfactory, or even optimal, embodiments.

Complex machines are increasingly expensive to develop and build, which causes many to be maintained in service for longer than initially designed, as they still effectively perform valuable tasks. Longlasting, effective service lives of centuries rather than decades are a valuable characteristic for certain machines in several industries, whether for continual service, extended storage, or extremely remote deployment, such as in military service, agriculture and space exploration. Although there are various archival publications that focus on longevity, we seek to identify product architecture decisions which impact a machine’s longevity and can then be extrapolated out for timescales greater than 100 years. We refer to this as hyper-longevity. This paper seeks to find patterns in the literature that can identify causes linked to longevity effects, their frequency in the literature, and the types of impacts they have in facilitating longevity.

Among state-of-the-art research, thermoelectric modules using the Peltier effect are used for general personalized climatization. However, none of the personalized climatization approaches found in literature reviewed the usability for the wearer, let alone in the context of motorcycle driving. This work was aimed at integrating Peltier technology into a motorcycling protective item in such a way that it is functional, perceived as safe, and usable for motorcyclists. Multiple integration options observing the requirements for motorcyclist’s safety equipment were generated. The functionality and usability of the integration approaches, as well as their impacts on perceived safety of the driver were evaluated. This work could serve as a base for future studies addressing user-oriented methodologies for the validation of technical products in the context of motorcycle protective clothing.

This paper aims to assist learners in effectively documenting, transforming, and managing natural language-based information during the Design thinking (DT) process. Further, it seeks to aid evaluators in ensuring traceability and capturing design rationale when assessing the process and outcomes of DT. To achieve this, it presents templates that facilitate documentation and assessment. The effectiveness of these templates was evaluated through an empirical study involving 20 undergraduate students in a design thinking workshop. Analysis of documented templates, questionnaires, and interviews reveals the positive effects of templates on documentation and assessment activities and justifies using proposed documentation templates. The templates can be used as a support tool for process-based documentation as well as assessment activities during the early stages of the DT process.

Designer and user have different perspectives on a product. This can lead to differences in their evaluation and classification in usage situations. Not least, products are evaluated from different backgrounds of experience. Communication between user and designer therefore appears to be crucial to support this mutual process of understanding. Prototyping is a widely used and recognised tool in development. The use of these as non-verbal instruments in communication, however, poses specific challenges for the designer, since ambiguities in interpretation are also possible here. The aim of this paper is therefore to develop a model that describes the communication between developer and user via prototypes to identify factors influencing the communication-process. Based on this communication model, initial implications for the design of prototypes will be derived

The diverse knowledge levels among first-year mechanical engineering students lead to significant disparities in individual learning. Intelligent tutoring systems (ITS) offer a solution by providing tailored digital one-to-one instruction, bridging knowledge gaps, and equalizing learning outcomes. This thesis develops an ITS for design theory based on a knowledge-based engineering system, presenting an innovative model that integrates key features of ITS and knowledge-based systems. Implemented in a specialized environment, the system’s application and validation demonstrate its ability to meet context-sensitive design teaching requirements and provide adaptive tutoring.

Digital engineering transformation in industrial companies requires addressing diverse needs and their impact on every impacted engineering aspect. This paper analyses Changes initiated by transformation drivers and presents a systematic approach to integrate sustainability into engineering processes and artifacts. As a currently important topic the integration of sustainability data in engineering is used as an example of application. Based on identified use cases, sustainability parameters are derived and linked to engineering data objects to pinpoint their placement within the early product development. The results demonstrate how data-driven approaches enable effective sustainability integration and provide a foundation for future digital engineering transformations due to diverse divers.

The amount of electronic waste worldwide is increasing every year and the often incorrect handling of it has a major impact on the ecosystem. As electronics are also gaining more share in the automotive sector, the industry has to find a suitable way of dealing with them at the vehicle’s end-of-life stage. For this reason, this work introduces an approach consisting of the Physical Component Mapping (PCM) for the interface representation of automotive electronics, alongside the Eco-Sensitivity Framework (ESF) as guidance for circular automotive electronics design. A case study shows how the approach accompanies the product development process and supports identifying suitable strategies that are potentially possible or can be made available through design changes. This helps car makers and suppliers of vehicle electronics to accelerate their transition to a circular economy.