Advanced Prototyping

How would you go about designing and prototyping a personalized fit bicycle helmet? And how can you use extended reality technology (e.g. VR) to convincingly convey the sense of interacting with a priceless cultural heritage artifact?

In the Advanced Prototyping Minor, you will design and build functional, low- and high-fidelity prototypes, harnessing the unique capabilities of digital fabrication and extended reality technologies. The goal of the course is to equip students with a broad range of advanced prototyping skills and in-depth knowledge of current state-of-the-art techniques to create prototypes that convey both the functional and appearance characteristics of the intended design.

The minor consists of three courses:
Prototyping with/for Digital Fabrication (Q1, 10EC, individual project)
Prototyping with/for Extended Reality (Q1, 5 EC, group project)
Advanced Prototyping Project (Q2, 15 EC, group project)

The “Prototyping with/for Digital Fabrication” (PDF) course introduces you to theories, methods, and techniques on digitization, design automation, and digital fabrication. Learning activities include lectures and workshops on 3D scanning, 3D modeling, and parametric design tools (Rhino Grasshopper), generative design (e.g., topology optimization), and digital fabrication technologies such as 3D printing, laser cutting, and CNC milling. You will apply the knowledge and skills on these topics in an individual prototyping assignment, related to designing and prototyping a “"personalized fit"” tool or wearable.

In the “Prototyping with/for Extended Reality” (PER) course, we will introduce you to extended reality technology, and explore how you might develop virtual and/or mixed reality applications of the future (e.g. using VR headsets). Learning activities will include lectures and tutorials on material experience, human-computer interaction, and XR development (Unreal Engine). You will apply the knowledge and skills on these topics, in an assignment carried out in a (small) group, revolving around the augmentation of a cultural heritage artefact.

In Q2, the acquired knowledge and skills of PDF and PER will be deepened in the Advanced Prototyping Project (APP). In this group project, you build (multiple) prototype(s) through an iterative (and parallel) prototyping approach. You will test and evaluate your prototypes, and eventually exhibit both the results of your prototyping process and your final prototype(s) in a public location. The course allows you to choose a project from a wide range of ""real-world"" cases (with a company/research client), related to digital fabrication and/or extended reality technology. In the APP course you will also gain experience, through hand-on workshops, with various relevant design methods and transferable skills, such as ‘team dynamics, 'interview techniques', 'material testing', 'product photography', and 'video making'.

Prototyping with/for Digital Fabrication
After completing this course you should be able to:

1. Select and apply low-fidelity and high-fidelity prototyping techniques to inform your design, fitting the design phase and design question at hand
2. Select and apply relevant 3D scanning/other sensing technologies and data processing steps, for digitizing humans & objects/products as input to (human/product) digital twin models.
3. Apply computational design tools (e.g. Rhino Grasshopper, topology optimization tools) to design a functional shape.
4. Explain how parametric design principles can be applied to your design to create a customized product (e.g. personalized fit).
5. Design and fabricate prototype(s) optimized to a selected digital fabrication technology (design for digital fabrication)
6. Present your design process and outcomes to peers, teachers, and external stakeholders.
7. Reflect on your design outcomes, and place them in the context of current product design practices and societal context.

Prototyping with/for Extended Reality

1. Characterize the material experience of a (cultural heritage) artifact/material using provided tools/frameworks, and cluster them around key material qualities.
2. Explore 1-2 selected characteristics beyond the context of the artefact/material and formulate a material experience vision.
3. Apply high- and low-fidelity (XR) prototyping techniques and tools to create interactive, extended reality prototypes.
4. Tinker with a selected set of (digital) material and interaction parameters to understand their effects on the resulting (digitally mediated) material experience, within the developed prototype(s).
5. Formulate and execute user evaluation studies throughout the design process to inform your tinkering process.

Advanced Prototyping Project
After completing this course you should be able to:

1. Analyze a given problem or case, and formulate research questions.
2. Select prototyping approach and devise a plan to explore a research question(s)
3. Create prototypes using low fidelity, conventional and advanced technologies (digital fabrication and/or extended reality)
4. Generate insights and next steps by evaluating your prototypes
5. Present process and outcomes of a prototyping process to peers, teachers, and external stakeholders
6. Reflect on the role of prototyping in this multidisciplinary project, and in general

The minor has a maximum capacity of 45 students. Students are selected through a random draw, but with the following division:
1/2 students from Industrial Design Engineering
1/2 from other bachelor programs.
No additional information needs to be submitted for the selection procedure.

Student at Leiden University, TU Delft or Erasmus University Rotterdam?
Check the eligibility matrix to see if your bachelor’s degree programme offers access to this and other minors at https://www.tudelft.nl/minor

Student at another educational institution?
External students cannot register via EduXchange. Interested in this minor, read the whole registration procedure at https://www.tudelft.nl/minor

For information about the courses, visit the TU Delft study guide.
For additional information on this minor, visit the TU Delft minor page.

NOTE: Minors from Industrial Design Engineering (TU Delft) are solely accessible to students with a university level bachelor (NOT accessible for students from universities of applied sciences/university college).

We offer instructions through lectures, workshops, and (self-paced) tutorials. You will apply knowledge and skills in 1 individual (PDF, Q1), in a small group (PER, Q1), and 1 group project (Q2), where you will receive project-focused coaching. The outcomes of the individual/group assignment (e.g. deliverables such as prototypes, report, exhibition/video), and for PDF/APP complemented with a personal reflection, are summatively assessed using an assessment rubric.

Number of contact hours: Q1: 24 hours (average), Q2: 10 hours.
Mode of teaching:
Q1: Lectures (10 hours), workshops/tutorials (14 hours), project work/self-study (16 hours)
Q2: Workshops (6 hours), coaching (2 hours), project work/self-study (32 hours)

Note: This minor is a full-time program, and the experience of students from previous years shows that it also requires a full-time time commitment on weekdays. The courses are all taught in English.

Check the detailed overview of courses, learning activities, and study load at https://www.studyguide.tudelft.nl/