Mechcircuit Pūnaha Tauira Tauwhitiwhiti by Weijia Lin and Shuyue Feng is a highly esteemed winner of the very prestigious 2023 A' Design Award Hiriwa in Hoahoa Pūkaha Hua me te Hoahoa Hangarau Competition Category.
HiriwaPūkaha· 2023
Mechcircuit Pūnaha Tauira Tauwhitiwhiti
Client: Zhejiang University
A' Design Award Hiriwa Winner in Pūkaha Category
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- Verified Award Winner
- Verify Award Status for #148666
The Design
About Mechcircuit Pūnaha Tauira Tauwhitiwhiti
He pūnaha waihanga tauira a Mechcircuit mō ngā pūrere tauwhitiwhiti e whakakotahi ana i ngā ara iahiko me ngā hanganga miihini. He autō, he kawe iahiko hoki ngā aukume neodymium, nō reira ka mahi rātou hei hononga korikori me hei hononga hiko. Ka tutuki ngā nekehanga porohita me ngā nekehanga torotika kāore he wāhanga miihini tawhito. Ka whakakapia ngā waea me te whakapiri konumohe e ngā aukume me ngā āputa tapahi-taiaho, nō reira ka tere te hono me te panoni o ngā wāhanga. Ka tapahia ngā tauira mai i ngā pepa acrylic 2 mm, ā, ko te waituhi hiriwa kawe iahiko te hanga o ngā ara iahiko. Ka tautokona ngā kaiwhakamahi ehara i te tohunga e te pūmanawa hoahoa ā-rorohiko.
The Recognition
About the A' Design Award Hiriwa
Ko Mechcircuit Pūnaha Tauira Tauwhitiwhiti te toa o te A' Design Award Hiriwa, he whakaaetanga tino whai mana e hoatu ana ki ngā hoahoa taumata teitei rawa, ātaahua me te whakamīharo. Ko ngā toa Hiriwa he mahi tino kanapa, tino auaha e whakaatu ana i te mātanga, te pūmanawa me te mōhio hōhonu o ā rātou kaihoahoa. E tūmanakohia ana ko Mechcircuit Pūnaha Tauira Tauwhitiwhiti he mahi whakamīharo, he tauira, he tino ngaio, he auaha hōhonu. Ko tēnei hoahoa i toa i te Hiriwa he hanganga rongonui, whakamīharotia e whai wāhi ana ki te whakawhānui i ngā rohe o te toi, te pūtaiao, te hoahoa me te hangarau. Ko Mechcircuit Pūnaha Tauira Tauwhitiwhiti he mahi e hae ana te tini, e whakaara ana i ngā hiahia, e kawe mai ana i ngā kare-ā-roto pai, ā, e whakaoho ana i te mīharo.
Behind the Design
Press Kit
Credits, team members and technical details provided by the designer.
- Unique Properties
- Mechcircuit enables non-expert users to design and fabricate interactive prototypes with electronic circuits and mechanical structures. Users can achieve mechanical functions like rotary and linear without using traditional mechanical parts. Meanwhile, instead of involving complicated operations like wiring and soldering in conventional electronic circuits, Mechcircuit applies magnetism and laser-cut slots to connect the components, making connecting and replacing quick and easy.
- Dimensions & Packaging
- Mechcircuit uses acrylic sheets with a thickness of 2mm. Usually the prototype is no smaller than 10mmX10mmX5mm. the size of the prototype varies depending on the actual design.
- Tags
- Interaction Design, Magnetoelectric Materials, Prototyping, Computational Aided Design
- Production Technology
- Taking advantage of the fact that rubidium magnets are both magnetic and conductive, we have designed mechanical structures with magnets. It is much easier to design and assemble than the traditional mechanical structure. At the same time the mechanical structure is still interactive. To facilitate user design and generation, we have developed computer-aided design software. The software integrates various modules for user-friendly prototyping. We used a commercial grade laser cutter for cutting and processing and conductive silver ink for the circuitry.
- Design Challenge
- Mechcircuit wanted to integrate the design of structures and circuits, while simplifying the design and manufacturing process. It was challenging to use a different design and fabrication approach than traditional ones and to use materials that were readily available. Based on several attempts, we finally chose rubidium magnets as the magnetoelectric material and used conductive silver ink paint to replace the traditional Dupont wire.
- Research
- Mechcircuit leverage the neodymium magnet’s natures of magnetism and conductivity to integrate electronics and mechanical structure joints into prototypes. We conduct the evaluation to explore technological parameters and assess the practical feasibility of the fabrication pipeline. And we organized a user-observing workshop for non-expert users. Through the outcoming prototypes, the result demonstrates the feasibility of Mechcircuit as a useful and inspiring prototyping method.
- Inspiration
- In prototyping, the design of electronic circuits and the design of mechanical structures are often carried out separately. In addition, the electronic circuitry and the mechanical structure also affect the prototype's styling. This makes the design often not optimal.
- Project Duration
- The project starts in July 2022 and ends in December 2022 at the School of Software, Zhejiang University, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China
- Operation Flow
- The mechanical structure composed of magnets allows the user to design and assemble easily. As the user manipulates the structure, the circuit signals change. The user can interact with the circuit by manipulating the structure.
- Patents
- All photos/videos are from Shuyue Feng, Department of Industrial Design, School of Software, Zhejiang University
- Team Members
- Weijia Lin
Shuyue Feng
Jiayu Yao
Jiayi Ma
Masulani Bokola
Ziyu Fang
Guanyun Wang
Cheng Yao
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