Desenvolvimento de uma ferramenta para sistematização da seleção de elementos a serem incluídos em um protótipo físico de proposta de produto

Abstract

The use of physical prototypes is quite common in the Product Development Process (PDP), especially in innovative and/or complex projects. Although often necessary to answer questions of the design team that are not addressed solely through 3D modeling, mathematical or computer simulations, prototyping step is one of the fastest consume resources and time during a development process. Despite these factors, the classical literature of PDP does not have a systematic approach to selecting components in a prototype. This paper proposes a tool to systematize the selection of elements to include in a physical prototype product proposal. The tool's goal here is to offer an alternative proposal to assist designers, especially those with little experience at this stage. The study starts with prototype definitions and the PDP. From this information, the tool of the exposed structure is divided into four phases, in which selection of matrices are applied for choosing the components. The tool's input data are doubts development team design, functional structure and the list of components of the conceptual proposal of product. The final product of the tool is the list of components to be prototyped to answer design questions. After exposure of the frame, the tool is shown in a descriptive example of the production of a prototype of a computer mouse. In this example, you can see how the tool helps overview of the prototype, guides the selection of its components through a systematic process of choice and helps to identify points for simplification for prototyping by outlining essential functional elements instead of complete components. Lastly, the listed suggestions for future work in the same context.