The future of designing and making
The Design and Manufacturing Futures Laboratory is researching and creating the tools and technologies of tomorrow, providing game-changing capability for the design, manufacture, operation and disposal of next generation products and machines.
Active Programmes
These are our currently funded programmes that we are actively researching now.
Other Programmes
These are our other programmes that have finished their funding for the time being. However, we are always keen to discuss options to develop these bodies of work further if there is interest!
Projects
If you are interested in any of our projects, either active or not currently active, please contact us for more information.
People
Ben Hicks
Professor, Director
Aydin Nassehi
Professor, Codirector
Chris Snider
Senior Lecturer
James Gopsill
CFMS Fellow
Mike Harvey
Industrial Fellow
Jennifer Johns
Reader
Mark Goudswaard
Lecturer
Lorenzo Giunta
Research Associate
Harry Felton
Research Associate
Lee Kent
Research Associate
Kautsar Ramli
Research Associate
Peter Rosso
Research Engineer
Ric Real
Research Engineer
Chris Cox
Research Engineer
Robert Ballantyne
Research Engineer
David Su
Research Engineer
Oliver Schiffmann
Research Engineer
Weiting Xu
Research Engineer
Adam McClenaghan
Research Engineer
Yan Xu
Research Engineer
Aman Kukreja
Research Associate
TJ Taiwo
Research Engineer
Champ Hao
Research Engineer
ALUMNI
Jason Yon
Lecturer
David Jones
Research Associate
Harry White
Research Associate (Alumni)
Owen Freeman Gebler
Research Associate (Alumni)
Recent Posts
Smart Human Centred Design
The DMF lab are excited to be embarking on research in the new application area of Smart human-centred design. Work in this area seeks to couple physiological and neuroscientific measures with monitoring of designers in order to enable optimisation of the performance of individual designers and design teams. Engineering projects are complex, often time […]
DMF lab hosts Dr Tripp Shealy for invited talk on Design Cognition
In November the DMF lab hosted Dr Tripp Shealy – an associate Professor from Virginia Tech currently undertaking a visiting position at the University of Strathclyde. The visit gave us the opportunity to hear an invited talk by Tripp and also discuss potential collaboration opportunities, especially around the design cognition work that the DMF lab […]
Visit to University of Strathclyde to present the Physical Digital Affordance Index
In late November I travelled up to the University of Strathclyde to give a talk on the Physical Digital Affordance Index – a project I’m currently working on in collaboration with the Digital Catapult. In addition to giving the talk, the purpose of the visit was to connect up with other design researchers at the […]
Unlocking Design Potential: The Power of Mixed Fidelity, Mixed Reality Prototypes
Mixed Reality (MR) technologies have emerged as potential game-changers in the design landscape, offering a dynamic blend of physical and virtual elements. Designers are increasingly drawn to MR for its potential to elevate, enrich, and expedite prototyping endeavors. One intriguing aspect is MR’s ability to deceive our senses, bridging the gap between the virtual and […]
The physical-digital affordance index @ cross-catapult design event
In Spring 2023 I found out that I was successful in my application to the Researcher in Residence programme to develop the Physical-Digital Affordance Index (PDAI) in collaboration with the Digital Catapult (DC). As technology develops, we are increasing moving many aspects of our lives, both design specifically and more generally, into the digital realm […]
UK-Colombia collaboration and WUN bid submission
I returned to visit la Universidad de Los Andes (Uniandes) in August this year after a pandemic induced hiatus. Prior to 2020, we had been working with Uniandes to develop proposals to do with agritech and transdisciplinary engineering. During the pandemic we were able to manage some collaboration through project clean access (leading to a […]
Tracking 3D prototypes in real-time
Written by Michael Wyrley-Birch, one of our excellent summer interns. Over the past few weeks, I have been experimenting with different methods of real time 6D pose estimation for generic objects to allow for realistic digital versions of products to be mapped onto low fidelity prototypes. The different methods include: Using ArUco markers Using a […]
What are Haptics? How do they work?
Written by Mike Wharton, one of our excellent summer interns. I’m now about a third of the way through my project, having dived head-first into the world of haptics. There were a number of interesting tangents and discoveries along the way, and unexpected links to psychology and audio equipment. Haptic or tactile means “related to […]
The DMF at ICED 2023: Papers, papers, and more papers!
The DMF lab had their usual strong showing at the major conference for the research field last week, presenting 9 papers across topics ranging from prototyping to machine learning to neurocognition! This year the International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED) was held in beautiful Bordeaux, which blessed us with excellent weather, warm evenings, and one […]
For more content from the DMF Lab, please visit our YouTube Channel by clicking here
Copyright Design and Manufacturing Futures Lab, University of Bristol