I have been working on justifying the need for refactoring in CAD models. The results of this analysis will be presented at the CAD’20 conference which will be held on ZOOM this coming July due to COVID outbreak. The extended abstract Investigating and characterising variability in CAD modelling: An overview gives an overview of the […]
I’ve finally gotten around to publishing my PhD work in the Computers in Industry journal: https://authors.elsevier.com/sd/article/S0166361520304887 Model-based information navigation provides a three-dimensional user interface (based on the product CAD model) as an interface to a search engine. Given engineers think visually and functionally and search engines are traditionally text based, the premise behind this work […]
Project Clean Access has offcially launched on the DMF website. Please head over to the Project Clean Access page on our site for more information, and see the launch e-mail below. Dear All, The Design and Manufacturing Futures Lab at the University of Bristol is proud to launch Project Clean Access (https://dmf-lab.co.uk/project-clean-access/): a global initiative […]
Problem The Hackspace, once exclusively synonymous with electronics and model airplane enthusiasts, has grown to become a globally acknowledged hub for social innovation and enterprise. Appealing to an emergent cultural ethos of autonomy and shared knowledge, pop-up hackspaces have taken shape over the past decade in everything from railway arches to city office blocks, boasting […]
Problem A well-known piece of countryside etiquette is to take nothing but photos and leave nothing but footprints. With the coronavirus outbreak this becomes truer than ever – nobody wants to take the virus home with them from a walk, nor leave it behind. A post lockdown world will involve a substantial change in our […]
The T-Pen design features a dongle with a “T” shaped head that allows the user to apply force in 3 axes to an adapter. The concept is for each person to have a T-Pen that is capable of working in adapters placed around a workplace, home, shop etc.. This would allow people to open doors and operate mechanisms without touching a surface someone else may have come into contact with – breaking the COVID-19 transmission path. A lid is also provided to allow the pen to be covered when not in use.
Building on the USB interface, the design can be extended to also allow a pen (standard biro) or pencil to be used. This extends the “upcycle” mantra associated with the USB design, but comes with the penalty of not having any depth control due to the uncertainty surrounding the pen used. The design can be 3D printed in under 10 minutes and cost less than 2p each.
A simple adapter has been developed, that can be rapdily printed using FFF and SLA technologies, to allow someone to use a USB stick to open doors and operate simple mechaisms and break transmission paths of COVID-19.
The simple design, that takes less than 15 minutes to print on our standard 3D printers costs just £0.04 and can take advantage of the old USB sticks people have at home and in the workplace. If the USBs available also have a retracting head, or a cover for the interface, the contact patch can be sealed from the user when not in use.
University buildings (like many other buildings throughout our cities) have many hundreds of users every day, all needing to move through and access a variety of different spaces, each with their own locks and access controls. In a world of social distancing, we need to think about how people move through buildings and access spaces efficiently, while preventing bottlenecks, minimising transmission risks, and still allowing important security and access controls to stay in place.
Several industries have been moving to a working environment involving hot desking. In a post-lockdown, COVID-19 world this poses potential issues with social distancing and transmission paths. This challenge asks how hot desking can be made possible whilst also trying to contain the transmission of COVID-19.