The functional prototypes
The life cycle of any technological device has to be foreseen and well designed from the beginning of its conception, in a process detailing each specific step it will cross. This process combines the good practices of different techniques and sciences, adapted to the particularities of each context. This general method allows to control the whole life of the considered device. The ISO certification synthesises all the good practices corresponding to a peculiar field.
The creation of a prototype is an essential step of this process, maybe the most delicate, in that it has to integrate the whole specifications and to adapt the original idea to all the possible constraints the device will have to handle in its life cycle.
We carry out preliminary studies, help to design products and create functional prototypes. Our activities are therefore a part of the process leading up to industrialisation.
Feasibility prototypes are an important tool for identifying possible problems and thus encourage the recognition of uncertainties of function and fabrication. Sometimes several prototypes are necessary in order to validate different points and thus benefit to the industrialisation phase.
Several types of prototypes exist:
Our prototypes are not designed to be directly industrialized. They are created in order to demonstrate the feasibility of a project.
Some examples :
Motion capture technologies offer many applications, beginning with the virtual duplication of dancers or performers, operating 3D computer programs or analyzing gestures in a laboratory. The metrology apparatus is harmonized regarding to its final application. |
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A functional prototype demonstrates the feasibility of a concept with certainty. The whole process is tested in order to reach the necessary conclusions before carrying on the industrialization phase. [Ferrero & UTC, V.SCHMITT & R.GRARD, 2007] |
Sometimes an idea is implemented in a computer program. The windows correspond to control and command data, possibly including an interface with the real world. |
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A physical model gives form to sketches and 3D models resulting from the design study. Physical models permit sensations that virtual models do not. |
As with clothing, trial fitting contributes greatly to the development of an object. Many physical prototypes are indispensable for achieving the ideal solution. |
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Some projects entrusted to us by our clients are confidential; these are therefore the only things for which we cannot give you any further information. |
