Title (150 characters) Rapid digitisation of early-stage prototypes and physical to digital synchronisation in product design. (PhD advertised by B.

Summary: This project will investigate processes and technologies to capture the form and behaviour of physical prototypes and generate synchronised digital representations.

The project is anticipated to include, but is not limited to:

Technologies and processes to capture physical, kinematic, and dynamic prototypes, digitise form and behaviour, and detect macro- and micro-scale changes.

Digital models and representation methods for physical prototypes, including data structures, data compatibility, and version control.

Investigation of how prototype digitisation may best be used to accelerate prototyping processes, better support design, reduce cost, and reduce waste.

Context: The divide between the digital and physical domains in design are shrinking, where integrating the power of the digital world with the tangibility of the physical has created advanced and highly capable products. Many radical, cutting-edge technologies have emerged; including the ongoing VR and AR revolution, A.I. and data-driven physical systems (i.e. self-driving cars), and virtual assistants and analytics encroaching further into the physical world.
Seamless digital / physical integration often fails to transition into the processes that create such revolutionary products, particularly during prototyping, leaving design itself without the proven benefits that cutting-edge products have enjoyed. Prototyping is often a manual, skilled process, with frequent iterations between back and forward between digital and physical models of different fidelities, each tested and updated as the product develops. This process costs time and money and negates many of the emergent benefits that digital/physical integration can create.