Mechanical Engineering
Advice for product innovation, design ,and development
Ingenious Engineering: Ballpoint Pens
The ballpoint pen eliminated the need for messy fountain pens and all the problems that came with them. This breakthrough invention forever changed the way we write.
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Applying the Pareto Principle to Product Development
The Pareto Principle is a great tool for project teams when they’re trying to decide where to focus their energy and efforts.
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Designing Consumer Robotics? Answer These Four Questions First
Convincing discerning consumers to buy a home robot isn't easy. To earn a spot in our homes and our lives, “home bots” (and those designing them) must answer four important questions.
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Implement the Vision: Four Steps to Breakthrough Technical Innovation
These four steps for repeatable technical innovation have proven trustworthy for us on project after project.
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A Guide to Developing Better Product Requirements
Creating product requirements can seem like a straightforward task, but it has plenty of potential pitfalls.
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Our Product Engineers’ Best FEA Simulation Tips
As product engineers, we use FEA simulations to develop, test, and refine designs. These best practices allow us to move quickly while keeping simulation results accurate, honest, and affordable.
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Design or Buy? 6 Tests to Tell If You Should Buy or Design That Component
More often than not, designing your cool new product relies on some new widget. You’re not sure if you should design your own or buy one from a supplier. What if there was a straightforward way to decide?
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A History of AI in Engineering from the 1970s to Today
With the transformative potential of new AI tools like ChatGPT on everyone’s mind, it’s easy to forget that artificial intelligence has been used in product design and engineering for many years.
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Concept FMEA for Engineering During the Fuzzy Front-End of Development
The “fuzzy front end” of product development can pose some unique challenges for engineers.
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19 Uses for AI in Product Development
The Delve team explores AI’s place in our product development process.
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Biggest Innovations in 2022 That Influenced Product Design
A coffee pod system without a plastic pod. Headphones that read your mind. A touch-sensitive prosthetic hand. Check out the biggest innovations to influence product design in 2022.
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COVID-19 At-Home Tests: A Game Changer, But at What Cost?
Home self-testing kits have played a crucial role in managing the spread of COVID-19 in the US, but a steep environmental price is hidden in the societal benefit.
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CES 2021: Transportation tech promises a cleaner, safer future
The vehicle expo area of CES has been one of the most exciting parts of the trade show in recent years.
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Transforming engineering
The list of industries experiencing huge disruption fueled by “technology” is growing by the day.
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Top 5 lessons from Badger Shield project
Badger Shield gave me the opportunity to collaborate with an amazing group of men and women this year – designers, suppliers, manufacturers, and customers. I expect to have built lifelong collaborators and friends through this trial by virus. (For background, read the article in Wired).
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PAPR hood for healthcare heroes
Days after receiving their first shipment of Badger Shields from Midwest Prototyping, the University of Wisconsin Hospital sent Lennon Rodgers of the UW-Madison Makerspace a list of their top 10 most critical needs to build up a supply of protective equipment ahead of the anticipated mid-April peak of COVID-19 cases in Dane County. Near the top of this list were Powered Air Purifying Respirators (PAPR) blowers and hoods.
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Dave’s 2019 Year in Review
As 2019 winds to a close it’s time to make my annual appraisal of some of the more noteworthy products and events shaping world of design and Innovation. And the last year certainly saw its fair share of significant steps and missteps. So, let’s wade in with a few things I’ll remember that helped define 2019 for me.
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13 Biggest Innovations of 2019 To Influence Product Design
Robots unleashed; the emergence of hearables; sustainable plastics and processes — we weigh in the biggest innovations of 2019 to influence product design.
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Will it recycle?
Have you ever considered what happens to the materials you put into the recycling bin after they are picked up from your curb?
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Our DIY Split-Flap Display: An Adventure in Inefficient Nostalgia
We weren't setting out to invent something radically different, but we wanted to prove to ourselves that we could make our own split-flap display.
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Running effective engineering design reviews
The term design review can have a lot of different meanings depending on the context in which it is used.
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Designing Military-Grade Products: The What, Why, and How
With the growing demand for rugged design across sectors, product developers need help figuring out when to accommodate military specifications.
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Why is the Roomba so expensive? Why are the knock-offs so cheap?
What happens when all the engineers from Delve's three offices gather in Madison? We buy stuff and tear it apart to understand how it is made. Our product of choice? The robotic vacuum.
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Green eggs and electric ham
As far as I can remember cycling has always been a part of my life in some form or another.
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Pushing each other along
Though we work in the service industry for larger corporations on a day-to-day basis, some of my favorite opportunities come in the form of community work.
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Front ends, air flow, boats and aesthetics
So I promised our marketing department I’d do a blog on our recent adoption of a telemedicine benefit for our employees.
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#InstantGratification
“Wait. Is that it? Did the needle already go in? I can’t believe it!”
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We are an open book
The only intellectual property Design Concepts “owns” are the brains of our team while they are working on sticky problems for our clients.
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Fab Factory: The cutting edge of cutlery
Who needs eating utensils when you have perfectly working hands to rip and tear at the food on your plate and stuff it into your mouth?
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Do the math!
In a world where we can go from a CAD model to a 3D printed part well within a typical working day, it’s easy to get excited about just how fast one can iterate and explore design alternatives.
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Designing (and making) cool stuff
At Design Concepts, we have a pretty great mission statement: “We design cool stuff to drive business success and make life better.”
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Six Teardowns That Inspire Design Innovation
Engineering details, manufacturing processes, and material choices can all be used to inspire your own designs and decisions.
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Of MGBs and multidisciplinary machines
I was given a personal example of the power of a multidisciplinary approach to innovation a few weekends back when I found myself coincidentally working on very similar parts of cars built in two very different eras.
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The future of engineering
Recently, I was asked by the University of Wisconsin to share
my thoughts on the future of engineering education as the keynote speaker at
their 2016 Engineering Innovation Showcase.
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The Core Principles for Creating an MVP
If you’re developing a product, you’ve probably come across the Minimum Viable Product (MVP) approach.
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Design approach selected for adjustable hand cycle
We recently met with the adaptive sports experts at No Limits Kids Fitness to choose one of several design approaches for our hand cycle.
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Creating a bike that works for all kids
In late 2014, Delve worked with No Limits Kids Fitness to launch an Indiegogo campaign to help us build a prototype of an adjustable hand cycle that grows with kids with physical disabilities.
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A system approach to advanced LED product design
Light emitting diode (LED) technology has developed quickly over the last decade. Once only the familiar red dot indicating power was “on,” LEDs can now replace traditional incandescent and fluorescent lighting as our primary source of illumination.
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BioReactor could have big impact on saving small hearts
We recently heard from a valued client of ours and learned some great news. Using the BioReactor we helped design and manufacture, Dr. Richard Hopkins and his team at Children's Mercy Hospital, Kansas City, have been able to reach a major milestone in their development of a process for replacing heart valves in children.
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Read our observations on product development and the latest industry trends in our product innovation blog.