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You've got an idea, and you want
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to see what people think of it.
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You need to make a prototype
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because you need to test that idea and see
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if it's actually a good idea or if you
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need to go back to the drawing board.
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To make a physical prototype,
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you need to start with a sketch.
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You need to take that idea from your head
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down into pencil and paper.
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It doesn't matter if you can't draw.
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I can't personally.
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But you need to get that idea
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out and onto something tangible.
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Then you're ready to start making a 3D
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model to make your physical prototype.
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If you can't 3D model, that's actually
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not really a problem these days.
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You can find someone who can team up
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with them and get a basic model out.
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But don't spend too long on it because you
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need to get to the next stage fast,
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and that is making the actual prototype.
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You can take a 3D model and convert it
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into a file for 3D printing very easily,
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leave it overnight, and come back to an
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actual 3D print, which you can then test.
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This is the most important part.
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You need to test it quickly and thoroughly
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and then go back and iterate on your
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design and repeat this process
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till you're happy with it.
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But if you get further down the process
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and find out you need to change something,
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it's a lot more difficult.
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So, don't be afraid of failure early on.
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You want to test things as much as
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possible and then iterate on that idea
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till you're happy with it.
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I'm an industrial designer,
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and as an industrial designer,
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we're very interested in testing
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prototypes for a number
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of different reasons.
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I've got some examples here of how
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we've run through a project.
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This is a pair of glasses we designed,
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and the first prototype is a low-quality
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FDM print, which is
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formed deposition modeling.
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We've done this to check the physical
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appearance and the scale of the design.
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Once we're happy with that, we'll move to
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an SLS. This is a selective laser sintering.
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It's made of nylon.
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In this instance,
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people are actually wearing the glasses,
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so we're interested in how they flex and
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feel and how the lenses snap in and out.
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It's more expensive, but a higher quality.
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We then want to check some
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of the mechanical function.
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In this instance, we've gone to a SLA,
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a resin process with SLS hinges,
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and we're checking the tolerance
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in between the parts and to make sure
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that the mechanical functions right.
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We've then moved to a low-quality
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prototype tool where we've injected actual
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polymers into the mold to check how
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the material affects the design.
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Finally, these are the final production
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glasses, which is, again,
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injection molded, but in a high-quality
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production tool and brings all
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the elements that were designed together.
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Really, when you're testing a prototype,
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you really want to test it to failure.
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You want to know where your design or
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idea doesn't work and not where it works.
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Often, I'll see people test
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a prototype and say, Isn't it great?
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It does all these things,
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but they're ignoring and the inherent
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floor, which will bring you undone
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if you don't expose it early.
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In the boating scenario,
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that's making a boat and testing it
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until it fails,
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working out how many people can you put
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in it before it capsizes,
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trying to drop test and break them.
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For us, we build these things,
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which are smart helmets.
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We destroyed heaps of them.
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These are made 3D printing and CNC
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milling, and we just got them out there,
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test the user interfaces,
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and destroyed them.
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Often, we miss the user
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experience of our products.
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A great way to get that out there is just
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to give your product as a prototype
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to lots of just regular people.
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They'll give you honest feedback,
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whether it all makes sense or not.
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Often when you're beginning your idea,
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you want to put all the greatest functions
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into it, but it's really about
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time and getting to market fast.
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What you need to do is draw all
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the functions and features that you have
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in your product, put red lines through
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the ones that don't have to be there
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in the first one,
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and make it finished, not perfect.
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There's a first time for everything,
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and we're still testing this series.
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If you could leave some comments
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and suggestions, it'd be really
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helpful for us to improve the program..