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Getting Human Hands Back Into Digital Design
Hugh Pickens writes "Using computers to model the physical world has become increasingly common as products as diverse as cars and planes, pharmaceuticals and cellphones are almost entirely conceived, specified, and designed on a computer screen. Typically, only when these creations are nearly ready for mass manufacturing are prototypes made. But the NYTimes is running an interesting essay highlighting a little-noticed movement in the world of professional design and engineering: a renewed appreciation for manual labor, or innovating with the aid of human hands. 'A lot of people get lost in the world of computer simulation,' says Bill Burnett, executive director of the product design program at Stanford. 'You can't simulate everything.' Fifty years ago, tinkering with gadgets was routine for people drawn to engineering and invention, and making refinements with your own hands means 'you have to be extremely self-critical,' says Richard Sennett, whose book The Craftsman examines the importance of skilled manual labor. Even in highly abstract fields, like the design of next-generation electronic circuits, some people believe that hands-on experiences can enhance creativity. 'You need your hands to verify experimentally a technology that doesn't exist,' says Mario Paniccia, director of Intel's photonics technology lab."
The first Boing 777 flew and flew exactly as the model predicted.
There was a time when you would make a physical model to see how it will behave, but no longer. They sort of do it with cars but only for the sake of styling. Aerodynamic models are more accurate and styling is more important so there is no need for wind tunel testing.
Modern Cad pakages like SolidWorks, Catia, ProE are amazing and almost a comodity.
Skilled manual labour is a beautiful thing, but is becoming more distant
I am sure there is a SciFi script in this.
G
Are you lamenting that they can't make any money tinkering with complex hardware? I built parts of the TDRSS(Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System) for NASA while working for TRW. These Satellites have been in orbit for 25 years, just about the only thing I have ever built that is still in use. In 1983, I was paid $5.39/hour. I took a pay-cut from the Army to go to work for TRW. Now, I make 10 times that. Is someone going to pay me what I make now to build components for TRW? Probably not.
Just as Henry Ford figured out, you have to amplify your manual labor with machines to beat the competition.
So, when you were done with the competition, what did you/they do? This was a one-off solution that very few people would buy. Where is the commercialization of their work?
If I remember correctly, the latest winner barely had room for the driver in the car. And the total cost of the vehicle is more than anyone, other than DARPA, would pay for.
So, what did the Challenge prepare them for? What were they going to do with the skill set they obtained while working on the Challenge?
Luckily the project manager was "old school" and had an SLA made which showed up the problem before the big-cost plastic injection molding dies were made.
Engineering is the art of compromise.
If I'm not mistaken, Isaac Asimov wrote in Foundation's Edge that the reason why humans have developed a technological society is because we have hands. Dolphins and whales have sizeable brains but they lack hands. He even goes as far to say that humans 'thinks' with their hands, in that the hands are manifestations of intelligence.