Reflections on a Concurrent Design Methodology: A Case Study in Wearable Computer Design

Abstract

At Carnegie Mellon, we have designed and manufactured three generations of wearable, mobile computers. Each new generation of wearable computer has been designed within approximately one semester by an interdisciplinary design class taught at the Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC). Over the semesters that the course has been taught, an interdisciplinary concurrent design methodology has evolved. In this paper, we briefly present the design process for the Navigator, the third generation of wearable computers. We use this process to illustrate the needs of a multidisciplinary design team, to anticipate the needs of a distributed design team using a novel manufacturing process, and to reflect on the interplay between the practice of design and the evolution of our design methods.