Transcript

Brief Introduction

So in the last lecture we were discussing about design. So we ended it very clearly, saying that design is an iterative process which is user-centric, and wherein which it is used to structure your thinking towards developing a solution for a given situation. So now keeping that idea in mind, let us start taking a live example in agricultural food processing and do a mapping study, with the definition what is given, and then see how do we go about.

What is Design?

Design Process

So let’s take a simple example which we have tried to solve in our institute.

For example a team of students came together to design an amla de-seeding machine at IIT, Kanpur. So this is amla. So in this amla, you can see here, there is a flesh portion. It has the medicinal value of it. And in this fruit you will have a hard seed. This is the seed which is hard, and which does not have any value and this is the flesh portion which has medicinal value. So the problem which is given to us is, how do you remove this portion alone, the seed alone from the fruit.

That is the problem statement given. It looks very interesting. But if you want to de-seed it you will have to be having certain thought process in the mind; such that one, I should not damage the fruit in a big way, that is point number one. Two I should de-seed it with a reduced amount of flesh residue on the seed. If there is no residue, it is excellent, otherwise very less residue; it is also accepted.

So we have to start developing a de-seeding machine. So here what we did was, first we understood the problem, and the current state of the art is, people are trying to de-seed only using their hand. So there is no machinery available. They take every fruit and then what they do is they try to take a tool, which can prick, pierce inside, apply certain pressure and push it out. So that’s the ‘state of the art’ available. So now we looked into the problem. So the problem was faced by the worker who used to do de-seeding amla; used a handtool. So when you use handtool, there might be lot of error, there is hygiene problem. And many a times due to fatigue, they don’t do it properly. So it is less productive and it is also injurious to health. So here the drudgery level was very high.

So then the students decided to design a dedicated machine for de-seeding in three stages. One, they decided that it will have a feeding stage. Then it will have de-seeding stage. The third one, it will have a collection stage. So they decided they will have three stage. And these three stage, as you go back in the definition and see, how are the other people trying to solve the problem. The students here did not look at other de-seeding machines, which are available in the world. They looked at other similar problems which are faced in the shop floor. So in the shop floor lot of parts have to be sorted out or has to be used for assembling. So there they use all the three mechanisms. One is feeding, then they do assembly and then they do dispatch of the product.

So here what they did was they tried to take as a concept of feeding. De-seeding is the place where the operation happens. And the collection is the place where the de-seeded fruits are collected. So they took the idea from the existing assembly line in an engineering factory and then mapped it to the amla de-seeding machine.

The Design Process

So while evolving in the design process. You see initially the concept which was made is they used a hopper. So hopper is a place. Hopper is nothing but a collector. So if you have lot of similar items to be fed inside, and you want to have to take them one after the other after other. So then what we do is we dump it inside a collector, or the collector is otherwise called as a hopper. So the concept was used. This is a computer model. So they created this using a computer model, and a hopper is a collection of amlas that is kept inside. So the, as and when during the de-seeding process, one after the other after the other will be released from the hopper such that you can do. So when they did this assumption, and they were trying to start developing the concept using virtual, they tried to have a hopper concept.

But when they were trying to make a prototype using economical material, or trying to use rough material. So they tried to develop a prototype. In that prototype, the hopper now is completely changed into a crank mechanism for de-seeding. So then this is from the crank. It is attached to a punching mechanism. So this is attached in turn with the crank here. So the crank is attached to the punching. And this punching will be done at a punching station, and the fruits will be collected later.

But all these things we had a problem of tangling of the fruits. So then when the original product was developed, so we had an amla de-seeding machine, wherein which the amla was used to be fed one after the other.

What we have learnt

• So after several iterations in the final design, gravity assisted guideways was developed.
• The punch into the amla is performed earlier by hand. But then they figured out that doing by hand. Because while looking at the hand tool, and looking at the process now, the idea goes only using the hand and de-seeding it one after the other after the other. So but when we start looking at why don’t we use leg, because leg has more strength and it does not bring in lot of fatigue so soon, like you do it in hand. So they always looked for foot.
• So in the final design, hand design is changed into a foot design, wherein which there is reduced effort. So the punching mechanism earlier was driven by hand is now driven.
• So in design thinking, the first solution may never end up to be a final product.

So this is a lesson which you have to learn, that design is a process. Design is a user-centric process. It envisages a thinking process in developing a product. Okay so for doing the thinking of, we should have a structured way of thinking. So that is where the design thinking tool comes into existence. And you should also know the solution what we started, and the final solution, there will be a drastic change. At the end of the second lecture we saw a clear example, how design process is used in developing the product. What we thought as a first step, after several iterations, there was a big shift. From hand tool we went towards foot. From hopper concept we went towards gravity assisted concept.

So with this lecture, I am sure you will be able to understand what is design process. And how does a design process get implemented in an agricultural product.

Thank You.