Press Release
Weijia Lin and Shuyue Feng Is Honored with the Silver A' Design Award for Mechcircuit Interactive Mechanics and Sensors in Product Engineering and Technical Design
Weijia Lin and Shuyue Feng honored for product engineering and technical design by the international grand jury of the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
COMO, Italy, April 20, 2023 /DesignNewswire/ A' Design Award & Competition has confirmed the Silver A' Design Award in the Product Engineering and Technical Design category for Mechcircuit Interactive Mechanics and Sensors by Weijia Lin and Shuyue Feng, designed for Zhejiang University. The result belongs to the 2022 - 2023 A' Design Award & Competition and was reached through blind peer review by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members, who evaluated anonymized entries against predetermined criteria.
The Silver A' Design Award Explained
The Silver A' Design Award celebrates top-tier designs that embody excellence and innovation. This award acknowledges creations that are not only aesthetically pleasing but also highly functional, reflecting the designer's deep understanding and skill. Silver A' Design Award recipients are recognized for their contribution to raising industry standards and advancing the practice of design. Their work often incorporates original innovations and elicits a strong emotional response, making a notable impact on the improvement of everyday life.
About Mechcircuit Interactive Mechanics and Sensors
Mechcircuit is a prototyping system for interactive devices that combine electronic circuits and mechanical structures. Neodymium magnets are both magnetic and conductive, so they serve as both moving joints and electrical connections. Rotary and linear motions are achieved without traditional mechanical parts. Wiring and soldering are replaced by magnets and laser-cut slots, so parts connect and change quickly. Prototypes are cut from 2 mm acrylic sheets, and conductive silver ink forms the circuits. Computer-aided design software supports non-expert users.
About Weijia Lin and Shuyue Feng
He is Shuyue Feng, who is interested in design and human-computer interaction. He is dedicated to integrating knowledge from different disciplines for innovative interdisciplinary design. He is exploring in the field of tangible interaction with the goal of creating richer and more human-centered interactions.
Award Record
This recognition makes Weijia Lin and Shuyue Feng a winner of 1 A' Design Award.
About the A' Product Engineering and Technical Design Award
The A' Engineering Design Award is an international competition recognizing outstanding engineering projects by top engineers and consulting firms worldwide. The competition is organized within the A' Design Award & Competition and is open to product engineers, technical designers, industrial designers and industrial design studios from all countries. Entries typically include blueprints, prototypes, schematics, CAD models, technical drawings and machine designs. Awarded engineering designs are published at https://dezigners.org/design-category/engineering
About A' Design Award & Competition
A' Design Award & Competition is an international, juried design accolade organized annually since 2008. The competition is open to entries from all countries. The A' Design Award has a philanthropic mission to advance society through good design by recognizing and promoting superior products, projects and services that benefit society, and by creating a global awareness and appreciation for good design practices and principles. Entries are peer reviewed and anonymously evaluated by an international grand jury panel of established academics, design professionals and press members against predetermined criteria such as functionality, ergonomics, engineering, presentation, innovation, usability, sustainability and technology, with score normalization applied to remove biases. Awards are conferred at Platinum, Gold, Silver, Bronze and Iron levels. The A' Design Prize granted to eligible laureates includes the award trophy, the certificate of design excellence, the hardcover yearbook, a lifetime license to use the A' Design Award winner logo, exhibition of awarded works, an invitation to the gala night and award ceremony in Italy, inclusion in the World Design Rankings and Designer Rankings, and public relations and publicity services. Registration, the upload of a work and the preliminary score are free of charge, and Professional and Digital Edition laureates are not contractually obliged to pay further fees to claim the A' Design Prize. Further information is available at https://competition.adesignaward.com
Press Resources
- Winner Page: https://dezigners.org/148666
- A' Design Award Page: https://competition.adesignaward.com/148666
- Media Showcase: https://www.designnewsroom.com/!148666
- Laureate Profile: https://dezigners.org/d/342746
Media Contact
Giulia Ferrari, Press Office
Designers.Org
Via Leone Leoni 32, 22100 Como, Italy
press@designers.org
+39 031 4491953
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Fact Sheet
The Work
- Project
- Mechcircuit Interactive Mechanics and Sensors
- Function
- Interactive Mechanics and Sensors
- Category
- Product Engineering and Technical Design
- Discipline
- Industrial Design
- Industry
- Manufacturing
- Colors
- White Smoke, Gainsboro, Silver, Dark Gray and Gray
- Images
- 5
- Client
- Zhejiang University
The Recognition
- Laureate
- Weijia Lin and Shuyue Feng
- Country
- China
- Recognition
- Silver A' Design Award
- Edition
- 2022 - 2023
- Design ID
- #148666
Credits
- Team
- Weijia Lin, Shuyue Feng, Jiayu Yao, Jiayi Ma, Masulani Bokola, Ziyu Fang, Guanyun Wang and Cheng Yao
Design Details
- Unique Properties
- Mechcircuit enables non-expert users to design and fabricate interactive prototypes with electronic circuits and mechanical structures. Users can achieve mechanical functions like rotary and linear without using traditional mechanical parts. Meanwhile, instead of involving complicated operations like wiring and soldering in conventional electronic circuits, Mechcircuit applies magnetism and laser-cut slots to connect the components, making connecting and replacing quick and easy.
- Inspiration
- In prototyping, the design of electronic circuits and the design of mechanical structures are often carried out separately. In addition, the electronic circuitry and the mechanical structure also affect the prototype's styling. This makes the design often not optimal.
- Research
- Mechcircuit leverage the neodymium magnet’s natures of magnetism and conductivity to integrate electronics and mechanical structure joints into prototypes. We conduct the evaluation to explore technological parameters and assess the practical feasibility of the fabrication pipeline. And we organized a user-observing workshop for non-expert users. Through the outcoming prototypes, the result demonstrates the feasibility of Mechcircuit as a useful and inspiring prototyping method.
- Challenge
- Mechcircuit wanted to integrate the design of structures and circuits, while simplifying the design and manufacturing process. It was challenging to use a different design and fabrication approach than traditional ones and to use materials that were readily available. Based on several attempts, we finally chose rubidium magnets as the magnetoelectric material and used conductive silver ink paint to replace the traditional Dupont wire.
- Realization and Technology
- Taking advantage of the fact that rubidium magnets are both magnetic and conductive, we have designed mechanical structures with magnets. It is much easier to design and assemble than the traditional mechanical structure. At the same time the mechanical structure is still interactive. To facilitate user design and generation, we have developed computer-aided design software. The software integrates various modules for user-friendly prototyping. We used a commercial grade laser cutter for cutting and processing and conductive silver ink for the circuitry.
- Operation and Interaction
- The mechanical structure composed of magnets allows the user to design and assemble easily. As the user manipulates the structure, the circuit signals change. The user can interact with the circuit by manipulating the structure.
- Project Duration and Location
- The project starts in July 2022 and ends in December 2022 at the School of Software, Zhejiang University, Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, China
- Specifications
- Mechcircuit uses acrylic sheets with a thickness of 2mm. Usually the prototype is no smaller than 10mmX10mmX5mm. the size of the prototype varies depending on the actual design.
- Keywords
- Interaction Design, Magnetoelectric Materials, Prototyping, Computational Aided Design
