The c,mm,nity developer platform
From c,mm,n
| c,mm,n developer platform |
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Delft University of Technology Logica Stichting Natuur en Milieu |
| Project setup Orientation Exploration Conceptualization Prototyping Testing Evaluation |
Contents |
Project Setup
This wiki page is the place where you can find everything you need if you are interested in the graduation project of Remmert Stipdonk. It is all about how to create a software tool that is useful for a community that develops an open-source car. Feel free to discuss things at the discussion page or to send me an email if you feel like it. The Wiki views best in Mozilla Firefox.
The process will start with an orientation phase and end with a working prototype, which will be presented in a report and presentation. The structure will be:
- Orientation. The analysis phase where information on all relevant subjects is gathered and interpreted.
- Exploration. Further elaboration on the information in the orientation phase. The vision on the platform is formed here.
- Conceptualization. Different possible concepts are developed here.
- Prototyping
- Testing
- Evaluation
Introduction
The project will be carried out under the flag of the Delft University of Technology.
Graduate student:
Chair of supervisory team: Prof. Dr. P.P.M. Hekkert
Mentor of supervisory team: Ir. J.E. Fokker
The c,mm,n project is an initiative of “Stichting Natuur en Milieu” (the Dutch society for nature and environment) to develop a sustainable mobility concept for the year 2020. Several graduation projects of the three Dutch universities of technology started the c,mm,n project in 2006 by developing a general concept of the car. To develop the car further, the c,mm,n community members need to find a way to share their knowledge and cooperate in designing and building the car. This community will become bigger in due time, so communication has to be streamlined in terms of sharing technology, ideas and prototype building and testing. For the community to be successful and productive, it needs to grow in number of members and has to keep the members involved by active participation. These members will be mainly car designers or related engineers, and are part of a community based on voluntary contribution. The car designers are a vital part of the design process, and together they form a team that will develop a real car. It is possible that car part manufacturers will become involved for production and car distributors are involved for marketing and distribution.
Problem Definition
Developing a car is a complicated task, performed by many different parties, all specialized in their own specific field of expertise. Development costs a lot of time due to communication, sharing of data and the interrelatedness of the different problem fields. It is a top-down process where knowledge is kept within a company so that competitors cannot benefit from developments made within another company. Vehicles have a long life cycle, which makes it difficult to adjust it to the specific demands and wishes of a user in its entire life. As the world around us changes, our wishes for the products we want also changes. It would be a challenge to create a car that is able to change along with us, keeping up with the wishes we have for our mobility. Next to that, the user of a motorized vehicle is not a part of the design process. This user is only involved in the classic way of user testing and feedback from experiences with older car models. Thus, the end user of the product does not have any real influence on its design. There is limited flexibility to make a car fit the personal needs of the user. Nowadays this is only possible by, for example the addition of features, varying from mp3 player support to climate control.
In short, this means solving the problem of:
- No cooperation ending in inefficiency. Many different car development departments within a company are working on parts that later on will be integrated. It would me efficient if the relations between parts were involved from the beginning and real-time updated. If changes are made in one part, then what is the effect on another part?
- No influence of the end user on the design
- No flexibility in changing the car after it has been built
How can the design process of car development be made more efficient and innovative from scratch to end product, while involving external parties and the end users of the car and meet the user demands throughout the entire life cycle?
Assignment
Design a product development tool that gives an automotive development community the opportunity to cooperate, share knowledge, interact and in the end develop cars or parts of it. The data gathered should be open-source and easily shareable by members of the community. This means that the intellectual property of the developed content will belong to the c,mm,n foundation, so that it is free for use by others, but it cannot be patented by others. This is organized under the GNU General Public License. The organizational structure in the form of a platform should invite people of different levels of expertise to get involved in the process and to stay an active member for a period of time significant to the development process, so that continuity can be preserved. The platform should be able to provide a strong basis for the production and extended testing of prototypes. The end product should be a working platform that contains the key elements of the designed organizational structure and an elaborated design of a platform that would be suitable for the market in the year 2020.
Help! What can I do?
This Wiki page is not meant for one-way traffic. You will be provided with information about this project, but you can also give your opinion about it. Probably while you are reading stuff, you will have your thoughts and you might want to correct a sentence, or you want to discuss a part because you think it is not right. Please leave your comments either by mailing me, by posting them under the discussion tab on top of the page or by correcting yourself with the edit tab. Because this is a Wiki, I can monitor what has been changed in the text, so do not worry, you will not destroy my graduation project. If you have any questions about how to edit, please read the Help page or send me an .
