Open architecture for product adaptability: challenges in design, evaluation and implementation

市场竞争和技术发展的快速进步导致了工业和消费产品如机床、汽车和手机的更广泛的多样性和更短的寿命。设计一款能够在整个生命周期中不断满足不断变化的用户需求的产品是一项挑战。与现有产品相比，适应性强的产品可以在产品的生命周期内升级以满足用户需求。本文提出的研究将开发使用开放架构来提高产品适应性的方法。提出适应性强的产品由三种功能模块组成：作为产品平台的通用模块、供用户购买产品时选择的定制模块和供用户在产品生命周期内升级功能的个性化模块。适应性强的产品将为用户提供开放的接口，以根据他们不断变化的需求升级功能，而不必完全更换产品。这代表了产品实施中的创新概念。这项研究包括三个任务。1)开放接口的设计，便于产品升级。这项任务将开发界面表示、设计和分析的方法。将提出定性的措施来评估界面设计和操作效率。2)开发以人为中心的决策方法来捕捉用户需求。这项任务将在人类决策中应用基于代理的建模，通过模拟人与产品的交互来捕捉用户需求的变化。3)开发用户友好的工具，提高用户对产品评价的参与度。这项任务将集成设计评估和虚拟现实设施，以支持非专业用户。将开发一个自然的用户界面，可以接受多种类型的数据输入。用户参与将包括选择、修改和操作产品。这些工具还将在产品升级期间模拟用户操作，以验证设计解决方案。****使用开放架构来提高产品的适应性是一个新兴的概念。短期研究目标是开发具有成本效益的方法来设计、评估和实施适应性产品，并在产品中测试这些方法，包括轮椅、电动汽车和工业喷漆机等。长期目标是继续开发和完善开放架构，作为新一代产品的结构。拟议的适应性产品将通过结合开放接口、考虑不断变化的用户需求的能力以及直接用户参与产品实施，标志着产品开发的潜在突破。研究解决方案将转化为硬件和软件工具，用于开发适应性强的产品。******

Market competition and the rapid progress of technology development have led to wider diversity and shorter lifespans for industrial and consumer products such as machine tools, cars and cell phones. It is a challenge to design a product that can continuously meet changing user needs throughout its lifespan. In contrast to existing products, an adaptable product would be one that can be upgraded to meet user needs during the lifetime of the product. The research proposed here will develop methods using open architecture to improve product adaptability. It is proposed that an adaptable product would consist of three types of functional modules: common modules that serve as product platforms, customized modules for users to select when purchasing a product, and personalized modules that allow users to upgrade functions during the lifetime of the product. Adaptable products will provide open interfaces for users to upgrade functions in response to their changing needs without having to replace the product entirely. This represents an innovative concept in product implementation.***This research consists of three tasks. 1) The design of open interfaces to facilitate product upgrading. This task will develop methods in interface representation, design and analysis. Qualitative measures will be proposed to evaluate interface design and operational efficiency. 2) The development of human-centered decision-making methods to capture user requirements. This task will apply agent-based modeling in human decision making to capture changes in user needs through simulation of human-product interactions. 3) The development of a user-friendly tool to increase user involvement in product evaluation. This task will integrate design evaluation and virtual reality facilities to support non-expert users. A natural user interface will be developed that can accept multiple types of data inputs. User involvement will include selection, modification and manipulation of products. The tools will also simulate user operations during product upgrading to verify design solutions.****Using open architecture to improve product adaptability is an emerging concept. The short term research goals are to develop cost-effective methods for design, evaluation and implementation of adaptable products, and test the methods in products that will include wheelchairs, electrical vehicles, and industrial painting machines, etc. The long-term goal is to continue developing and perfecting open architecture as the structure for a new generation of products. The proposed adaptable products will mark a potential breakthrough in product development by combining open interfaces, the capacity to consider changing user needs, and direct user involvement in product implementation. The research solutions will be transferred into hardware and software tools for application in the development of adaptable products.******