TECHNOLOGY INTEGRATION & INTERACTION DESIGN

For designers it is crucial to envision future societies that are shaped through different technological trends. Most future socio-economical evolutions are based on new technological advances. Just think about how the computers, the internet, smartphones and social media have shaped society as we know it. With new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence on the rise, we train our students to grasp opportunities in these disrupting evolutions.

Within this learning line students are confronted with new emerging technologies in an inspiring and reflective way, in order to gain insights in the bigger technological changes that are ahead and how designers can use these technologies to build future-proof smart products. This is not only about gaining technological knowledge, but also about creating an innovative mindset. The main focus is on the integration of digital (IoT, AI, Robotics, VR/AR) technologies in physical products. ‘WE TRAIN DESIGNERS TO ENVISION FUTURE SOCIETIES, BASED ON RAPID SOCIETAL ADVANCES AND DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES’

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EMERGING TECHNOLOGIES

This course provides a state-of-the-art overview of current and future emerging technologies in the dawn of the fourth industrial revolution. The aim of this course is to inform and inspire the designers with an overview of the upcoming technologies and their possibilities for future societies. It is characterized by a fusion of technologies that is blurring the lines between the physical, digital, and biological spheres. And exploring new ways in which technology becomes (ubiquitously) embedded within products, societies and even the human body.

The possibilities of billions of people connected by mobile devices, with unprecedented processing power, storage capacity, and access to knowledge, are unlimited. And these possibilities will be multiplied by emerging technology breakthroughs in fields such as artificial intelligence, robotics, the Internet of Things, autonomous vehicles, blockchain, nanotechnology, biotechnology, materials science, energy storage, and quantum computing.

2I0

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SMART PRODUCT DESIGN

Within the course students learn how they can make creative use of sensors, actuators and processors in order to design interactive (smart) products.

The focus is on the integration of electronic components in products, with a strong emphasis for the interaction with the users. The students receive a project based on a challenge, that they need to deliver at the end of the semester. The student is part of a team and needs to fulfill his/her role in order to realize the common project.

The project consists of the design and materialisation of a working interactive prototype that meets the challenge. In most cases, the challenges are linked to external partners (companies or organisations) that are searching for a solution via a smart product.

4I0

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