Chris Rust

Using practice led design research to develop an articulated mechanical analogy of the human hand

Contemporary prostheses have developed from small iterations on moderately successful archetypes. This has resulted in modern designs that can either be termed cosmetic or functional, with neither attribute being fully satisfied. A new strategy is needed to develop a generation of upper-limb prostheses that will integrate both cosmetic and functional requirements in a single device. It is hypothesized that design principles applicable to a new generation of prostheses will result from exploring close analogies to the human upper limb. A method of practice led design research has been adopted to explore appropriate analogies, using the production of physical models to elucidate the design problem to the design team and other interested parties. This method uses a consciously iterative approach whereby criticisms and lessons learnt in the development of early models are embodied in subsequent models. This paper describes the first iterative cycle. It includes a critical review of the devices currently available and a study of mechanical analogies to original anatomy which form two of the inputs to the development of a skeletal model hand. It details the lessons learnt from this study and concludes on the wider application of practice led design research in medical engineering.

The pedestal and the pendulum: fine art practice, research and doctorates

Abstract This article reports on the issues arising from the AHRC Research Review: Practice-Led Research in Art, Design and Architecture, published in February 2008 by the UK Arts and Humanities Research Council. These include the continuing question of defining activity in the field, the underdeveloped scholarly infrastructure, and the nature of the contribution to knowledge made by the artefact or designed object. The article also draws upon an analysis of completed doctorates in art and design made possible by the Art & Design Index to Theses (ADIT). This earlier project, which set up a scholarly resource for the research community, enables the growth of doctoral activity in the fine art field to be measured and the range of approaches to enquiry to be evaluated. The analysis of doctoral work to date indicates the extent to which professional practice has begun to be incorporated into doctoral projects. An uncritical revisionism or relabelling of activities within the realm of professional practice and doctoral study is evident in the data consulted in the two studies, reflecting the continuing prominence of the exhibition as a means of disseminating the outcomes of creative practice.

Adapting research activity AHRC review of practice-led research

In 2005 the Arts and Humanities Research Council initiated a review of practice-led research in art, design and architecture. The purpose of the review was to develop a ‘comprehensive map of recent and current research activity in the area’. What quickly became obvious to the team that won the bid to run the review (led by the three authors) was that to map activity one first had to attempt to define it. The term ‘practice-led research’ means many different things to different people and so immediately raises debate. The positions range from those who believe that the act of making or designing alone constitutes research, to those who believe that research (as analytical activity) is incommensurable with design (as synthetic activity). For the former, the knowledge contained within the artefact is self-evident and beyond the need for additional explication; for the latter, knowledge resides outside the artefact and in the realm of its dissemination and interpretation. The importance of the AHRC review is not that it will settle these arguments, but that it will provide a much firmer context in which to place them.

Experimental making in multi-disciplinary research

For the past three years, Graham Whiteley has been using making in a project to develop a mechanical analogy for the human skeletal arm to inform the future development of prostheses and other artefacts. Other aspects of the work, such as the use of drawings and the use of a principled approach in the absence of concrete design goals, have been documented elsewhere; this paper concentrates on the central role of making in the process. It will discuss the role of making in multidisciplinary research: craft skills and resources appropriate to each stage of a practice-centred research project in this area, the use of models in an iterative experimental investigation, and the value of models in eliciting knowledge from a broad community of interested parties and experts.