Building innovative design

September 19, 2008

By Mark Ferguson

As you enter the Centre for Creative and Innovative Design (CCID) in the College of Engineering, you think for a second it's some kind of wonderful toy store because the shelves, the tables and the cupboards are all filled with Lego.

But it isn't a toy store at all; it's an innovative design workshop that produces tools and prototypes for engineers. The CCID was developed by Chris Zhang, professor of mechanical engineering, to help students visualize the difficult concepts he teaches in his classes.

"Students have great difficulty creating designs," says Zhang, "and there's a lot of emphasis on design." At the end of each term, first-year students must design a project using computer software and although the programs are sophisticated enough to show renderings of a mechanical arm, for instance, they do not take into account factors like gravity and force.

Zhang demonstrates this with one of the CCID standard designs—a bicycle with two skis attached parallel to the rear wheel. He says that to design the bicycle with computer drafting software is fine, but there is no accounting for the amount of force on the wheels or the balance of the model using only computers.

Zhang believes that Lego is the key to unlocking the potential of mechanical design by providing a hands-on, three-dimensional model to spur understanding of broader concepts. And this is true not just for engineers, but for any disciplines where models are needed. So far, the CCID has created hundreds of models for a variety of engineering and mathematics classes.

"We help students with their designs," says Kirk Backstrom, research assistant with the CCID. "We build a prototype to see if a design concept works and where it can be improved, and that helps lay the foundation for a final product for the class project."

Zhang and Backstrom are like kids in a toy store while they explain the workings of the CCID. Every model is based on mechanical principles carefully designed using computers and renderings. And while the CCID is not yet an approved centre at the university, the two are hopeful that University Council will grant them that status this year. Their Lego models are having a big impact on students and their class projects, and the two are already looking to expand.

Backstrom demonstrates another Lego model—a mechanical ladder with wheels—that he designed to help students with difficult math concepts. The ladder flawlessly climbs a two-foot wall made of white Lego blocks.

"His first love is his wife," says Zhang about his friend and colleague. "His second love is Lego."