Rapid Prototyping Approach

OSE rapid prototyping refers to 1-day builds and rapid 1-2 day prototyping runs that follow weeks of preparation. This is a technique that we follow at OSE pending complete preparation of CAD, fabrication procedures, and cut lists.

We have learned over the years that we can either spend the time building or designing for a rapid build. Because we are dealing with heavy machinery, it is easier to prepare everything on paper prior to a build, up to language agnostic instructionals. This level of preparation allows builds to happen once, and only once -

Then of course after a build - we can iterate rapidly because our working materials are modular.

The key to the above is module-based design. While it is much more difficult to build an entire device, it is much more tractable to build a module (or component of that machine). Only in the absence of skill or under time pressure do we not go through the full design process on paper, when we attain a lower level of quality, while still achieving a proof-of-concept.

Because we are working on many proofs-of-concept that have never before been attempted, it is more important to have something done rather than having something done perfectly. That is - done is better than perfect. This approach is taken because the thing at hand may not work - so it is important to determine early on whether something works or not - in order to take midcourse correction. This way, innovation happens in the span of days, not months.

Wikispeed has attained a 100 mpg car proof-of-concept in 3 months, as opposed to the years of typical development cycles. See Wikispeed.

OSE has attained a 12 hour build of the Ironworker Machine Prototype 3, compared to the 6 month build of Prototype 2 - by radically shifting the design approach.