Abstract
The design of multi-disciplinary products, i. e., mechatoronics products, requires integration of knowledge of various domains, such as mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, and software engineering. A model-based development approach tends to support this problem. However, a designer builds models focusing on a particular aspect of the product, and consequently models have less information than the real product Design failures may happen due to such lack of information. Therefore, it is also important to validate the solution by physical prototyping. This paper investigates the process of reflective interaction of model-based development and prototyping by means of design experiment. The design experiment of the autonomous ball transporting robot and sorting system, which is developed by LEGO MINDSTORMS, is carried out. Based on its result, how designers operate models used in model-based development effectively or ineffectively, how designers effectively operate prototypes to discover and correct problems, and so forth are turned out. Finally, the requirements and conditions of the system for supporting the reflective design process are briefly discussed as its representative patterns.
