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3D printing has revolutionized orthoses manufacturing in assistive technologies, enabling development of custom-fitted orthoses in under 24 hours. Physician-engineer collaboration is essential to addressing the mechanical complexities of automated orthoses design. Single-step manufacturing of these devices is necessary for simplistic and translational technologies. This work proposes a novel automated program, application programing interface, to design a custom single-finger orthosis using only basic biometric data (body weight, height, and age) as input to enable fully virtual rehabilitation. Feasibility study, cross-sectional design, and survey study. Customization without body scans streamlines programming and enables gross estimate of hand orthosis size. Computer-aided design models are automatically generated using the Automated Custom Finger Orthoses system that was created using several macros with SolidWorks and Visual Basic Editor. A military database was used for the biometric data for the program to establish a relationship between finger size and biometric data. Survey data were taken from 10 human healthy participants (six male and four female, aged between 18 and 60) using Likert scales to check fitness of 3D-printed soft index finger orthosis part. Computer-aided design models were successfully created using the application programing interface using military database, the models were 3D-printed and fitted on subjects. The fitness of the device varies significantly under the current parameters. Eight of the 10 test devices fit their test subjects with overall average offsets of 7.00 mm, 6.14 mm, and 8.89 mm for DIP (L1), PIP (L2), and MCP joints (L3 offset), respectively and the subjects were fully donned. The biasing of current data toward male subjects results in slightly better fit accuracy in males than in females. Anthropometric studies can aid in discerning fundamental ratios for orthoses design, allowing for custom-fitted designs and manufacturing with ease and efficiency. •Gross body measurement estimation via minimal input parameters.•Automated computer-aided design model generation of finger orthoses.•Flexible hand orthoses designed for use with soft robotics.

The automated design of imaging systems involving no or minimal human effort has always been the expectation of scientists, researchers and optical engineers. In addition, it is challenging to choose an appropriate starting point for an optical system design. In this paper, we present a novel design framework based on a point-by-point design process that can automatically obtain high-performance freeform systems. This framework only requires a combination of planes as the input based on the configuration requirements or the prior knowledge of designers. This point-by-point design framework is different from the decades-long tradition of optimizing surface coefficients. Compared with the traditional design method, whereby the selection of the starting point and the optimization process are independent of each other and require extensive amount of human effort, there are no obvious differences between these two processes in our design framework, and the entire design process is mostly automated. This automated design process significantly reduces the amount of human effort required and does not rely on advanced design skills and experience. To demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed design framework, we successfully designed two high-performance systems as examples. This point-by-point design framework opens up new possibilities for automated optical design and can be used to develop automated optical design in the areas of remote sensing, telescopy, microscopy, spectroscopy, virtual reality and augmented reality. Freeform optics: automated design reduces human input An automated approach to designing imaging systems with freeform optics greatly reduces the need for human input in the design process. While computer software has removed much of the drudgery from optimizing optical systems, human expertise is still required to select suitable starting points, especially for off-axis configurations. Now, Tong Yang and co-workers at Tsinghua University, China, have designed a framework that uses a point-by-point iterative process to automatically construct the needed freeform surfaces, rather than designing them using extensive human effort. They demonstrate the technique's effectiveness by designing two infrared imaging systems — a freeform off-axis, three-mirror design and a freeform reflective system with a spherical package. The approach can aid the optical design of compact, high-performance optical systems for applications in microscopy, spectroscopy, sensing and virtual reality.

This paper introduces BRADSHAW (Biological Response Analysis and Design System using an Heterogenous, Automated Workflow), a system for automated molecular design which integrates methods for chemical structure generation, experimental design, active learning and cheminformatics tools. The simple user interface is designed to facilitate access to large scale automated design whilst minimising software development required to introduce new algorithms, a critical requirement in what is a very fast moving field. The system embodies a philosophy of automation, best practice, experimental design and the use of both traditional cheminformatics and modern machine learning algorithms.

Integration of sensors into various kinds of products and machines provides access to in-depth usage information as basis for product optimization. Presently, this large potential for more user-friendly and efficient products is not being realized because (a) sensor integration and thus usage information is not available on a large scale and (b) product optimization requires considerable efforts in terms of manpower and adaptation of production equipment. However, with the advent of cloud-based services and highly flexible additive manufacturing techniques, these obstacles are currently crumbling away at rapid pace. The present study explores the state of the art in gathering and evaluating product usage and life cycle data, additive manufacturing and sensor integration, automated design and cloud-based services in manufacturing. By joining and extrapolating development trends in these areas, it delimits the foundations of a manufacturing concept that will allow continuous and economically viable product optimization on a general, user group or individual user level. This projection is checked against three different application scenarios, each of which stresses different aspects of the underlying holistic concept. The following discussion identifies critical issues and research needs by adopting the relevant stakeholder perspectives.

Temporary support structures (UMKW) for power lines are used in emergency situations. Such system-based solutions require dedicated software that enables rapid design (model creation, calculations, and documentation generation). Achieving this goal involves adopting a data structure that minimizes the amount of input required from the designer while maximizing automation in each phase of the design process. This is made possible through the creation of a database of predefined and parameterized profiles for support structures. Design acceleration is enhanced by an advisory system that suggests and supervises the configuration of conductor suspension layouts, structure geometry (while maintaining electrical clearance requirements, both internal and external), structure height, etc. The declaration of load cases and their values is also fully automated. Based on data regarding conductors and insulators (retrieved from databases) and the line location within Poland territory (climatic zones), an analysis of conductors (cables) is performed, and all load cases required by standards, including variations leading to bending and torsion of support structures, are determined. The article presents two software variants differing in concept. The first variant involves a preliminary selection of structure imported from a database of pre-analyzed typical cases (UMKW-Base), while the second performs complete calculations (UMKW). The UMKW software system employs a dual data input module, enabling rapid design while achieving greater software versatility. Declaring the physical model of the structure and its automatic conversion to an analytical model allows structural calculations to be performed as well as preparation of design documentation without duplicate data entry.

Increasing population and urbanization, with climate change consequences, such as rising temperatures, influence public health and well-being. The search to improve the quality of life in cities becomes one of the priority objectives. A solution can be found in the role of greenery in an urban environment and its impact on human health. This opens a path toward experimentation on microclimate green structures that can be inserted into dense urban spaces providing human and environmental benefits. The article proposes an automated greenery design method combined with rapid prototyping for such interventions. A theoretical analysis of the problem preceded the introduction of the method. The research process was developed in accordance with the main objectives of the CDIO framework (Conceive, Design, Implement, and Operate) with the SiL (Software in the Loop) and HiL (Hardware in the Loop) methods. Moreover, the applied test model allows for complex evaluation in order to ensure quality and directions for further development.

This study aims to develop a procedure for the production of 3D-printed forearm prostheses (especially hard outer sockets). The production procedure is designed in the form of a parametric workflow (CAD model), which significantly speeds up the designing process of the prosthesis. This procedure is not fixedly dependent on the software (SW) equipment and is fully transferable into another SW environment. The use of these prostheses will significantly increase the comfort of their patients’ lives. It is possible to produce prostheses faster and in larger amounts and variants by the usage of additive technology. The input for the own production of the prosthesis is a model of the internal soft socket of the patient. This soft socket (soft bed) is made by a qualified prosthetist. A 3D-scanned CAD model is obtained afterward using the scanning method by an automatic laser projector. An editable, parametric external socket (modifiable in any CAD format) is generated from the obtained 3D scan using a special algorithmic model. This socket, after the necessary individual modifications, is transferred to 3D printing technology and produced using powder technology Multi Jet Fusion (HP MJF). The result of the designed and tested procedure is a quickly editable 3D-printed outer socket (main part of prosthesis), which is able to fully replace the current long-fiber composite solution. Production of current solutions is relatively time-consuming, and only one piece is produced in a given time. The newly designed technology eliminates this. This study summarized the possibilities of speeding up the production of forearm prostheses (but not only these) by creating a parametric CAD model that is applicable to different patients.

Reliable and efficient low-voltage distribution networks are critical for scaling mini-grid deployment and advancing universal electricity access, yet prevailing design practices remain manual, heuristic, and difficult to scale. This study presents a fully automated workflow that integrates geospatial feature extraction, distribution network layout, conductor sizing, mixed-integer linear programming-based phase balancing, nonlinear AC power flow validation, and system costing to generate rapid, standard-compliant techno-economic designs for greenfield mini-grid sites. The methodology is demonstrated across 62 rural sites to confirm practicality for large-scale rural electrification planning. Designs were evaluated for single-phase, three-phase, and hybrid low-voltage configurations. When design constraints were relaxed, single-phase networks achieved the lowest median voltage drop (~0.8%) and technical losses (~0.6%); however, under realistic voltage-drop and ampacity limits, compliance relied on conductor oversizing, resulting in low utilization (median loading <20%) and substantially higher costs. Fewer than half of the sites met construction feasibility limits for parallel conductors, and single-phase designs were typically 3–4× more expensive than multi-phase alternatives. Multi-phase layouts delivered comparable technical performance at significantly lower cost. Phase-balancing optimization reduced voltage drop by 15–20% and current unbalance by ~50%, enabling loss reduction and increased load accommodation. Overall, the results demonstrate that automated low-voltage network design can replace manual drafting with scalable, data-driven workflows that reduce soft costs while improving technical performance, constructability, and investment readiness.

Contemporary climate challenges are changing the architect’s awareness, which results in a broader spectrum of interest. The available software enables the design of vegetation, but it is often very limited and requires specialist knowledge. The available software allows the creation of individual solutions based on visual algorithms or writing scripts; however, they are still not common methods used in architecture and urban planning. The study proposes a new complex digital method of selection and design of greenery based on a new parameter spreadsheet. The proposition is supported by the review and investigation of the software used by designers identifying a range of tools for the design of greenery. The study proposes a theoretical model for automated plant selection and variations of possible greenery scenarios that could be integrated into the design process at the early stages of concept development.