Mengmin Cai is an aspiring design postgraduate who looks into the field of Anthropology in the process of Generalised Automatisation of the society to which Global Digitalisation is leading.
Mengmin Cai
I’m an automotive designer who has a prior background in products, industrial design and engineering.
The experience of working with expert designers in PATAC (Joint Venture between GM and Shanghai Automotive Industry) back in my time as an undergraduate for an EV project confirmed my interests in the automotive industry.
Through my education in RCA, I’ve gained professional skills and comprehensive insights into the future, which drove me to develop the project “GROW” sponsored by GAC Motor.
"GROW" started from the point of “Material Save” within the context of Industry 4.0.
With the prediction for the future eco-system of the automotive industry, this project combined different approaches triggered by the “technology push” and the “application pull” to form an innovative manufacturing process for the vehicle.
Through the use of Generative Design (simulation), unnecessary material of the vehicle’s frame was eliminated as well as remaining the structure an optimal strength, combining with the 4D Printing technology developed by the MIT, the surface of the vehicle would be able to self-assemble along the pre-programmed path, resulting in achieving great material and energy efficiency.
By applying the 4D material to the interior, which could then change shape to fit itself to the users' pose according to the user’s personal ergonomic data, with an energy source, the Mass customisation goal within the eco-system could be easily achieved.
The combination of those approaches will no doubt lead us to a more sustainable and promising future.
(The research adopts qualitative methodology and was validated through content analysis.)
Overview Video — “GROW” is a project that aims to achieve material and energy efficiency for vehicle designs. The project built an eco-system for the automotive industry with different approaches triggered by the “technology push” and “application pull” within the context of Industry4.0 and showed the possible outcome of an electric autonomous vehicle for a single person within this eco-system.
