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Generatively Designed Railing Brackets

Colin Fearing - Spring 2021 

Generating the future of sustainability, and connecting it one fastener at a time!

        Unobtrusive household items like metal fasteners are actually multibillion dollar industries, with billions of metal parts manufactured every year. Considering the massive amount of water, energy, and the land footprint it takes to make metal, even a small 5% decrease in the amount of metal per part would save billions of dollars in both manufacturing costs and avoided environmental damage. In this project, I combined Artificial Intelligence with a branch of design called “Generative Design” to create new models and ideas from scratch without following preconceived notions of what objects should look like. These generated objects are stronger, lighter, and use less materials than their human-designed counterparts. We usually think of sustainability as big ideas, like recycling, but small and often ignored parts add up to have a great impact on the world.

PART 1: PROJECT PITCH

Project explanation and plan.

PART 2: PROJECT SHOWCASE

Project prototyping, testing, & results. 

This project was made as part of Mindfuel's Tech Futures Challenge Competition, where the goal was to make the best entrepreneurial pitch and project relating to sustainability. I worked alone at home for this project, my competition included several post-secondary teams with sponsors, labs, and many group members. I still won! 

  • Best Project Overall - $3,500 prize (competitors included several university-level projects) 

  • Best Prototype - $1,000 prize

  • Best Project Pitch - $2,000 prize

Here's a few photos!

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