A Method for Designing Collaborative Products With Application to Poverty Alleviation

Collaborative products are created when physical components from two or more products are temporarily recombined to form another product capable of performing additional tasks. In this paper, a method for designing collaborative products is introduced. The method identifies a set of products capable of being recombined into a collaborative product. These products are then designed to allow for this recombination. Collaborative products are particularly useful in reducing the cost, weight, and size of poverty-alleviating products—reductions that are valued in the developing world. A simple example of a cabinet maker’s tool shows that a collaborative block plane created from a chisel and sanding block can account for reductions in cost, weight, and size of 44%, 38%, and 44% respectively, when compared to a typical wooden block plane, chisel, and sanding block. Additionally, an example of a collaborative apple peeler is provided to demonstrate scalability of the method. The authors conclude that the method introduced herein provides a new and useful tool to design collaborative products and to assist in engineering-based poverty alleviation.