Generative Design Study on Lacrosse Head
PROJECT OUTLINE
Generative design piqued my interest a couple years ago after attending IMTS 2018, a manufacturing fair which had been one of the first to introduce this technology to consumers. The motive with this project was to take a traditionally produced object with an apparent mechanical structure and optimize it organically with generative design techniques. As for production, these sorts of application work in congruence with additive manufacturing since most biomechanically sound designs can't be produced with traditional methods. I’d been familiar with lacrosse at the time and decided on the lacrosse head (a generally injection molded object) as my pilot study. Considering the material strengths of ABS plastics and in-game versatility/flexibility requirements, lacrosse head structural design is largely arbitrary. New models are released mostly on an aesthetic basis since the production process limits the viability of other materials and furthered mechanical efficiency.
APPLICATION
My implementation started with a simplified outer structure resembling the relative shape of commercially available lacrosse heads. Using Frustum Generate—a now defunct suite after having been acquired by PTC—I ran several hundered iterative studies with variability in force magnitude, force location, and fixed locations. Initial results had consistent topographical impurities, however, such as spiking polygons and holes or gaps which I went about fixing with 3D model manipulation environments in Meshmixer and Blender. My basis of success for the final model was largely aesthetic as at the time I didn't have access to the necessary prototyping tools. I made the renderings you see to the right and below but have still yet to properly build a working prototype.
A rendering of my final design is shown to the right and below
ISSUES AND OPTIMIZATION
A problem I encountered early on was not knowing the ideal input forces to output a proper generation. This resulted in many iterations of guess and check where the 'check' was for general aesthetic similarities to in-production lacrosse heads. It would have been ideal to avoid the time and computational costs of generating multiple complete models with slightly different physical properties. A potential optimization might be to automate generations on a nodal basis. The user might apply fixed points and general areas for mechanical stress, prompting the model to develop multiple internal generations (validating on the basis of mesh integrity) and outputing several models to the user which might work.
FURTHER THEORY
Generative design remains very interesting to me. Aesthetic arguments that favor more human input exist, but organic, inherently fluid design, can exist in the same light. The combination of material optimization, physical efficiency, and in many cases, performance benefits, make for a particular kind of function-relative beauty, but something undoubtedly beautiful. In general, design has a very large influence on our individual and communal environments—the products of which might include sensory pleasures, subliminal encouragement, lower stress, improved attention, etc. Form is derivative of function, after all. Opportunities for application here are endless.
