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In the last years, interactive exhibitions based on digital technologies have become widely common, thanks to their flexibility and effectiveness in engaging visitors and creating memorable experiences. One of the topics in which digital technologies can be particularly effective is the communication of abstract concepts that are difficult for the human mind to imagine. An emblematic example is the astronomy discipline, which requires us to imagine and understand phenomena far away from our everyday life. In this paper, the authors present a research project, MARSS, in which digital technologies are used effectively to enhance the Users' Experience of the Museo Astronomico di Brera located in Milan. Specifically, the MARSS project aims at designing and developing a new digital journey inside the museum to allow different categories of visitors to enjoy the exhibition in an engaging and interactive way. The paper presents the design and development phases of the experience and its evaluation with users. The results of the evaluation indicate that the digital interactive experience is appreciated by users and is successful in translating the content of high scientific value into more engaging and easily understandable elements. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study presents an alternative process for designing and manufacturing customized trays for dental-whitening treatments. The process is based on a digitized approach consisting of three main stages: design of a reference model, its manufacturing by AM, and thermoforming of the tray. The aim of the study was to develop a high-performance tray, able to guarantee comfort, safety, and efficacy for whitening treatments. To evaluate the patient's experience, some tests under real operating conditions were performed. Twenty people carried out a nighttime treatment of 14 days. Each patient was asked to assess the overall level of satisfaction and the comfort of the tray and its ability to retain the gel. Tooth whitening was also determined according to the VITAPAN scale. All patients involved in the study were satisfied and provided positive feedback about comfort and tightness of the tray. At the end of the treatment, 15 out of 20 patients achieved shade A1 on the VITAPAN scale. The mean improvement in color shades was about 7. These results confirmed the great potential of the proposed dental tray. Its use was proven to guarantee a high level of quality, flexibility, and customization of dental-whitening treatments, improving comfort, safety, and efficacy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Byline: Monica Bordegoni, Umberto Cugini The paper presents the results of a research project aiming to develop an innovative framework for the conceptual design of products based on haptic technology. The system consists of a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) system enhanced with intuitive designer-oriented interaction tools and modalities. The system integrates innovative haptic tools with 6 Degrees of Freedom (DOF) for modelling digital shapes, with sweep operators applied to class-A surfaces and force computation models based on chip formation models. The system aims to exploit designers' skills in modelling products, improving the products' design process by reducing the necessity to build several physical models for the evaluation and testing of product designs. The system requirements have been defined after observing designers during their daily work and translating the way they model shapes using their hands and craft tools into specifications for the system. The system has been tested by designers, who have found it intuitive and effective to use.

Byline: Monica Bordegoni, Umberto Cugini The design of mechanical assemblies carried out using today's CAD systems is mainly developed by modelling single parts, and then assembling them in a subsequent design phase. This bottom-up approach is not congruent and not satisfying the way designers are used to design assemblies. Besides, most of the CAD systems are weak for what concerns several functionalities. For example, the manipulation or the modification of the part geometry or the mating conditions of a created assembly is not supported. The introduction of the feature-based approach in assembly design, already successfully used in the design of single parts, would offer several advantages. For example, it would allow designers to start drawing the assembly from a top view, leaving the design of details and subsystems to a following phase. This paper describes some results of research work done within a project funded by the European Union aiming at extending and validating the use of features, to help in the solution of assembly problems in aeronautical applications.

The potentiality of the Fused Deposition Modeling (FDM) process for multi-material printing has not yet been thoroughly explored in the literature. That is a limitation considering the wide diffusion of dual extruders printers and the possibility of increasing the number of these extruders. An exploratory study, based on tensile tests and performed on double-material butt-joined bars, was thus conceived; the aim was to explore how the adhesion strength between 3 pairs of filaments (TPU-PLA, PLA-CPE, CPE-TPU) is influenced by the material printing order, the type of slicing pattern used for the layers at the interface, and the infill density of the layers below the interface. Results confirm the effectiveness of mechanical interlocking strategies in increasing the adhesion strength even when thermodynamic and diffusion mechanisms of adhesion are not robust enough. Besides, thermal aspects also demonstrated to play a relevant role in influencing the performance of the interface. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review focuses on the design process of additively manufactured mesoscale lattice structures (MSLSs). They are arrays of three-dimensional (3D) printed trussed unit cells, whose dimensions span from 0.1 to 10.0 mm. This study intends to detail the phases of the MSLSs design process (with a particular focus on MSLSs whose unit cells are made up of a network of struts and nodes), proposing an integrated and holistic view of it, which is currently lacking in the literature. It aims at guiding designers' decisions with respect to the settled functional requirements and the manufacturing constraints. It also aims to provide an overview for software developers and researchers concerning the design approaches and strategies currently available. A further objective of this review is to stimulate researchers in exploring new MSLSs functionalities, consciously considering the impact of each design phase on the whole process, and on the manufactured product. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the large number of studies on the multisensory aspects of tactile perception, very little is known regarding the effects of visual and auditory sensory modalities on the tactile hedonic evaluation of textures, especially when the presentation of the stimuli is mediated by a haptic device. In this study, different haptic virtual surfaces were rendered by varying the static and dynamic frictional coefficients of a Geomagic® Touch device. In Experiment 1, the haptic surfaces were paired with pictures representing everyday materials (glass, plastic, rubber and steel); in Experiment 2, the haptic surfaces were paired with sounds resulting from the haptic exploration of paper or sandpaper. In both the experiments, participants were required to rate the pleasantness and the roughness of the virtual surfaces explored. Exploration times were also recorded. Both pleasantness and roughness judgments, as well as the durations of exploration, varied as a function of the combinations of the visuo-tactile and the audio-tactile stimuli presented. Taken together, these results suggest that vision and audition modulate haptic perception and hedonic preferences when tactile sensations are provided through a haptic device. Importantly, these results offer interesting suggestions for designing more pleasant, and even more realistic, multisensory virtual surfaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]