The Life of a Prototype

Prototypes are the beginning forms of new ideas, and they are the first of their kind. Prototypes have multiple steps in development, becoming more advanced, and hopefully better functioning with each redesigning. Some prototypes are used merely to prove a concept to see if it will work while others test different types of materials for function or serve cosmetic purposes like color schemes and non-essential shapes.

Computers can also be used to develop prototypes quickly by using a CAD (Computer Aided Design) program and a handy 3D printer to develop quick 3D shapes. This is often used in the designing of automobiles to test aerodynamics among other things. The use of CAD prototypes can be referred to as rapid prototyping.

Many industries, aside from the automobile industry use rapid prototyping, or just old-fashioned prototyping-by-building-it-yourself invention. The various fields of science rely on prototyping to advance and proof whether or not new ideas are even feasible, such as the more specific field of robotics. All robots have prototypes in their pedigrees. Most computers programs start off as a prototype, or a really simple version of the program with all the original bugs.

Almost all of the great inventions we enjoy today started off as prototypes, like our computers, which started off with the abacus. Someone had an idea, built a tiny model to see if the idea might work, made the original model better or built a new one that was better, and repeated the process until technology became as it is today.