Trend of increasing coordination

Trend of increasing coordination is a trend of engineering system evolution according to which as an engineering system evolves, characteristics of its components become more coordinated with each other and with the supersystem.

Overview

In general, the trend of increasing coordination states that as an engineering system evolves, it becomes more coordinated – both internally and with the surrounding it supersystem. Components of the system work together more effectively, and interaction with the supersystem becomes increasingly seamless.

The trend of increasing coordination is one of the TESE still actively evolving. New project-based mechanisms are being discussed at conferences and in publications, and some of them may eventually become part of the methodology.

Mechanisms of the trend of increasing coordination

This trend includes two types of mechanisms:

Sub-trends, which are:

2. Internal mechanisms, which are:

Unlike the sub-trends of other trends, the internal mechanisms of the trend of increasing coordination do not define a step-by-step sequence of development. Instead, they function more like checklists, where the identified states can occur in any order – or even simultaneously.

The only exception is the mechanism of coordination of action, where the states follow a specific sequence.

Coordination of shape

Shape coordination can occur in four ways. Shapes may be:

IDENTICAL – when elements fit together perfectly, for example:

a screw and a nut, where the thread dimensions must be identical for proper fit and function,
screwdriver tip and the slot of a screw,
an egg and an egg carton,
a key and a lock.

SELF-COMPATIBLE – when the shape of elements allows multiple objects to be tightly stacked or nested, for example:

disposable cutlery,
shipping containers,
stackable garden chairs.

COMPATIBLE – when components are coordinated with certain parameters of the supersystem, for example:

ergonomically shaped objects like door handles, furniture, or computer mice that match the shape of the human body,
a strainer designed to work well with powdered substances.

SPECIAL – shapes that don’t fall into any of the above categories, designed to serve a unique purpose, for example:

the bow of an icebreaker designed to crack ice,
the shape of a shovel that allows it to scoop and move sand.

Coordination of rhythms

Rhytm coordination can occur in three ways. These can be the following:

IDENTICAL, for example:

the movement of valves in an internal combustion engine are perfectly synchronized with the motion of the piston to ensure that the air-fuel mixture is drawn in and the exhaust gases are released at the right moment,
audio and video streams in AV systems play in sync to keep lips and voice aligned (a phenomenon known as lip sync),
3D glasses, in which the right and left lenses are synchronized with the images delivered to the right and left eyes.

COMPLEMENTARY – components of a system do not operate simultaneously but instead take turns or work in a way that fills in each other’s idle time, for example:

the SETI@home program runs only when the computer is not in use (as a screensaver), making use of otherwise idle processing time,
collaborative robots (cobots) on an assembly line, where the robot’s rhythm is synchronized with a human worker’s pauses – the robot performs its task (e.g., tightening a screw), then stops to allow the human to complete their step (e.g., placing the next component).

SPECIAL – all other types of rhythm coordination that don’t fit into the previous two categories, for example:

ultrasound therapy massagers, where the vibration frequency is tuned to the resonance of muscles and subcutaneous tissues,
precision agriculture irrigation systems, where the watering rhythm is aligned with the growth phases of plants and their circadian rhythm (such as transpiration cycles).

Coordination of materials

A checklist to support the search for materials suitable for coordination includes the following categories:

IDENTICAL MATERIALS, for example:

transplanting a cloned organ,
repairing a damaged road surface using a mixture identical to the original material.

SIMILAR MATERIALS, for example:

transplanting an organ from a donor,
filling a gap in a wooden piece of furniture with a matching piece of wood.

INERT MATERIALS, for example:

transplanting an artificial organ,
patching a wooden surface with filler compound.

MATERIALS WITH SHIFTED PARAMETERS – materials whose coordination leads to an effect based on the difference in their properties, for example:

a thermocouple, made from two different metals – the temperature difference at their junction generates a voltage known as the thermoelectric effect.

MATERIALS WITH OPPOSITE PARAMETERS, for example:

a cable consisting of a conductor and an insulator.

Coordination of actions

The interaction between a tool and a product can take various forms. Contact between them may occur at a point (0D), along a line (1D), on a surface (2D), or throughout a volume (3D). Coordination of actions involves transitioning between these forms of contact, and this can happen in two directions:

forward along the progression: 0D → 1D → 2D → 3D, or
backward along the progression: 3D → 2D → 1D → 0D.

A forward along the progression means that if one object interacts with another at just a single point, improving the interaction can be achieved by expanding it to a line, then to a surface, and eventually to a full three-dimensional volume. For example, the earliest “washing machine” was simply a stone used to beat clothes – this was a point-based interaction (0D) with very low effectiveness. The process improved when people began using a stick, shifting to a line-based interaction (1D). Further development came with the use of a washboard, introducing surface-based interaction (2D). Eventually, the system evolved into the modern washing machine, where the interaction occurs in all three dimensions (3D).

An example of improving a system through a backward along the progression can be a pizza box. When the bottom of the box contacts the pizza across the entire surface (2D), moisture accumulates, causing the crust to become soggy. Introducing a ribbed or corrugated bottom shifts the interaction to line contact (1D), which improves air circulation and reduces moisture. Further enhancement can be achieved by designing the box with point-based support (0D) – providing minimal contact and allowing even better airflow, resulting in a crisper crust.

The direction of transition depends on two factors:

whether the function is useful or harmful, and
the availability of resources.

The following table illustrates how these factors influence the choice of transition direction: