Inventive Principle 13 "Inversion" or "Other way around"

"Inversion" or "the other way around" is a surprisingly common but important inventive principle. You'd probably come across very good examples of this principle everyday and not know it. 

The refrigerator that I grew up with was a simple top freezer-type (if you're stumped on what is a top freezer, this site might help). There never was much drama with a refrigerator, as it's basically food in and food out, with the occasional rotten food out. The frozen food and ice-cream goes on top, the perishables goes to the bottom. This is until I had to buy one of my own. The myriad of choices between price, design and technology makes fridge-hunting a humbling experience. I had my mind set on getting the biggest, cheapest, feature-packed fridge that I could get, but throughout the fridge-hunting, the one thing that struck me was a bottom freezer design.

I have NEVER come across a bottom freezer design in my life, or at least never noticed it. To me there was never a problem with having the frozen food on top...until I read the brochures. Having a bottom freezer meant:

1. Better access to frozen food. Frozen food tend to be more heavy, so you didn't have to keep lifting heavy stuff, putting less strain to your back. Also, you didn't have to stretch to reach the higher items.

2. Better access to perishables. In general we open the refrigerator door more often than the freezer, to get the milk, an apple, to check for snacks, etc. So it makes sense that these items are located nearer to our eyes and arms for fast access.

3. Less crouching or bending over. As we access the milk more often than the frozen turkey, keeping the frozen food at the bottom reduces that activity. Some bottom  freezer design comes with drawer-style doors, so you don't even have to crouch just to look at the items.

4. Efficiency. Hot air rises to the top, so having the warmer compartment at the top reduces energy consumption.

It is amazing how much extra benefit you get when you basically just turn your refrigerator upside-down. So now whenever I have a problem (or a contradiction) that needs solving, I'd always try to imagine what happens when something is reversed or turned the other way around. This gives me great insights into things that otherwise I wouldn't have thought about in my ideation process.

Suddenly it was crystal clear...I now have a bottom freezer-type refrigerator.

Spotted: Matryoshka chair (nested doll)

Source: vivianchiudesigns.com

While it's called the inception chair, to me it looks more like a matryoshka chair. Matryoshka or "nested" dolls are those delicately-painted Russian wooden figures that opens to reveal a smaller version of the figure inside. The nesting could go on and on depending on the craftsmanship.

This "object inside a similar object" is one of the inventive principles of TRIZ, called the "nested doll principle". When one has to solve a problem without the luxury of additional space, try to see if it's possible to nest objects inside another!

Spotted: Segmentation for power strips

My introduction to TRIZ was through a local training workshop. As an exercise, the trainer asked us to form into groups and design a new power strip (extension lead, power socket, etc.) using the contradiction matrix.

The problem in this case was simple, "identify limitations of the current straight inline design and create a new and improved design that we can sell as a product!". Remarkably, each group were able to come up with at least 3 or 4 new designs in one hour that was genuinely useful. In my case, we came up with a "squid"-like design not too different from this:

Some groups came up with rotating designs:

Of course, after a frenzy of discussions on how we're going to be millionaires selling these products did the trainer revealed that what we came up with were already in the market, hence the images you see above. But the point was that most of us selected inventive principle number 1 "Segmentation" as a starting point to create  these designs. 

By identifying and choosing to focus on this as a basis for brainstorming, we've created multiple designs which does have the potential to be sold as a finished product. As an extra bonus, the exercise also taught me that usually the problem I'm trying to solve has already been solved by someone else somewhere. So I could just look at how other people solve similar problems before and innovate on top of it (maybe by imagining the Ideal Final Result) to come up with my own patentable twist. Just like this:

List of TRIZ 40 inventive principles

Below is the full list of the TRIZ 40 inventive principles:

1. Segmentation
2. Extraction, separation, removal, segregation
3. Local quality
4. Asymmetry
5. Combining, integration, merging
6. Universality, multi-functionality
7. Nested doll
8. Counterweight, levitation
9. Preliminary anti-action, prior counteraction
10. Prior action
11. Cushion in advance, prior counteraction
12. Equipotentiality, remove stress
13. Inversion, the other way around
14. Spheroidality, curvilinearity
15. Dynamicity, optimization
16. Partial or excessive action
17. Moving to a new dimension
18. Mechanical vibration/oscillation
19. Periodic action
20. Continuity of a useful action
21. Rushing through
22. Convert harm into benefit, "blessing in disguise"
23. Feedback
24. Mediator, intermediary
25. Self-service, self-organization
26. Copying
27. Cheap, disposable objects
28. Replacement of a mechanical system with 'fields'
29. Pneumatics or hydraulics
30. Flexible membranes or thin film
31. Use of porous materials
32. Changing color or optical properties
33. Homogeneity
34. Rejection and regeneration, discarding and recovering
35. Transformation of the physical and chemical states of an object, parameter change, changing properties
36. Phase transformation
37. Thermal expansion
38. Use strong oxidizers, enriched atmospheres, accelerated oxidation
39. Inert environment or atmosphere
40. Composite materials

Inventive Principle 4 "Asymmetry": Flexible touchscreen map

Researchers at Osaka University recently unveiled a new control interface meant to improve the way you use Google Maps by making the map flexible like a piece of cloth. The idea is that when you scroll the map, it doesn't just move the entire map but only a local part of it until you let go. Think of it as pinching a map made of cloth, which flattens itself after you let go. This lends itself very well to solving a small problem I have with Google Maps.

Source: DigInfo.tv

When I'm using Google Maps, I'd search for a landmark on the map, and then 'look' around the map to see nearby streets or buildings. Problem with this is that when I'm scrolling (especially on a mobile device with a small screen), the landmark disappear off the screen and I have a hard time scrolling around to relocate it in relation to the street that I'm looking at. I could maybe just zoom in and out, but the solution presented by Osaka University researchers would directly solve this problem in a very elegant way. So let's see how TRIZ could've helped me to invent something like this!

First I identify the contradiction: I want to see more information when I scroll the map, but I can't do that without increasing the size of my display (buying a new LCD screen or new phone is out of the question!). 

From the TRIZ contradiction matrix, I select "Quantity of substance/matter" from the list as my improving feature, and "Area of stationary object" as my worsening feature. 

The matrix suggests 4 inventive principles:

Principle 2: Extraction, separation, removal, segregation

Principle 18: Mechanical vibration/oscillation

Principle 40: Composite materials

Principle 4: Asymmetry

Looking at the 4 suggested inventive principles, it seems that the Osaka University researchers solution is closer to principle 4's "Asymmetry". By making the map "asymmetrical", we're able to fit in more information in the same amount of display area. It is entirely feasible that if I were trying to solve this contradiction my line of thinking would go along something like "what if I separate my map, what if I vibrate my map, what if I make my map of composite material and what if I make my map asymmetrical"!

If I were to focus on using TRIZ inventive principle 4, then I'd do a search to see if this problem has been solved before. Turns out that I already did! Before Google Maps there were Paper Maps. I'd use to fold paper maps in different ways so that I could see two far away locations to get a feel on their orientation in respect to each other.

And it doesn't have to stop here, by now I would be thinking of how to improve upon the Osaka researcher's invention by looking at other established solutions such as Origami to see if I can make the best folds (image warping/image cropping for the digital map) to suit specific map-reading tasks. And patent it!

Spotted: Ideal Final Result of...sitting!!

Now this really illustrates what I meant by the perfect chair in my last post about Ideal Final Result (IFR):

Source: Jens Sage Portfolio @ www.behance.net

By looking at this IFR as an inspiration, I have a clearer definition of my problem and what are the expected results I'm looking for. A quick brainstorm (more on this at a later post) and I'm able to recall other instances of people doing similar stuff:

The video above is really a great example of the TRIZ concept that the problems I'm facing most likely has already been solved by someone else in a different domain (and a much earlier time)!

Ideal Final Result of ...sitting.

"If I'm a hammer, everything else looks like a nail..."

A basic concept in TRIZ is the Ideal Final Result (IFR). When it comes to problem definition, thinking about the IFR greatly focuses your ideation process towards the best solution to your problem. In the past I tend to fall into the trap of solving a problem by adding something (remove vibration by fitting a sensor), when the best solution is actually removing it altogether. 

So rather than explaining what is IFR, let's see how it can help to define a problem...the humble chair.

If I want to invent a better chair for sitting, I'd start by thinking what is my perfect chair. Following IFR, the perfect chair:

1. Occupies no space.

2. Has no weight.

3. Requires no labor.

4. Requires no maintenance.

5. Delivers benefit without harm.

Just by answering this 5 questions I have my perfect chair:

1. Allows me to sit without a chair.

2. I don't need to carry a chair around to sit on it.

3. I don't need to unpack or assemble a chair.

4. It doesn't break down.

5. I don't need to compromise my sitting posture.

Notice that the perfect chair is actually a chair that lets me do the act of sitting without me needing a chair! By thinking about the IFR, not only do I get a clearer picture on what constitute a better "chair" for me, I also get an indication on what I shouldn't be adding to the chair to make it "better".

This greatly avoids me from building this...

Source: Google Image

...when what I really wanted was this...

Source: Google Image

Convert harm into benefit (blessing in disguise)

I can't say the act of peeing is a harm, unless you count the time we waste going to the bathroom. While there has been many distracting things you can do while answering the call of nature, this one takes the (urinal) cake.

Which is a clever idea, as anyone who's been to a male toilet with an "aged" urinal will definitely prefer such vibrant colors over yellow-ish stains. By applying thermochromic paint onto such a mundane item, whoever that did this has certainly converted what is normally a harm into a benefit (TRIZ inventive principle 22).