This paper introduces Hybrid Prototyping as a way to couple different prototyping methods; combining their complementary affordances and mitigating their limitations. To characterise and investigate this approach, a simulation-based study was conducted into the coupling of low-cost 3D printing and LEGO®. Key benefits hypothesised are reduced fabrication time and increased reconfigurability. Six primitive 3D shapes are simulated using a continuum of hypothetical brick sizes. Results show a reduction in fabrication time of 45% and a reconfigurability of 57% at the optimum. A case study highlights the compounded improvements over 3D printing for an iterative prototyping process. These findings mean that increases in prototyping iterations can be made due to reduced time and material costs, accelerating the product development process.

本文介绍了混合原型作为一种结合不同原型方法的方法。结合他们的补充能力和减轻其局限性。为了表征和研究这种方法，对低成本3D打印和LEGO®进行了基于模拟的研究。假设的主要好处是减少了制造时间并提高了可重新配置性。使用连续的假设砖块大小来模拟六个原始3D形状。结果表明，在最佳状态下，制造时间减少了45％，可重构性减少了57％。案例研究重点介绍了3D打印在迭代原型制作过程中的复合改进。这些发现意味着，由于减少了时间和材料成本，可以加快原型开发的迭代速度，从而加快了产品开发过程。