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Machines that imitate machines
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When it is difficult to prepare an original system to operate a certain machine part or software, a simpler system that operates exactly the same as the original may be prepared. This device is called an emulator. On the emulator, the software or machine parts to be operated can be made to function in exactly the same way as the original. An emulator can be created using only mechanical devices or hardware, only software, or both at the same time.
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For example, it is difficult to test huge machine tools and aircraft using the entire equipment from the component design and prototype stages. Therefore, parts other than those to be tested are substituted with emulators. Conversely, an emulator can be used to test the durability of a system by replacing some of the parts with emulators and generating extreme loads from the emulators.
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The Intellectual Production of Engineers Column: Books are not a two-way communication.
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You may think that even doing the KJ method using what you have read and extracted from a book is equivalent to mixing in information from other people’s point of view and cultivating it again. However, my experience is that it is very difficult. There are three elements to this difficulty. First, since I cannot teach the book, I tend to be on the “teachable side. Second, I cannot confirm the meaning of a word, as in, “What kind of time machine is that?” You cannot confirm the meaning of the words, as in “What kind of time machine is that? We can only interpret the words written by the author in our own way, and it is difficult to verify whether our interpretation is correct. Finally, books do not actively speak to you. When I give a class, etc., people who were listening during the question and answer period will actively ask questions. It will be posed in areas that are important from someone else’s point of view. When you extract from a book, you are extracting what you think is important from your point of view from what others have written. There is no two-way communication with a book.
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I think it might be useful to explain my association with the KJ method. First, I read Jiro Kawakita’s book and found the KJ method useful. Next, I used the KJ method to structure excerpts from various books, and I became more and more convinced of its usefulness. My desire to share this useful method with others grew. So I made excerpts from Jiro Kawakita’s other books as well and did the KJ method. By taking the contents of the books and putting them on paper, and then reconstructing them myself, I developed my own understanding and created a model of Jiro Kawakita’s way of thinking. I called this “creating a Jiro Kawakita emulator (Note 1) within myself. At this stage, I had more information derived from Jiro Kawakita than from myself.
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When giving a lecture, whether or not you have an emulator will determine whether or not you can answer questions when they are asked. If you only have knowledge transcribed from a book, you will not be able to answer questions that are not in the book. With an emulator, you can answer questions that are not in the book by letting the emulator think for you. While using the emulator, I gave lectures, observed the reactions of others, and improved the lecture materials. In doing so, I found areas that were difficult to convey in the original book’s expressions. Expressions such as “bottom up instead of top down” and “put things that seem relevant nearby” were difficult to convey. I began to think about how I could get the message across, and the emulator began to create new descriptions based on my experience. This time, Jiro Kawakita’s phrase, “Put something that looks relevant nearby,” was added by me with a lot of explanations.
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Thus, we got information from others that “this is hard to understand,” and then we cultivated it. And this book is the result of that cultivation, sprouting, and nurturing in the form of a book. I hope that many people will see it and accelerate my learning.
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(Note 1) Emulation is the process of imitating the operation of one machine with another machine, and the machine to be imitated is called an emulator. For example, some game consoles offer the ability to play games from old game consoles. This is possible because there is an emulator of the old console inside the new console.
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