Prototype, model or early version of a product, intended to test and develop the design. Before investing in the equipment to put a product into mass production, a manufacturer must be confident that the design is safe and reliable. Designers and engineers use prototypes to achieve this.

Prototypes can be very simple, consisting of only a few components. An example would be a prototype to find how fast a lawnmower blade rotates when driven by a certain motor. All that would be needed for this prototype is a motor, a blade, and a power supply.

As design progresses, prototypes become more complicated as more features are included. By gradually increasing the prototype's complexity, problems with the design can be identified and corrected.

Towards the end of the design process, the prototypes look very like the final product. The main difference is that the prototypes are not made using the mass production processes that will be used for the product itself, as these do not yet exist.

The key role of a prototype is to reduce the risk of design mistakes. If a plastic is not thick enough on some part of a product, a component might come loose, injuring the user. This could result in the manufacturer being sued, and the mass production equipment requiring expensive modifications. By using prototypes, manufacturers can gain confidence in their designs and can justify the investment required to put them into production.

See Industry; Manufacturing.