bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Machine learning in configuration design
Authors: Murdoch Tim , Ball Nigel
Published: March 2010

New methods of configuration analysis have recently emerged that are based on development trends characteristic of many technical systems. It has been found that though the development of any system aims to increase a combination of the performance, reliability and economy, actual design changes are frequently kept to a minimum to reduce the risk of failure. However, a strategy of risk reduction commits the designer to an existing configuration and an approved set of components and materials. Therefore, it is important to analyze the configurations, components, and materials of past designs so that good aspects may be reused and poor ones changed. A good configuration produces the required performance and reliability with maximum economy. These three evaluation criteria form the core of a configuration optimization tool called KATE, where known configurations are optimized producing a set of ranked trial solutions. The authors suggest that this solution set contains valuable design knowledge that can be reused. This paper briefly introduces a generic method of configuration evaluation and then describes the use of a self-organizing neural network, the Kohonen Feature Map, to analyze solution sets by performing an initial data reduction step, producing archetype solutions, and supporting qualitative clustering.
Learning for design reuse
Authors: Duffy Alex H.B. , Duffy Sandra M.
Published: March 2010

Over the past decade “design assistance,” that is, where the computer is viewed as an Intelligent Design Assistant (IDA) (MacCallum et al., 1987), has emerged in knowledge based design support and has formed the basic research strategy for the CAD Centre, University of Strathclyde, since the mid-1980s. Within this philosophy, an IDA would act as a colleague to a designer, providing guidance, learning from past design experiences, carrying out semi- and fully-automated tasks, explaining its reasoning and in essence complementing the designer's own natural skills, and thus leaving the ultimate decision-making, control, and responsibility with the designer (Fig. 1).
Symbolic calculus for volumetric reasoning about process plans
Authors: Lee Huaming , Scott Jon , Williams Jon Sims , Cox David
Published: March 2010

A symbolic calculus for reasoning about process plans is proposed in this paper. The main focus of attention is the selection and sequencing of material removal operations for components in accordance with the design geometry. This is a central issue in automated process planning. The proposed symbolic calculus defines a computational formalism for symbolic manipulation of feature volumes, so that reasoning about volumetric removals can be treated in a logical manner by using well-defined procedures of algorithmic synthesis. This potentially encourages a more generic approach to the automation of outline and detailed process planning. The underlying philosophy is that a properly interpreted object topology upon the feature model allows the logical synthesis of volumetric removal sequences. The number of sequences is constrained by algorithms within the planning system that consider part geometry as expressed by features. This reduces the problem space associated with plan synthesis. Some of the geometrically viable sequences have the potential for further development to form viable machining removal sequences, or outline process plans.
Intelligent critiquing and tutoring of spatial reasoning skills
Authors: Mengshoel Ole Jakob , Chauhan Sanjeev , Kim Yong Se
Published: March 2010

The ability to reason spatially is an important skill required for engineers, particularly in engineering design and construction. One aspect of spatial reasoning is visualizing and constructing three-dimensional (3D) solid objects from two-dimensional (2D) projections. To assist in teaching this to engineering students, an instructional software system is being developed at the University of Illinois. This instructional software system is comprised of the Visual Sweeper and the Visual Teacher. The Visual Sweeper is a geometric framework for solving missing view problems. In missing view problems, students create 3D solid objects from two 2D projections by applying operations inverse to orthographic projection. The Visual Teacher, which is the focus of this article, is an intelligent critiquing and tutoring module that gives feedback to the student regarding partial solutions to missing view problems. The Visual Teacher is comprised of a Recognizer and a Critiquer. The Recognizer identifies which solution solid the student's partial solution is closest to. Based on the solution solid and a student's partial solution, the Criti-quer gives critique and advice to the student. The Recognizer is based on an algorithm for bipartite graph matching, while the Critiquer uses a rule-based approach. This paper describes the Visual Teacher, gives examples of how it can be used, presents preliminary evaluation results, and discusses the system's assumptions and limitations.
Special Issue: Representing functionality in design
Authors: Chakrabarti Amaresh , Blessing Lucienne
Published: March 2010

As designs exist to satisfy some purpose or function, knowledge of functionality is essential in a wide variety of designrelated activities, including generation and modification of designs, comparison, evaluation and selection of designs, and explanation, diagnosis or repair of designs. Functional modelling refers to a wide variety of approaches to model a design and its requirements from its functional aspects so as to allow reasoning about its functionality for various activities such as the above.
Supporting conceptual design based on the function-behavior-state modeler
Authors: Umeda Yasushi , Ishii Masaki , Yoshioka Masaharu , Shimomura Yoshiki , Tomiyama Tetsuo
Published: March 2010

The relative significance of conceptual design to basic design or detail design is widely recognized, due to its influential roles in determining the product's fundamental features and development costs. Although there are some general methodologies dealing with functions in design, virtually no commercial CAD systems can support functional design, in particular so-called synthetic phase of design. Supporting the synthetic phase of conceptual design is one of the crucial issues of CAD systems with function modeling capabilities. In this paper, we propose a computer tool called a Function-Behavior-State (FBS) Modeler to support functional design not only in the analytical phase but also in the synthetic phase. To do so, the functional decomposition knowledge and physical features in the knowledge base of the modeler, and a subsystem Qualitative Process Abduction System (QPAS) play crucial roles. Modeling scheme of function in relation with behavior and structure and design process for conceptual design in the FBS Modeler are described. The advantages of the FBS Modeler are demonstrated by presenting two examples; namely, an experiment in which designers used this tool and the design of functionally redundant machines, which is a new design methodology for highly reliable machines, as its application.
Function–behavior–structure paths and their role in analogy-based design
Authors: Qian Lena , Gero John S.
Published: March 2010

In many creative design processes, cross-domain knowledge is required to inspire the new design result. Thus, in knowledge-based design, how we represent the cross-domain knowledge becomes a key issue. In this paper, we present a formalism for design knowledge representation. By analyzing function representation in different design domains, from graphic design and industrial design to architectural and engineering device designs, we find that although the focus of each kind of design is different, the function representation can be generalized into a small number of categories. This formalism can be used in an explorative model of design by analogy, where designs from different design domains are sources to help produce a new design.
Case adaptation in PROCASE: A case-based process planning system for machining of rotational parts
Authors: Yang Hao , Lu Wen F.
Published: March 2010

This paper presents an approach for the case adaptation, especially case repairing, in a case-based process planning system: PROCASE, for machining of rotational parts. In PROCASE, a new process plan is generated by adapting an existing similar process plan from its case library. Case adaptation is a crucial issue in achieving an automated case-based process planning system. This is because, usually, an existing process plan cannot necessarily produce an exact identical part as of the desired part. Adaptation is essential to tailor this existing plan to generate a new process plan for the new part. The case adaptation in this paper comprises case modification, case simulation, and case repairing. The modifier uses the knowledge extracted from case library to edit the retrieved similar plan. The simulator plays an important role in verifying the adapted plan as well as in directing the plan repairing. The repairing rules are indexed by the error messages obtained from the simulation. With the proposed case adaptation, the system will have the capability to repair the erroneous plans to achieve an automated and intelligent process planning system. This paper will first briefly introduce the case representation and case retrieval in PROCASE. Then the rest of the paper is dedicated to the case adaptation.
Selecting the architecture of a class of back-propagation neural networks used as approximators
Authors: Carpenter William C. , Hoffman Margery E.
Published: March 2010

This paper examines the architecture of back-propagation neural networks used as approximators by addressing the interrelationship between the number of training pairs and the number of input, output, and hidden layer nodes required for a good approximation. It concentrates on nets with an input layer, one hidden layer, and one output layer. It shows that many of the currently proposed schemes for selecting network architecture for such nets are deficient. It demonstrates in numerous examples that overdetermined neural networks tend to give good approximations over a region of interest, while underdetermined networks give approximations which can satisfy the training pairs but may give poor approximations over that region of interest. A scheme is presented that adjusts the number of hidden layer nodes in a neural network so as to give an overdetermined approximation. The advantages and disadvantages of using multiple output nodes are discussed. Guidelines for selecting the number of output nodes are presented.
Case-based design: A review and analysis of building design applications
Authors: Watson Ian , Perera Srinath
Published: March 2010

This paper presents a review of CBD and its application to building design in particular. Case-based design is the application of case-based reasoning to the design process. Design maps well to case-based reasoning because designers use parts of previous design solutions in developing new design solutions. This paper identifies problems of case representation, retrieval, adaptation, presentation, and case-based maintenance along with creativity, legal, and ethical issues that need to be addressed by CBD systems. It provides a comprehensive review of CBD systems developed for building design and provides a detailed comparison of the CBD systems reviewed.
ADD+: Including rhetorical structures in active documents
Authors: Bicharra Garcia Ana Cristina , De Souz Clarisse Sieckenius
Published: March 2010

A design is a plan containing guidelines to build and understand an artifact. Generally, this plan is constructed by a team of designers with different tasks, but sharing a common objective, that is, to create a high-quality, low-cost integrated artifact. Active Design Documents (ADDs) are powerful tools for cooperative design because they account for revealing the rationale among design participants while assisting each of them in their own. Design rationale capture and retrieval are critical issues on building documentation assistant tools. In this paper, we propose to achieve more efficient and effective delivery of design and designers intent by resorting to rhetorical means. The wealth of knowledge kept in ADD’s knowledge bases is organized into high-level Rhetorical Structure Theory (RST) schema and mapped onto input and output screen configurations that gear the interaction between systems and users. We illustrate the effects of such an organization with evidences from an implemented version of ADD for the domain of offshore platform.
Extending the scope and use of design rationale records
Authors: King Josh M.P. , Bañares-Alcántara René
Published: March 2010

During the course of the design of a complex artifact many thousands of objects will be created that will refer to many different types of information. Thus, an effective design support system must be able to store various types of data and allow easy navigation of the resulting extensive network of objects. In addition, the quality of the design records (both the record of the design artifact and rationale) is increased by the quality and quantity of information which the designer is able to record. In this paper we describe two new developments to Kbds a design support system for chemical process design, which enable easier navigation of the design network, and a fuller representation of the design process. In addition, we show how these extensions may be used together to improve the quality of the design information recorded—both for the evolution of the design artifact and the supporting rationale. The first development enables the designer to record a variety of complementary types of document within the process design history, fulfilling the task of improving the design information recorded. The second enhancement to Kbds eases the navigation of the design history by categorizing design objects according to a user-defined set of keywords. The categorization of design objects is carried out semiautomatically using, in part, the various design representations (documents) enabled through the first extension and enables rapid navigation of the design network. Finally, a method of checking the consistency of design rationale structures using keywords is also described. Thus, various representations may be used to generate keywords that in turn may be used to improve the quality of design rationale records. An example showing this situation is described.
The application of neural network techniques to structural analysis by implementing an adaptive finite-element mesh generation
Authors: Jadid Mansour Nasser , Fairbairn Daniel R.
Published: March 2010

This study focuses on the application of neural network techniques to adaptive remeshing of an idealized squareshaped structure and individual triangle by using triangular elements. The backpropagation learning algorithm is implemented by a supervised training technique to deal with the problem of remeshing structural elements in a structural analysis. A recent study introduced a structural remeshing that incorporated a finite-element analysis with an adaptive mesh generation technique. The main objective of the study is to demonstrate how neural networks can be employed to remesh structural elements without using numerically intensive computations. One essential requirement of this approach is the selection of feasible and appropriate training and testing data. The exploration of neural network in remeshing structural elements is a fundamental technique that looks beyond the finite-element and adaptive mesh generation techniques. It also demonstrates the capability of neural network to representn-dimensional space and track each individual characteristic in that separate space. In general, an overview is presented, and the potential of neural networks to use the backpropagation algorithm instead of the more conventional approach of numerical methods is demonstrated.
Comparison of some computer-based task management approaches
Authors: Diaz-Calderon Antonio , Hendrickson Chris
Published: March 2010

This article presents an assessment of four management systems to expose the essential characteristics of each management system, including planning techniques, problem representation, concurrency, and flexibility. The experimental part of the research shows that existing management systems can be used to attack a variety of problems. The authors conclude that flexible planning systems are quite beneficial since they can be used to solve a variety of design problems by making small modifications in the definition of their tools.
An optimization approach to order of magnitude reasoning
Authors: Kalagnanam Jayant R. , Diwekar Urmila M.
Published: March 2010

An approach for transforming the order of magnitude relation between two variables into an algebraic equality or inequality constraint is provided. In order to derive the order of magnitude relation between any two variables, a nonlinear optimization problem is solved for the minimum and maximum values of the ratio between the two variables, subject to two classes of constraints. The first class of constraints corresponds to the quantitative model and the second class of constraints corresponds to the qualitative model. The optimization approach is shown to provide more precise inferences as compared to the conventional constraint satisfaction approaches. Moreover, this approach provides a crucial step in developing unified frameworks that allow the incorporation of qualitative information at various levels of abstraction into numerical frameworks used for reasoning with quantitative models.
Recording and reuse of design strategies in an integrated case-based design system
Authors: Wang Jenmu , Howard H. Craig
Published: March 2010

Human designers often adopt strategies from previous similar cases to guide their search in new design tasks. We have developed an approach for automated design strategy capture and reuse. That approach has been implemented in DDIS, a prototype structural design system that uses a blackboard framework to integrate case-based and domain-based reasoning. Plans, goals, and critical constraints from user-selected previous cases are combined with case-independent reasoning to solve underconstrained parametric structural design problems. This article presents a detailed example of design strategy recording and reuse in base plate design for electrical transmission poles.
Integrating knowledge-based systems and artificial neural networks for engineering
Authors: Kartam Nabil , Flood Ian , Tongthong Tanit
Published: March 2010

The feasibility and relative merits of integrating knowledge-based systems (KBSs) and artificial neural networks (ANNs) for application to engineering problems are presented and evaluated. The strength of KBSs lies in their ability to represent human judgment and solve problems by providing explanations from and reasoning with heuristic knowledge. ANNs demonstrate problem solving characteristics not inherent in KBSs, including an ability to learn from example, develop a generalized solution applicable to a range of examples of the problem, and process information extremely rapidly. In this respect, KBSs and ANNs are complementary, rather than alternatives, and may be integrated into a system that exploits the advantages of both technologies. The scope of application and quality of solutions produced by such a hybrid extend beyond the boundaries of the individual technologies. This paper identifies and describes how KBSs and ANNs can be integrated, and provides an evaluation of the advantages that will accrue in engineering applications.
Application of a Bayesian network to integrated circuit tester diagnosis
Authors: Mittelstadt Daniel , Paasch Robert , D’Ambrosio Bruce
Published: March 2010

Research efforts to implement a Bayesian belief-network-based expert system to solve a real-world diagnostic problem – the diagnosis of integrated circuit (IC) testing machines – are described. The development of several models of the IC tester diagnostic problem in belief networks also is described, the implementation of one of these models using symbolic probabilistic inference (SPI) is outlined, and the difficulties and advantages encountered are discussed. It was observed that modeling with interdependencies in belief networks simplifies the knowledge engineering task for the IC tester diagnosis problem, by avoiding procedural knowledge and focusing on the diagnostic component’s interdependencies. Several general model frameworks evolved through knowledge engineering to capture diagnostic expertise that facilitated expanding and modifying the networks. However, model implementation was restricted to a small portion of the modeling, that of contact resistance failures, which were due to time limitations and inefficiencies in the prototype inference software we used. Further research is recommended to refine existing methods, in order to speed evaluation of the models created in this research. With this accomplished, a more complete diagnosis can be achieved.
A parametric design assistant for concurrent engineering
Authors: Kuokka Daniel , Jefferson Stanley , Barford Lee , Frayman Felix
Published: March 2010

The Explorer parametric design assistant, an interactive tool that provides intelligent support for searching concurrent-engineering trade-spaces under multiple, conflicting objectives, is described. The system provides a convenient means for specifying multiple, cross-disciplinary constraints in terms of tables, formulas, and logical sentences. Based on these data, the system performs interactive constraint checking, computes feasible designs, and provides graphical analysis facilities, allowing users to compare designs based on multiple criteria. As a first application, Explorer has been used as a printed circuit board (PCB) construction design assistant. In initial tests, Explorer has helped users to find design configurations not previously considered that yield comparable performance and cost while offering better manufacturability and reliability. The capabilities and use of the Explorer system are described in detail, the underlying technologies are outlined, and an evaluation of the prototype system is presented.
The Virtual Design Team: Modeling organizational behavior of concurrent design teams
Authors: Jin Yan , Levitt Raymond E. , Christiansen Tore R. , Kunz John C.
Published: March 2010

Concurrent engineering is a systematic approach to the integrated, concurrent design of products and the related processes of manufacturing and support. This approach is intended to cause the developers, from the outset, to consider all elements of the product life cycle from concept through disposal, including quality, cost, schedule, and user requirements. To achieve successful concurrent-engineering design, one needs an integrated framework, a well-organized design team, and adequate design tools. The research on concurrent engineering to date has focused on developing communication infrastructure, design tools, and product data representations. Little attention has been paid to developing tools to address the organizational issues involved in concurrent engineering. The authors’ research on the Virtual Design Team (VDT) attempts to develop a computerized analysis tool to sup-port the systematic design of organization structures for concurrent engineering projects. VDT is a computer simulation system. It takes descriptions of design tasks, actors (i.e., designers and managers), and organization structure as input, and produces predicted historical records of the actors’ design and coordination behavior, project du-ration, cost, and design process quality as output. VDT has been applied to model more than ten realistic engineering projects, and the results are qualitatively consistent with the predictions from theory and project managers. The VDT framework for modeling concurrent-engineering teams is described, and examples of VDT applications are presented to demonstrate the effectiveness of the Virtual Design Team approach to modeling the organizational behavior of concurrent design teams.
Towards a foundation for evaluating AI planners
Authors: Kartam Nabil A. , Wilkins David E.
Published: March 2010

There exists a large body of Artificial Intelligence (AI) research on generating plans, i.e. linear or non-linear sequences of actions, to transform an initial world state to some desired goal state. However, much of the planning research to date has been complicated, ill-understood, and unclear. Only a few of the developers of these planners have provided a thorough description of their research products, and those descriptions that exist are usually unrealistically favorable since the range of applications for which the systems are tested is limited to those for which they were developed. As a result, it is difficult to evaluate these planners and to choose the best planner for a different domain. To make a planner applicable to different planning problems, it should be domain independent. However, one needs to know the circumstances under which a general planner works so that one can determine its suitability for a specific domain.

This paper presents criteria for evaluating AI planners; these criteria fall into three categories: (1)performance issues, (2)representational issues, and (3)communication issues. This paper also assesses four non-linear AI planners (NOAH, NONLIN, SIPE and TWEAK) based on a study of the published literature and on communication (via electronic mail, meetings and correspondence) with their developers.
Interpretation of CAD models through neutral geometric knowledge
Authors: Nnaji Bartholomew O. , Kang Tzong-Shyan
Published: March 2010

A generalized approach to fast interpretation of objects and their features has so far eluded researchers. In manufacturing, this interpretation can be approached from the vision point of view or from the CAD data perspective. Presently, CAD systems are widely used in several aspects of manufacturing production. It is therefore more efficient to use CAD data for object reasoning in manufacturing, especially when systems will eventually be data driven. Components can be modelled on a CAD system using various modelling techniques and the representation of their geometric information is still CAD system dependent. However, the advent of the Initial Graphics Exchange Specification (IGES) now makes it possible to represent CAD data in a neutral and standard manner.

This paper describes a scheme for recognizing and representing features for CAD data extracted using the IGES interface. The concepts developed are based on graph-based feature representation, where features are represented by a set of faces as well as their topological adjacency.

Strategies for classifying features and methods of decomposing a complicated feature into several simpler features for recognition purposes are discussed.
Trajectory planning for coordinately operating robots
Authors: Chien Y. P. , Xue Qing
Published: March 2010

An efficient locally minimum-time trajectory planning algorithm for coordinately operating multiple robots is introduced. The task of the robots is to carry a common rigid object from an initial position to a final position along a given path in three-dimensional workspace in minimum time. The number of robots in the system is arbitrary. In the proposed algorithm, the desired motion of the common object carried by the robots is used as the key to planning of the trajectories of all the non-redundant robots involved. The search method is used in the trajectory planning. The planned robot trajectories satisfy the joint velocity, acceleration and torque constraints as well as the path constraints. The other constraints such as collision-free constraints, can be easily incorporated into the trajectory planning in future research.
Preference-directed design
Authors: D’Ambrosio Joseph G. , Birmingham William P.
Published: March 2010

Current design practices mandate that engineering designs be evaluated based on multiple attributes, e.g., cost, power, and area. For multiattribute design problems, generation and evaluation of the Pareto optimal set guarantees the optimal design will be found, but is not practical for a large class of problems. Iterative techniques can be applied to most problems, but sacrifice optimality. In this paper, we introduce a new technique that extends the set of design problems that can be solved optimally. By first constructing an imprecise value function, the number of nondominated alternatives that must be generated is reduced. We describe an implementation based on combinatorial optimization and constraint satisfaction which achieves additional performance gains by decomposing the value function to identify dominated design-variable assignments. Test results indicate that our approach extends the set of problems that can be solved optimally.
Generalized set-propagation operations over relations of more than three variables
Authors: Finch William W. , Ward Allen C.
Published: March 2010

This paper extends previously developed generalized set propagation operations to work over relationships among an arbitrary number of variables, thereby expanding the domain of engineering design problems the theory can address. It then narrows its scope to a class of functions and sets useful to designers solving engineering problems: monotonic algebraic functions and closed intervals of real numbers, proving formulas for computing the operations under these conditions. The work is aimed at the automated optimal design of electro-mechanical systems from catalogs of parts; an electronic example illustrates.
Decision-making in preliminary engineering design
Authors: Joshi S. P. , Umaretiya J. R. , Joshi Sanjay B.
Published: March 2010

A designer often has to deal with complex and ill-structured situations during specification synthesis and preliminary engineering design. To assist in the development of computer-aided design systems, it is desirable to capture the designers decision-making process during these design states. The research presented in this paper is towards this direction. Based on the conceptual understanding of the process, three postulates are presented. The following two postulates; (1) the decisions are neither optimum nor just satisfying but retain certain characteristics of both, (2) the design is driven by the important objective(s) among all the specified objectives, at the preliminary design, although the remaining objectives do have a weak influence on the preliminary design; are used to develop a compensatory and a non-compensatory model of the decision-making. These models are formulated with the help of fuzzy set theory and they implicitly or explicitly follow the two postulates. These models are suitable for discrete decision situations where the above mentioned postulates apply. Examples of material selection during a preliminary structural design are used to illustrate the effectiveness of these models.
Computer-aided rehabilitation design
Authors: Adams Teresa , Hendrickson Chris , Christiano Paul
Published: March 2010

The conventional engineering design process consisting of three phases, synthesis, analysis and evaluation can be extended for solving rehabilitation problems by including a diagnosis phase during which abnormalities and malfunctions are identified and characterized. After diagnosis, the design objectives are clearly specified and the conventional engineering design process can begin. Different problem solving strategies, information representation, and processing are useful for the different phases of rehabilitation design. This paper describes the RETAIN knowledge-based rehabilitation design system which integrates a relational database, production rules and algorithmic functions. RETAIN diagnoses retaining wall failures and synthesizes preliminary rehabilitation designs and cost estimates. Its framework and methodology may be applied to other infrastructure components such as pavements, water and sewage networks, bridge piers and marine structures. RETAIN decomposes rehabilitation problems into influencing failure modes then identifies a set of rehabilitation strategies such that each strategy remedies one or more failure modes. Complete rehabilitation solutions are formed by searching and combining strategy components. Conceptual knowledge for design synthesis is organized in relational database tables. The paper includes an example of design synthesis with relational operations for selecting rehabilitation strategies and forming complete rehabilitation solutions.
Knowledge-based support for management of concurrent, multidisciplinary design
Authors: Levitt Raymond E. , Jin Yan , Dym Clive L.
Published: March 2010

Artificial intelligence (AI) applications to design have tended to focus on modeling and automating aspects of single discipline design tasks. Relatively little attention has thus far been devoted to representing the kinds of design ‘metaknowledge’ needed to manage the important interface issues that arise in concurrent design, that is, multidisciplinary design decision-making. This paper provides a view of the process and management of concurrent design and evaluates the potential of two AI approaches—blackboard architectures and co-operative distributed problem-solving (CDPS)—to model and support the concurrent design of complex artifacts. A discussion of the process of multidisciplinary design highlights elements of both sequential and concurrent design decision-making. We identify several kinds of design metaknowledge used by expert managers to: partition the design task for efficient execution by specialists; set appropriate levels of design conservatism for key subsystem specifications; evaluate, limit and selectively communicate design changes across discipline boundaries; and control the sequence and timing of the key (highly constrained and constraining) design decisions for a given type of artifact. We explore the extent to which blackboard and CDPS architectures can provide valid models of and potential decision support for concurrent design by (1) representing design management metaknowledge, and (2) using it to enhance both horizontal (interdisciplinary) and vertical (project life cycle) integration among product design, manufacturing and operations specialists.
A knowledge engineer based on natural language understanding for an expert system: DOMES
Authors: Yang B. , Datseris P.
Published: March 2010

In order to enhance the knowledge acquisition capability of the expert system DOMES (Design Of Mechanisms by an Expert System), which is developed at the University of Rhode Island for creative type synthesis of mechanisms, methodologies have been developed to build a knowledge engineer module based on natural language understanding. Specifically, artificial intelligence concepts and Lisp programming techniques have been incorporated in this module to implement the following: (1) analysing and understanding design criteria supplied by human designers in the form of English sentences; and (2) transforming these design criteria into Lisp code and storing them in the knowledge base of DOMES. This knowledge engineer module enhances the capability and improves the performance of the expert system DOMES by providing an effective means for knowledge acquisition based on natural language understanding. The concepts and implementation techniques in developing this module are general and can also be utilized for other knowledge-based systems.
Intelligently helping the human planner in industrial process planning
Authors: Famili A. , Turney P.
Published: March 2010

The function of a process planning system is to determine the methods by which a product is to be manufactured economically and competitively. In a modern manufacturing environment, a process planning system consists of highly trained people and complex software. The plans prepared by a process planning system are not always executed as planned. It is useful if the system can discover why plans fail, when they do fail. In order to learn why plans fail, the system must analyse a number of plans, both successful and unsuccessful, to find patterns in the failures of plans. This type of analysis is difficult for people, who are much better at analysing single events than multiple events.

The aim of the project described here is to design and implement a computer program which will help human planners in a process planning system to understand why plans fail. To achieve this aim, a program called IMAFO (Intelligent MAnufacturing FOreman) has been developed. IMAFO uses decision tree induction to analyse examples of both successful and unsuccessful plans.

The difficulties presented by this application are discussed and solutions are presented. Problems addressed include finding an appropriate set of attributes for describing the plans, using data efficiently, consolidating input from distinct sources, and presenting decision trees in an understandable form. Potential applications and directions for future research are considered.
Automobile transmission design as a constraint satisfaction problem: modelling the kinematic level
Authors: Nadel Bernard A. , Lin Jiang
Published: March 2010

This paper describes our preliminary results in applying constraint satisfaction techniques in a system we call TRANS-FORM for designing automatic automobile power transmissions. The work is being conducted in collaboration with the Ford Motor Company Advanced Transmission Design Department in Livonia, Michigan. Our current focus is on the design of the mechanical subsystem, but we anticipate extending this later to the electrical and hydraulic subsystems also. For simplicity, in the initial work reported here we restrict ourselves to the relatively well-explored class of transmissions having four forward speeds and one reverse speed, built from two planetary gearsets, cross-connected by two permanent links. Moreover, we pursue design of such transmissions only at the ‘kinematic level’. These two restrictions correspond to limiting respectively the breadth (generality) and the depth (detail or granularity) of the search space employed. We find that, at least for the restricted version of the problem pursued here, transmission design is an application very naturally formulated as a constraint satisfaction problem. Our present problem requires only 10 variables, with an average of about seven values each, and 43 constraints—making it similar in difficulty to about the 10-queens problem. So far, two of the classic transmissions, known as Axod and HydraMatic, have been rediscovered (at the kinematic level) by our program. Preliminary results also indicate that the constraint satisfaction framework will continue to remain adequate and natural even when the search space is allowed to be much broader and deeper. We expect that searches of such expanded spaces will soon lead to the discovery of totally new transmissions.
Identifying reformulations of mechanical parametric design constraints
Authors: Watton John D. , Rinderle James R.
Published: March 2010

The complexity of mechanical design is reflected in the complexity of the design constraints which relate functional requirements to design parameters. Reformulations of the design constraints can significantly reduce this complexity. This is accomplished by a transformation to alternative design parameters, such as a critical ratio, a non-dimensional parameter, or a simple difference; e.g. the ratio of surface area to volume for heat transfer loss, the Reynold's number in fluid mechanics, or the velocity difference across a fluid coupling. We have developed a method by which the alternative parameters are chosen for physical significance and for the ability to create a more direct correspondence to functional behavior as determined by measures of serial and block decomposability of the constraints. Rules have been developed for the creation of physically significant new parameters from the algebraic combination of the original parameters. The rules are based on engineering principles and rely on knowledge about what a parameter physically represents rather than other qualities such as dimensions. A computer based system, called EUDOXUS, has been developed to automate this procedure. The system operates on a set of design constraints to produce sets of transformed constraints in terms of alternative design parameters. The method and its implementation have demonstrated successful results for many highly nonlinear and highly coupled parameterized designs from many mechanical engineering domains.
Conceptual geometric reasoning by the manipulation of models based on prototypes
Authors: Brown K.N. , Williams J.H. Sims , McMahon C.A.
Published: March 2010

The ability to understand the implications of the geometry of solid objects is an important aspect of intelligent behavior. This paper presents work designed to enable reasoning with relatively loose conceptualizations of geometry. The method operates by comparing target geometry to known geometry, and involves the manipulation of models based upon prototypes. In particular, three techniques of simplification, approximation, and transformation are discussed. Finally, an application of the method to the domain of stress concentration prediction is presented.
Intelligent automated quality control for computational simulation
Authors: Gelsey Andrew
Published: March 2010

Computational simulation of physical systems generally requires human experts to set up a simulation, run it, evaluate the quality of the simulation output, and repeatedly invoke the simulator with modified input until a satisfactory output quality is achieved. This reliance on human experts makes use of simulators by other programs difficult and unreliable, though invocation of simulators by other programs is critical for important tasks such as automated engineering design optimization. Presented is a framework for constructing intelligent controllers for computational simulators that can automatically detect a wide variety of problems that lead to low-quality simulation output, using a set of evaluation methods based on knowledge of physics and numerical analysis stored in a data/knowledgebase of models and simulations. An experimental implementation of this framework in an intelligent automated controller for a widely used computational fluid dynamics simulator is described.
Performing calculus operations on poorly understood engineering functions using neural networks
Authors: Flood Ian
Published: March 2010

The paper describes a novel means of performing calculus operations on poorly understood engineering functions using networks of radial Gaussian neurons. The network architecture and training algorithm used for this purpose is described briefly. Once trained, a network can be converted into a form that provides the differential or integral of the learned function, by a simple substitution of the type of activation function used at the hidden neurons. A range of substitute activation functions, for conversion to first- and second-order partial differential and integral forms of the network, are derived. Following this, the technique is tested on a selection of calculus operations for two example civil engineering problems: assessing motion in tall structures; and modeling moisture penetration in porous materials. The converted networks produced in these experiments provide accurate models of the actual differentials and integrals of the function the original networks had been taught. A method of improving the accuracy of results by training the original network beyond the region in which the converted networks operate, is described. The paper concludes by identifying some areas for further development of the technique.
Taxonomy for classifying engineering decision problems and support systems
Authors: Ullman David G. , D'Ambrosio Bruce
Published: March 2010

The design of even the simplest product requires thousands of decisions. Yet few of these decisions are supported with methods on paper or on computers. Is this because engineering design decisions do not need support or is it because techniques have yet to be developed that are usable on a wide basis? In considering this question a wide range of decision problem characteristics need to be addressed. In engineering design some decisions are made by individuals, others by teams – some are about the product and others about the processes that support the product – some are based on complete, consistent, quantitative data and others on sparse, conflicting, qualitative discussions. To address the reasons why so little support is used and the characteristics of potentially useful decision support tools, a taxonomy of decision characteristics is proposed. This taxonomy is used to classify current techniques and to define the requirements for an ideal engineering design decision support system.
Management of conflict for preliminary engineering design tasks
Authors: Haroud Djamila , Boulanger Sylvie , Gelle Esther , Smith Ian
Published: March 2010

Much of preliminary engineering design is a constraint-driven non-monotonic exploration process. Initial decisions are made when information is incomplete and many goals are contradictory. Such conditions are present regardless of whether one or several designers contribute to designs. This paper presents an approach for supporting decisions in situations of incomplete and conflicting knowledge. In particular, we use assumptions and conflict management to achieve efficient search in contexts where little reliable information exists. A knowledge representation, containing a semantic differentiation between two types of assumptions, is used within a computational model based on the dynamic constraint satisfaction paradigm. Conflict management strategies consist of three generic mechanisms adapted to the type of constraints involved. These strategies may be refined through consideration of variable importance, context, and design inertia.
Conflict management in knowledge acquisition
Authors: Dieng Rose
Published: March 2010

This article presents our approach for conflict management in our knowledge acquisition tool KATEMES, aimed at tackling multiple experts. We offer a method for helping the knowledge engineer to detect expertise conflicts in the framework of the KADS knowledge acquisition method. We also propose techniques for conflict management through comparison of knowledge graphs.
Deployment of robotic agents in uncertain environments: game theoretic rules and simulation studies
Authors: Egilmez Kaan , Kim Steven H.
Published: March 2010

The coordination of intelligent, interacting, agents is rapidly gaining importance as such systems are deployed under diverse conditions. When robots are used in teams rather than as individuals, their coordination can become more critical for system performance than their individual capabilities. The deployment strategies and communication modes play an important role in the coordination of these teams.

This paper examines a Game Theoretic deployment approach to robotic teams in an unstructured environment. A simulation model is developed and used to compare the performance of gaming rules with a non-anticipatory deterministic deployment rule. The initial Game Theoretic rule can be enhanced to exhibit both locally and globally adaptive characteristics. The new rule outperforms both the deterministic algorithm and the straightforward game-theoretic rule. This is achieved by adapting to trends in local regions in the environment as well as anticipating global eventualities.