The Concept Database is a multimedia conceptual design tool. Its goal is to provide design teams with easy access to information with regard to life cycle design issues for competing design concepts and access to relevant past designs and other informatio databases of the engineering enterprise. Such a system expands the amount of information available to the designer and other members of the product development team in a manner that is selective, using search techniques that are based on heuristic, deterministic, and decision-analytic methods. Prescriptive design methodologies are used to develop the structure of the search in order to guarantee that the full range of life cycle issues are considered and to provide a framework for making design decisions that take account of multipled often conflicting life cycle objectives.
Mechatronic design is the domain of our first prototype system.
Mechatronic design is an area of key strategic importance, playing an important role in the design of consumer products, computer peripherals, auto ation systems, and aerospace and defense systems.