Computing Purposes of Geometric Features

这笔赠款为研究提供资金，这些研究将导致自动计算机械设备部件上几何特征的用途的技术。这些用途可作为设计文档的一种形式。这项工作将使用计算机图形学、人工智能和机械工程的技术组合。该过程的第一步是识别零件上的特征。这将通过创建新的模型简化算法来实现。这些算法将去除小的几何细节(凸起、空洞等)。从零件显示简单的底层几何图形。从原始几何图形中减去这个简化的几何图形将显示一组要素。为了解释特定功能的用途，将移除该功能的设备的模拟与原始设备的模拟进行比较。模拟中的差异表明设备的许多行为中的哪些是由该功能产生的。然后将使用因果推理技术来构建该特征如何导致其行为的解释。这些解释构成了该功能的目的之一，将被自动翻译成自然语言(英语)，然后将被合并到设备的文档中。如果成功，这项研究的结果将导致先进的设计文件工具，这些工具将扩大设计文件的范围和完整性，同时降低文件的制作成本。通过这种方法计算的特定类型的原理(功能的目的)将促进各种常见的工程任务，包括协调协作设计和实现产品重新设计，而不会产生意外的副作用，从而降低设计成本。此外，如果成功，这项研究将在模型简化和因果推理方面取得根本性进展。

This grant provides funding for research that will result in techniques for automatically computing the purposes of the geometric features on the parts of a mechanical device. These purposes serve as a form of design documentation. This work will employ a combination of techniques from computer graphics, artificial intelligence, and mechanical engineering. The first step in the process is identifying the features on a part. This will be accomplished by creating new model simplification algorithms. These algorithms will remove the small geometric details (protrusions, cavities, etc.) from a part to reveal the simple underlying geometry. Subtracting this simplified geometry from the original geometry will reveal the set of features. To explain the purpose of a particular feature, a simulation of the device with the feature removed will be compared to a simulation of the original device. The differences in the simulations indicate which of the device's many behaviors are produced by that feature. Causal reasoning techniques will then be used to construct an explanation for how the feature causes its behaviors. These explanations, which constitute one of the purposes of the feature, will be automatically translated into natural language (English) and will then be incorporated into the device's documentation. If successful, the results of this research will lead to advanced design documentation tools which will increase the scope and completeness of design documentation while at the same time reducing the cost of producing documentation. The particular kind of rationales computed by this approach (the purposes of features) will facilitate a variety of common engineering tasks including coordinating collaborative design and enabling product redesign without creating unintended side-effects, thereby reducing design cost. Furthermore, if successful, this research will produce fundamental advances in model simplification and causal reasoning.