Collaborative Proposal: Visual Interfaces for Engineering Innovation

该提案为马萨诸塞大学、弗吉尼亚理工学院和州立大学的电子设计中心寻求资金。基础研究的资金申请由NSF批准的征求授权，NSF 10-601。本次招标邀请I/ ucrc提交支持行业定义基础研究的提案。设计过程通常需要产生许多设计方案，然后通过应用不同的标准来减少这些方案。计算机工具的持续应用为电子设计创造了一个完全电子化的过程，这已经成为可能，但可能会使过程中充斥着许多替代方案。这项提议的工作旨在将创新心理学理论、计算机科学和人机交互方面的研究人员聚集在一起，将设计的创新过程从一个临时的过程转变为一个通过特征空间进行更系统的搜索。这项工作的目的是在一个语义框架中实现由此产生的策略，利用视觉感知、认知和人机界面的概念，这将允许设计师在每个特定设计案例中可视化最有前途的功能。拟议的研究有可能使电子设计工具克服当前的限制，改善设计的过程和结果，同时提供对人类创新过程的见解。如果成功，这两种方法都可以显著提高设计效率，从而节省成本并缩短产品上市时间。这项工作得到了中心个别行业成员的支持，并有可能通过集成认知原则实现电子设计工具的重大创新来扩展中心的投资组合。无论是在中心内部还是外部，对设计教育和执行的影响都有可能在工程界产生广泛的影响。

Center for e-Design Proposal #1127609Proposal #1127664This proposal seeks funding for the Center for e-Design sites at the University of Massachusetts and the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University. Funding Requests for Fundamental Research are authorized by an NSF approved solicitation, NSF 10-601. The solicitation invites I/UCRCs to submit proposals for support of industry-defined fundamental research. The design process typically entails generation of numerous design alternatives followed by reduction of these by virtue of application of different criteria. Ongoing application of computing tools to create an entirely electronic process for e-design have been enabling but can have the effect of saturating the process with numerous alternatives. The proposed work seeks to bring together researchers in the psychological theory of innovation, computer science and human computer interaction to transform the innovative process of design from one which is ad hoc to a more systematic search through the space of features. The effort aims to implement the resulting strategies in a semantic framework leveraging the concepts from visual perception, cognition and human computer interfaces that will allow visualization on the part of the designer of the most promising features for each specific design case.The proposed research has the potential to enable e-design tools to overcome current limitations and improve the process and outcomes of design while at the same time providing insights into the process of human innovation. Both, if successful, could significantly improve design efficiency resulting in cost savings and reduction of time to market. The work is supported by individual industry members of the center and has the potential to extend the portfolio of the center by virtue of the major innovation in e-design tools enabled by integration of cognitive principles. Both inside and outside the center, the impact on design education and execution has the potential for broad impact in the engineering community.