Collaborative Research: FMitF: Track I: End-usser Programming for CAD Systems via Language Design and Synthesis

计算机辅助设计（CAD）在现代工程中起着至关重要的作用。虽然CAD工具可以快速创建模型，但在创建新设计时重用这些模型非常费力。关键原因是，对设计的更改可能需要对模型的多个元素进行协调更改，以保留部件之间的关系。该项目的创新之处包括用于操作CAD模型的下一代界面，以及CAD系统自动推理的进步。该项目的影响范围从提高设计专业人员对复杂模型进行更改的生产力，到减少希望通过重复使用现有模型执行3D建模的休闲设计师的进入障碍。在这项工作中开发的软件将使设计人员能够快速优化和优化设计，从而提高设计人员的生产力和设计质量。在程序合成和特定领域的语言设计的结果的基础上，研究人员正在开发技术，为最终用户编程的CAD程序。这些技术是通过观察现代CAD工具将设计表示为通过执行一系列几何操作生成3D几何形状的程序来实现的;因此，关于程序的推理用于关于设计的推理。这是通过首先开发一种用于描述CAD模型的语言来实现的，该语言即使在元素和拓扑结构可能变化的情况下，也可以通过模型参数的变化来保持设计的完整性。为此，该语言包括精确选择或引用几何元素的新颖结构。其次，该团队正在开发算法，通过将程序编辑转换为利用现成的符号和数值求解器组合的查询来推理CAD程序。最后，该团队正在开发由CAD语言和由此产生的自动推理支持的新型最终用户编程环境。这些应用程序包括CAD程序的双向编辑以及模板模型的合成，以优化CAD设计。此外，该团队还将继续开展外展活动，激励年轻学生和代表性不足的少数群体追求STEM职业。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Computer-Aided Design (CAD) plays an essential role in modern engineering. While CAD tools enable rapid creation of models, it is extremely laborious to reuse these models when creating new designs. The key reason is that changes to a design might require coordinated changes to several elements of a model to preserve relationships between parts. The project's novelties include next-generation interfaces for manipulating CAD models, and advances in automated reasoning done by the CAD system. The project's impacts range from increasing the productivity of design professionals making changes to complex models, to reducing the barrier to entry for casual designers who wish to perform 3D modeling by re-using existing models. The software developed in this work will allow designers to quickly iterate and optimize designs, leading to increased designer productivity and design quality.Building on results in program synthesis and domain-specific language design, the investigators are developing techniques for end-user programming of CAD programs. The techniques are enabled by the observation that modern CAD tools represent a design as a program that generates the 3D geometry by executing a sequence of geometric operations; reasoning about programs is thus used to reason about designs. This is achieved by first developing a language for describing CAD models that maintains design integrity through model parameter changes, even when elements and topology may vary. To this end, the language includes novel constructs for precisely selecting, or referring to, elements of geometry. Second, the team is developing algorithms for reasoning about CAD programs by transforming program edits into queries that leverage a combination of off-the-shelf symbolic and numerical solvers. Finally, the team is developing novel end-user programming environments enabled by the CAD language and the resultant automated reasoning. These applications include bidirectional editing of CAD programs as well as synthesis of template models for optimizing CAD designs. Further, the team is continuing their outreach activities to inspire young students and underrepresented minorities to pursue STEM careers.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.