DF/CAD: Computer-Aided Design Tools for the Age of Digital Fabrication

在过去的三十年里，数字制造技术取得了巨大的进步。如今，3D打印机能够以不断增长的分辨率、不断提高的速度和快速扩展的材料范围来生产设计。为了充分利用这种新的制造复杂性的潜力，我们必须能够在相同的复杂性水平上创建设计。但是，当3D打印机能够并且必须使用亚微米尺度的信息时，我们如何设计建筑物、车辆、飞机或机器人呢？ 为了掌握未来数字制造技术将实现的极端复杂性，我设想了新一代数字制造技术（DF/CAD）的计算机辅助设计工具。DF/CAD工具不是用技术细节压倒设计师，而是利用计算来促进人类的创造力，而不管潜在问题的复杂性。本提案中描述的研究重点是DF/CAD工具的三个核心组成部分： 1.高性能仿真模型能够预测具有复杂几何形状和材料分布的设计的功能方面， 2.优化算法，可以反转仿真模型，以确定导致所需功能方面的设计参数，以及 3.设计界面，利用模拟和优化算法，允许用户以直观和高效的方式导航复杂的设计空间。 如今，3D打印的经济重要性已经非常显著，并且正在快速增长。作为该研究计划的一部分，将开发的软件有可能使几乎所有依赖增材制造的行业受益。DF/CAD工具还将使加拿大个人更容易获得3D打印，从而促进消费品的个性化设计和制造。

The last three decades have seen tremendous progress in digital fabrication technology. Today, 3D printers are able to produce designs with ever growing resolution, constantly increasing speed, and a rapidly expanding range of materials. In order to leverage the potential of this new manufacturing complexity, we have to be able to create designs on the same level of complexity. But how do we design buildings, vehicles, planes, or robots when 3D printers can, and have to, use information at the submicron scale? In order to master the extreme complexity that future digital fabrication technology will enable, I envision a new generation of computer-aided design tools for digital fabrication technology (DF/CAD). Rather than overwhelming the designer with technical detail, DF/CAD tools capitalize on computation in order to promote human creativity, regardless of the complexity of the underlying problem. The research described in this proposal focuses on the three central components of DF/CAD tools: 1. High-performance simulation models that are able to predict functional aspects of designs with complex geometry and material distributions, 2. Optimization algorithms that can invert the simulation model in order to determine design parameters that lead to desired functional aspects, and 3. Design interfaces that, leveraging simulation and optimization algorithms, allow users to navigate complex design spaces in an intuitive and efficient way. The economic importance of 3D printing is already significant today, and it is growing at a rapid pace. The software that will be developed as part of this research program has the potential to benefit virtually all industries that rely on additive manufacturing. DF/CAD tools will also make 3D printing more accessible to Canadian individuals, thus promoting personalized design and fabrication of consumer goods.