IRES Track I: Computational Co-Design of Physical Systems with Embodied Intelligence by Integrating Data, Simulation, and User Interface

为物理系统设计嵌入式智能是当今工程和计算实践中的一个新兴挑战。这个IRES项目旨在解决软件基础设施创建的挑战，以弥合科学界和研究培训课程开发，以教育STEM学生。通过与东京大学和日本科学技术高级研究所（JAIST）的两个用户界面研究小组合作，我们汇集了一个跨学科团队，他们在物理模拟，数字制造，数据科学和人机交互方面具有互补的专业知识，以设计新颖的计算工具来支持智能体现的物理系统的交互式设计。15名美国学生，包括研究生和本科生，将于今年夏天访问日本，与东京大学和JAIST的合作者共同领导该研究项目。为期三个月的学习和研究经验将使学生沉浸在独特的研究环境中，以发展他们的科学理解和编程实践，以解决跨越人工智能（AI），科学计算，用户界面和计算设计的前沿研究问题。后续的辅导活动将引导学生在这个跨学科领域的自我探索和未来的专业发展。该研究项目的总体目标是建立一个开源软件框架，以降低学生，研究人员和工程师为各种可定制的物理系统进行数据驱动智能算法的交互式设计和可视化编程的障碍，包括软体机器人，无人机和材料的例子。在基础设施开发方面，我们的目标是通过提供一个易于访问的软件框架，帮助设计师在工程和计算社区中执行数据集成设计任务，从而在特定的物理和工程环境中民主化创建适应性强的人工智能算法。该软件的架构由三个基本组件组成-前端设计界面，后端物理模拟器和数据驱动的物理智能协调-自然过渡到IRES学生的十五个集群子项目。在研究培训开发方面，我们计划通过交互式协同设计数据模型，物理原理和智能算法，将工作流程从传统的数据收集和模型活动过渡到完全集成的设计循环，重新定义物理智能解决问题的标准方式。我们计划培养一个包容性的学生群体，特别关注少数民族和代表性不足的学生，通过开发这种跨越物理和数据科学的开源基础设施来开发他们的新技能。该项目由国际学生研究经验计划和刺激竞争研究的既定计划（EPSCoR）共同资助。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

Designing embodied intelligence for physical systems is an emerging challenge in today's engineering and computing practices. This IRES project aims to tackle the challenge on both sides of software infrastructure creation to bridge scientific communities and research training curriculum development to educate STEM students. By collaborating with two user interface research groups at the University of Tokyo and Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST), we bring together an interdisciplinary team with their complementary expertise in physics simulation, digital fabrication, data science, and human-computer interaction to devise novel computational tools to support the interactive design of intelligence-embodied physical systems. Fifteen U.S. students, both graduates and undergraduates, will visit Japan in the summer and jointly lead the research project by working with their collaborators at the University of Tokyo and JAIST. The three-month study and research experience will immerse the students in a unique research environment to develop their scientific understanding and programming practices to address the frontier research problems crossing artificial intelligence (AI), scientific computing, user interface, and computational design. The follow-up mentoring activities will guide the students' self-motivated exploration and future professional development in this interdisciplinary field. The overarching goal of this research project is to build an open-source software framework to lower the barriers for students, researchers, and engineers to conduct interactive design and visual programming of data-driven intelligent algorithms for various customizable physical systems, including examples of soft-bodied robots, drones, and materials. On the side of infrastructure development, we aim to democratize the creation of adaptable AI algorithms in specific physical and engineering contexts by providing an easy-to-access software framework to help designers conduct their data-integrated design tasks across engineering and computing communities. The software's architecture consists of three essential components --- frontend design interface, backend physics simulator, and data-driven physical-intelligent coordination --- which naturally transition to fifteen clustered sub-projects for the IRES students. On the side of research training development, we plan to redefine the standard way of problem-solving in physical intelligence by transitioning the workflow from the traditional data collection and model activity to a fully integrated design loop by interactively co-designing the data model, physical principles, and intelligent algorithms. We plan to train an inclusive group of students, with a particular focus on minorities and underrepresented students, by developing their new skillsets through developing this open-source infrastructure crossing physical and data sciences.This project is jointly funded by the International Research Experience for Students program and the Established Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (EPSCoR).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.