People-centred Computational Environments for Design Discovery: Establishing a Fully Integrated Framework

随着科技的进步，设计正成为一项越来越复杂的活动。新的计算技术加上不断增强的计算能力，意味着现在有机会支持几年前不存在的设计活动。其中一个例子就是人工智能和可视化技术的发展。随着这些技术的进步，人们对设计过程和产品使用的期望和看法也发生了变化。在过去，人往往是可牺牲的部分。以大约一个世纪前的重工业为例。很少有时间和精力用于工具的设计和使用，因为如果一个工人由于糟糕的设计而死亡或受伤，总有另一个人来代替他/她。大约在五六十年前，随着人们越来越认识到设计以人为本的重要性，这种苛刻的态度开始改变。这是由计算机的发展和增长推动的，并且需要以一种易于使用和理解的形式为系统设计界面。系统驱动设计方法的一个例子是CAD（计算机辅助设计），它已成功地应用于许多项目中。然而，当产品接近最终设计时，CAD被用于设计生命周期的最后阶段，即它是物理的，有形的和可理解的。早期阶段的设计被称为概念设计，在此期间，产生想法并将其转化为产品模型。它提供了一种评估设计方案的方法，并允许深入了解设计问题。据估计，80-90%的设计成本是在（概念）设计阶段的前10-20%确定的。因此，概念设计是一个至关重要的阶段，因为在这个阶段可以缩短产品生命周期，降低成本，提高设计质量。概念设计不仅重要，而且非常复杂，因为一个好的设计必须满足多种要求，例如提供合理的结构，吸引人的外观，灵活的操作和创新。因此，使用相对简单的设计模型在设计空间中搜索需要花费相当多的时间。然而，考虑到人类信息处理的局限性，特别是搜索过程和更普遍的概念设计将受益于计算系统的发展，这些系统在以不确定性和通常定义不清的概念和设计表示为特征的阶段提供更好的支持。限制当前CAD和设计有效性的另一个问题是，它在很大程度上是特定于领域的，因为计算工具通常是由最终使用它的学科中的个人设计的。这种方法可能会导致“视野狭窄”，因为设计师将使用自己领域的知识和工具，并可能错过其他领域的相关知识和技术。因此，多学科方法在设计过程中可能被证明是有用的；新的工具和想法不仅可以用来改进最终的设计，还可以用来开发一个通用的概念设计系统，可以在不同的学科中使用。这项建议解决了这些缺点。它研究了最新的计算智能技术与更成熟的计算技术的集成，以在设计的概念阶段提供效用。这意味着将采取以人为本的方法来确保界面的设计符合用户的期望和能力，同时通过确保用户对系统输出的持续评估来减少不确定性和风险。此外，该研究采用多学科方法，主要学者和实业家共同努力，代表工程领域（民用、航空航天、机械和通信）的设计；药物;生物传感器;软件;虚拟产品;还有“可穿戴技术”。由于提出的以用户为中心的计算系统的复杂性，该项目是雄心勃勃的。不过，这项研究已经取得了进展，这是通过由AHRC/ epsrc资助的由参与拟议研究的主要学者/实业家组成的小组进行的。在过去的12个月里，这个小组开会并确定了与这个研究领域相关的主要问题。该提案现在寻求12个月的资金，以支持在现有平台上建立专门的研究工作，并详细规划这种以人为本的概念设计计算方法的下一步发展。

With advances in technology, design is becoming an increasingly complex activity. New computational techniques coupled with increasing computing power now mean that opportunities are available to support design activity which did not exist just a few years ago. One such example is the development of artificial intelligence and visualisation techniques. Coupled with these technologys advancements is a change in people's expectations and perceptions associated with teh design process and the use of products. In the past, the human was often the expendable part. Take, for example, the heavy industries of around a century ago. Little time and effort were applied to the design and use of tools, because if a worker was killed or injured as a result of poor design, there was always another to take his/her place. This harsh attitude began to change some 50-60 years ago with a growing realisation of the importance of designing for the human. This was fuelled by the development and growth in computers, and the need to design interfaces for systems in a form that could readily and easily used, and understood by humans.One example of a system-driven design approach is CAD (computer-aided design) which is successfully employed in numerous projects. However, CAD is employed towards the end of the design lifecycle when a product is close to final design i.e. it is physical, tangible and comprehensible. Early stage design is known as conceptual design, during which, ideas are generated and transformed into a product model. It provides a means for evaluating design alternatives and permit insights into the design problem. It has been estimated that 80-90% of design costs are determined in the first 10-20% of the (conceptual) design phase. Conceptual design is, therefore, a crucial stage as it possible during this stage to shorten the product lifecycle, reduce costs, and improve design quality. Not only is conceptual design important, it is also very complicated as a good design must fulfil multiple requirements relating to, for example, providing a reasonable structure, an appealing appearance, flexible operations, and be innovative. Consequently, considerable time is spent searching through design space utilising relatively simple design models. However, given the limitations of human information processing, the search process in particular and conceptual design more generally would benefit from the developmentof computational systems that provide better support at a stage characterised by uncertainty and often poorly defined concepts and design representations.A further issue that limits the effectiveness of current CAD and design more generally is that it is largely domain specific in the sense that a computational tool would typically be designed by individuals from the discipline that will eventually use it. This approach could result in 'tunnel vision' as the designers will work with knowledge and tools from their field and could potentially miss out on relevant knowledge and techniques from other domains. Consequently, a multidisciplinary approach could prove useful in the design process; new tools and ideas can be used not only to improve the final design, but also to enable the development of a generic conceptual design system that could be utilised within different disciplines.This proposal addresses these shortcomings. It investigates the integration of the latest computational intelligence techniques with more established enabling computational technologies to provide utility during the conceptual stages of design. Implicit in this is that a human-centred approach will be taken to ensure the design of the interface matches the user's expectations and capabilities whilst reducing uncertainty and risk by ensuring constant user evaluation of the system's output. Further, the study takes a multidisciplinary approach with key academics and industrialists working together representing design across engineering (civils, aerospace, mechanical and communications); drugs; biosensors;software;virtual products; and 'wearable technologies'. The project is ambitious because of the complexity of the proposed user-centric computational systems. Progress has already been made, however, via, the AHRC/EPSRC-funded Cluster comprising the key academics/industrialists involved in the proposed study. During the past 12 months this group met and identified primary issues assocaited with this research domain. The proposal now seeks 12 months funding to support dedicated research effort to build on the existing platform, and to plan, in detail, the next steps needed in the development of this people-centered computational approach to conceptual design.