The incorporation of human aspects into a unified design theory

Abstract

Research into design theory has, up until now, concentrated mostly upon the technical aspects of the process. Techniques have been developed that, on the one hand allow the general processes of design to be described in terms of a global system, whilst on the other, researchers have been addressing and attempting to automate specific detailed design cases through the application of knowledge based techniques applied to CAD/CAM systems. The design process should, however, be considered as a unified activity that incorporates human skill and organisational relationships as well as the available technology. All of these must be matched to the product goals of a given activity. The CAD research group at Brunel University has been creating a design modelling system based upon constraints. Here set theory techniques are used within a knowledge based system to resolve any conflicts between constraining rules. This process has been successfully applied to the design of high speed mechanisms and also to describe the rules used during the measurement of a part using an integrated CAD and coordinate measuring machine system. The underlying structure is a generic problem solving procedure that can be applied to all aspects of the design process. A new research programme has now commenced to incorporate the human skill and social aspects of design. Through a series of industrial case studies it is hoped to uncover the ‘rules’ governing these human activities. Unlike technical systems these rules are often agreed but unspecified. They arise from educational backgrounds, industrial experience, social responsibilities, status etc. and can greatly influence the way a design discussion progresses and its eventual outcome. The study is aimed at providing both a means of representing the unified design process. This should help to give design groups in industry a greater understanding of the underlying processes that they are handling as well as some of the computer tools that can be used to model and resolved them.