Engineering Design Research Center Research Articles

The EDRC and design: a deeper understanding

Since its inception in 1986, Carnegie Mellon University's Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC), sponsored by the National Science Foundation, has worked to achieve a broader and deeper understanding of design. By broader, we mean expanding from an artifact's detailed physical design to its full life cycle (from conception to disposal); by deeper, we mean providing a science base for comprehending the design process itself so that computer based methods and tools can better support it. This would provide conceptual bases and computational support to aid US industry in producing superior products more quickly and at lower cost. The EDRC's research emphasizes: understanding design's qualitative aspects to the same extent that the quantitative, algorithmic aspects have been addressed in the past; creating an interdisciplinary environment where pursuing innovation and understanding of the design process is a major goal; and training students in those aspects of design that currently cannot be automated. The EDRC's research accomplishments can be described in terms of three phases: applying cognitive science and computer science techniques and tools to engineering design problems; creating integrated, computational tool environments for particular domains; and supplying comprehensive, team-supportive environments where researchers can design and fabricate artifacts. Throughout all three phases, it was discovered that AI design techniques apply to synthesis tools and to environments that integrate tool and design collaboration.

Integrating Design Education, Research and Practice at Carnegie Mellon: A Multi‐disciplinary Course in Wearable Computers

AbstractThe Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC) at Carnegie Mellon University has created a two‐semester design course that integrates research and education through industrially‐sponsored design projects. Over the six semesters that the course has been taught, teams of undergraduate and graduate students have designed and fabricated five new generations of wearable computers. These computers have been delivered to industrial and government customers for use. The Wearable Computer Design course at the EDRC is cross‐disciplinary and inter‐departmental, drawing students from four colleges in nine disciplines including five engineering departments (chemical engineering, civil and environmental engineering, electrical and computer engineering, mechanical engineering, and engineering and public policy), architecture, computer science, industrial administration and industrial design. Students in this course learn about design theory and practice, participate in research, and successfully deliver products to sponsors. The students are exposed to the design cycle from concept, to multi‐disciplinary design tradeoffs, to manufacturing, and finally to customer satisfaction and user feedback. This class also serves as a testbed for learning about the needs of a multi‐disciplinary design team, for anticipating the needs of geographically‐distributed design teams, for reflecting on the interplay between product design and design process, and for evaluating the design tools and design methodologies that have been developed at the EDRC.

Reflections on a concurrent design methodology: a case study in wearable computer design

At Carnegie Mellon, we have designed and manufactured three generations of wearable, mobile computers. Each new generation of wearable computer has been designed within approximately one semester by an interdisciplinary design class taught at the Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC). Over the semesters that the course has been taught, an interdisciplinary concurrent design methodology has evolved. In this paper, we briefly present the design process for the Navigator, the third generation of wearable computers. We use this process to illustrate the needs of a multidisciplinary design team, to anticipate the needs of a distributed design team using a novel manufacturing process, and to reflect on the interplay between the practice of design and the evolution of our design methods.

Rapid design and manufacture of wearable computers

dvances in computa-tional science and engi-neering have changedprofoundly both theartifacts we can realizeand the processes bywhich we realize them.This article looks at theimpact of these new technologies on the design ofwearable computers covering three main areas: newdesign tools and approaches, new manufacturingtechnologies, and new uses of information technolo-gies. We will show how we at the Engineering DesignResearch Center (EDRC) at Carnegie Mellon haveused the wearable computer project as a testbed inwhich to integrate research on rapid design and man-ufacturing. In our research, we have designed, manu-factured, and used our own tools as well as observingtheir use by others----where the tools include wearablecomputers, design analysis programs, and informa-tion organization tools. Through this process, wehave learned about design education and designpractice, and we have uncovered new issues fordesign research.

Concurrent design happens at the interfaces

AbstractConcurrent engineering is often viewed either from a technical point of view—that is, as a problem that can be solved by creating and integrating computer-based tools—or from an organizational point of view—that is, as a problem that can be solved by creating and reorganizing teams of designers. In this paper we argue that concurrent engineering requires both technical and organizational solutions, and we call the result concurrent design. We believe that the essence of concurrent design is the myriad of interactions that occur at the interfaces among all of the members of a design team and all their tools. Solving either the technical or organizational problems by assuming away the interactions will not solve the problems of concurrent design.In this paper we present two case studies of concurrent design in practice that have changed our assumptions about design and which have changed our research agenda. We also present the evolution of concurrent design research at the Carnegie Mellon Engineering Design Research Center. In our research, we have designed, manufactured, and used our own tools as well as observed their use by others—where the tools include mobile computers, design analysis programs, and information organization tools. Through this process, we have learned about design education and design practice, and we have uncovered new issues for design research. We see the interactions among design research, practice, and education as essential to understanding concurrent design.

The engineering design research center of Carnegie Mellon University

The Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC) promotes the establishment and dissemination of a scientific basis for design based on an interdisciplinary approach to researrh and education. The Center's vision is that a scientific framework for design can exploit rapid advances in computer and communications technologies to serve the competitive need for reduced product development cycles, improved quality and reliability, and lower cost. Basic notions of the product cycle underlie the Center's strategic plan, a framework of researrh thrusts leading from barriers in design science to goals and vision. As an NSF Engineering Research Center, EDRC conducts cross-educational and industrial programs in parallel with research

An interdisciplinary course in engineering synthesis

The interdisciplinary courseSynthesis of Engineering Systems has been offered by the Engineering Design Research Center over the last 3 years. Students are exposed to two major paradigms for design synthesis: mathematical programming and knowledge-based expert systems. The former emphasizes the mathematical formulation of optimization problems that involve discrete and continuous variables for the selection of topologies and parameters in engineering systems. The latter emphasizes representations and search techniques for processing qualitative knowledge for synthesis of designs by heuristic classification and hierarchical decomposition.

Erratum: Exact Solution of Large Asymmetric Traveling Salesman Problems

The article "Exact solution of large asymmetric traveling salesman problems" by Donald L. Miller and Joseph F. Pekny (15 Feb., p. 754) should have included the following note. "Supported by National Science Foundation grant 9058073-DDM and by the Engineering Design Research Center at Carnegie Mellon University."

Erratum

The article "Exact solution of large asymmetric traveling salesman problems" by Donald L. Miller and Joseph F. Pekny (15 Feb., p. 754) should have included the following note. "Supported by National Science Foundation grant 9058073-DDM and by the Engineering Design Research Center at Carnegie Mellon University."

Applications of AI in design research at Carnegie Mellon University's EDRC

In 1984 the National Research Council issued a report on industrial competition in the US, noting that the US was successful at new product innovation but was falling behind others notably Japan and Western Europe in bringing these products into the market place. Since 1985 the National Science Foundation has established 18 university based Engineering Research Centers as centers of excellence, each with a major goal to respond to this report. Our Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC) was started as a part of this program in May, 1986. The goal of the EDRC is to play a leadership role in developing and integrating concepts and methodologies that will allow US industry to design much better products much more quickly.

The Engineering Design Research Center

The Engineering Design Research Center