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The construction of ad-hoc design processes following the Situational Method Engineering (SME) paradigm is currently carried out by adopting a set of phases for which, until now, no well defined techniques and guidelines have been established. The consequence is that organizations are very dependent on method designers' skills. In this paper, we propose an approach based on SME for constructing customized agent oriented design processes. Our approach adopts the metamodel as the most important factor leading to the selection and assembly of method fragments and an algorithm for establishing the instantiation order of metamodel elements. The algorithm makes the proposed approach repeatable and usable even by not very skilled personnel, thus proposing an improvement to the actual situation. The proposed approach and the algorithm are also experimented through the construction of a design process (ASPECS) for developing dynamic hierarchical societies of agents. The approach we created is general enough to be applied in other development contexts (not only agent-oriented).

The aim of this paper is to tackle the problem of combinatorial explosion which is inherent in declarative three-dimensional scene synthesis. This is achieved by encoding desired qualitative aspects, not originally supported by the Declarative Modeling methodology, and applying them to the Solution Generation and/or Scene Understanding phase(s), in order to provide the designer with a subset of solutions, which are most representative of the aforementioned aspects. For this reason, we have adapted and applied a machine learning technique, as well as an evolutionary search method, to the current context. The former refers to the gradual construction of a preference model, comprising an incrementally learning mechanism based on actual designer solution evaluation during regular system use. The latter approach models qualitative aspects through a multi-objective genetic algorithm variation based on weighted sums. The algorithm is applied during the generation and understanding phases of Declarative Modeling. The experimental results provide evidence of successful acquisition and exploitation of the desired qualitative characteristics in the paradigm of declarative three-dimensional scene synthesis.

The SHARE project seeks to apply information technologies in helping design teams gather, organize, re-access, and communicate both informal and formal design information to establish a "shared understanding" of the design and design process. This paper presents the visions of SHARE, along with the research and strategies undertaken to build an infrastructure toward its realization. A preliminary prototype environment is being used by designers working on a variety of industry sponsored design projects. This testbed continues to inform and guide the development of NoteMail, MovieMail, and Xshare, as well as other components of the next generation SHARE environment that will help distributed design teams work together more effectively on the Internet.

This paper deals with the optimum design of vibration absorbers utilized to reduce undesirable random vibrational effects that are originated in linear structures. Analytical expressions, for the case of nonstationary white-noise accelerations, are derived. The criterion is different from most conventional optimum design criteria, since it is based on minimizing the displacement or the acceleration variance of the main structure responses, without considering performances required against failure. In this study, in order to control the structural vibrations induced on a mechanical structure excited by nonstationary based acceleration random process, the MOO (multi-objective optimum) design of a vibration absorber has been developed in a typical seismic design problem. This has been performed using the modern imperialist competitive optimization algorithm for multi-objective optimization. Results demonstrate the importance of this method and show that the multi-objective design methodology provides a significant improvement in performance stability, giving a better control of the design solution choice. A numerical example of a vibration absorber for a multi degree of freedom (DOF) system is developed and the results are generated and compared for higher (DOF) systems using two types of modeling. Finally, the results of each of the two types are discussed.

According to the state-of-the-art of design process management, a new management method is presented in this paper. Firstly, a design process is divided into three layers: harmony layer, purpose layer and action layer. Secondly, considering the operation features in every design process layer, tasks are divided into four categories, and the relevant models are proposed subsequently. Finally, the framework of a design guide management system is presented, and an example of engine design process is used to illustrate the efficiency of this method. It is approved that the design guide can accumulate design process knowledge and improve design efficiency.

Nowadays, safety is often integrated at too late a stage in the design process of complex systems, such as machines or production lines. In most cases, this integration is made on an individual basis without any systematic method. Moreover, there are very few computer-aided software packages that allow the integration of safety aspects into the design process. In this paper, we present propositions of a model working situation using (UML).¹ This model is implemented by prototype software called Computer Aided Safety Integration in Design process (CASID). The CASID approach is founded on a database in which all previous data generated by the designer using CASID is stored; furthermore, the software allows communication between designers in order to solve safety problems.

Engineering self-conscious robotic systems is a challenging issue because of the intrinsic complexity of such systems; a self-conscious robot has to acquire knowledge, to understand its world and to autonomously interact with its environment. In this paper, the externalist point of view is used for developing a complete process for the design and implementation of a conscious robotic system that is able to interact with a dynamic environment in a human-like fashion without possessing detailed knowledge about the environment and pre-programmed tasks and algorithms. The paper mainly focuses on the configuration part of the whole process that make the robot able to decide and to learn from experiences.

The purpose of this paper is to present interaction factors-oriented design process for creative product. Based on the user-product interaction model and design process theories, our work explored the interactive factors. The results suggest that interactive factors in design involves three types, namely cognitive response, affective response, and behavioral response. Based on these, our work offered interactive factors-oriented creative design process, and presented a creative product design case. This design process is very useful for enhancing designers’ creative performances as well as enhancing interactive experience satisfactory judgments of users’ to new product.

This paper describes the process of designing a reliable wall-climbing robot that can be produced easily. We found that designers can choose out of many possible technologies to make wall climbing robots. After exploration and prototyping with gecko tape, suction caps, microsplines, magnetism, impellers and propellers we came up with GECO. GECO is a wall climbing robot which uses suction to move across walls. GECO moves over different kinds of surfaces, is wireless controlled and relatively easy to build. We envision that wall-climbing robots have potential applications for example to inspect surfaces, clean and maintain buildings and many more.