Functional Similarity at Varying Levels of Abstraction

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin W. Caldwell ◽  
Gregory M. Mocko
Keyword(s):  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Controlled Vocabulary ◽  
Functional Similarity ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Similarity Metric ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase ◽  
Functional Models ◽  
Function Models

Function modeling is often used in the conceptual design phase as an approach to capture a form-independent purpose of a product. Current research efforts have focused on the formalization of functional models, development of function-based design repositories, and concept generation based on a quantitative functional similarity metric. In this paper, three levels of abstraction of function models are obtained by including supporting functions, excluding supporting functions, and applying abstraction rules to function models of 128 products in a design repository. The similarity of these products is computed using the Functional Basis controlled vocabulary and a matrix-based similarity metric. A matrix-based clustering algorithm is then applied to the similarity results to identify groups of similar products. A subset of these products is then studied to further compare the three levels of abstraction and to validate the results. Similarity between consumer products depends on the level of abstraction of the models, with higher levels of abstraction producing better results.

Validation of Function Pruning Rules Through Similarity at Three Levels of Abstraction

2012 ◽  
Vol 134 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Benjamin W. Caldwell ◽  
Gregory M. Mocko
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Controlled Vocabulary ◽  
Design Activity ◽  
Conceptual Level ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Similarity Metric ◽  
Level Of Abstraction ◽  
Design By Analogy ◽  
Function Models

Function modeling is often used in the conceptual design phase as an approach to capture a form-independent purpose of a product. Previous research uses a repository of reverse-engineered function models to support conceptual-based design tools, such as similarity and design-by-analogy. These models, however, are created at a different level of abstraction than models created in conceptual design for new products. In this paper, a set of pruning rules is developed to generate an abstract, conceptual-level model from a reverse-engineered function model. The conceptual-level models are compared to two additional levels of abstraction that are available in a design repository. The abstract models developed through the pruning rules are tested using a similarity metric to understand their usefulness in conceptual design. The similarity of 128 products is computed using the Functional Basis controlled vocabulary and a matrix-based similarity metric at each level of abstraction. A matrix-based clustering algorithm is then applied to the similarity results to identify groups of similar products. A subset of these products is studied to further compare the three levels of abstraction and to validate the pruning rules. It is shown that the pruning rules are able to convert reverse-engineered function models to conceptual-level models, better supporting design-by-analogy, a conceptual-stage design activity.

Evaluation of the functional basis using an information theoretic approach

2010 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 87-105 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiradeep Sen ◽  
Benjamin W. Caldwell ◽  
Joshua D. Summers ◽  
Gregory M. Mocko
Keyword(s):  
Information Content ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Controlled Vocabulary ◽  
Theoretic Approach ◽  
Web Based ◽  
Information Theoretic ◽  
Functional Basis ◽  
Information Theoretic Approach ◽  
Function Models ◽  
Key Terms

AbstractA metric for computing the information content of function models in mechanical engineering design is proposed. Function models are graph-based representations used to describe the functionality of engineered artifacts, where the nodes are function verbs and the edges are the objects of action. The functional basis, a controlled vocabulary of these verbs and nouns organized in a three level hierarchy, is intended to support consistent representation of function models. The Design Repository is a Web-based archive of function models of consumer products described with the functional basis. This paper presents the theoretical underpinnings of a metric for the information content of function models, the assumptions required to support it, the definitions of key terms associated with it, and its practical interpretation. Finally, the metric is used to study the usefulness of the functional basis through a series of experiments on function models within the Design Repository. The results of the experiment indicate that the secondary level of the functional basis is the most beneficial to designers, both in terms of information content and information density.

Aligning Human and Computational Evaluations of Functional Design Similarity

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ananya Nandy ◽  
Kosa Goucher-Lambert
Keyword(s):  
Similarity Measures ◽  
Human Perception ◽  
Functional Similarity ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Product Function ◽  
Functional Models ◽  
Support Tools ◽  
Human Perceptions ◽  
Design By Analogy ◽  
High Level

Abstract Function drives many early design considerations in product development. Therefore, finding functionally similar examples is important when searching for sources of inspiration or evaluating designs against existing technology. However, it is difficult to capture what people consider to be functionally similar and therefore, if measures that compare function directly from the products themselves are meaningful. In this work, we compare human evaluations of similarity to computationally determined values, shedding light on how quantitative measures align with human perceptions of functional similarity. Human perception of functional similarity is considered at two levels of abstraction: (1) the high-level purpose of a product, and (2) a detailed view of how the product works. Human evaluations of similarity are quantified by crowdsourcing 1360 triplet ratings at each functional abstraction, and then compared to similarity that is computed between functional models. We demonstrate how different levels of abstraction and the fuzzy line between what is considered “similar” and “similar enough” may impact how these similarity measures are utilized, finding that different measures better align with human evaluations along each dimension. The results inform how product similarity can be leveraged by designers. Therefore, applications lie in creativity support tools, such as those used for design-by-analogy, or future computational methods in design that incorporate product function in addition to form.

Investigation of the Interpretability of Three Function Structure Representations: A User Study

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Thomas ◽  
Chiradeep Sen ◽  
Gregory M. Mocko ◽  
Joshua D. Summers ◽  
Georges M. Fadel
Keyword(s):  
User Study ◽  
Research Effort ◽  
Functional Model ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
Controlled Vocabulary ◽  
Product Analysis ◽  
Functional Models ◽  
Physical Form ◽  
Functional Representations ◽  
Function Models

Function models are used during the conceptual design phase of the design process to model the intended use or objective of a product, independent of the products physical form. Function models also aid in guiding design activities such as generating concepts and allocating design team resources. Recent research effort have focused on the formalization of function models through a controlled vocabulary and archival of functional representations in computer-based repositories. However, the usefulness and interpretability of these function models has not fully been explored. This paper presents the results of a user study to ascertain the interpretability of functional representations at three levels of abstraction. In this interpretability is defined as the ability to identify the product based on a functional representation. These function models vary in abstraction in two dimensions: (1) the number of function within the model and (2) the specificity of the terms used within the functional models. Sixteen mechanical engineering graduate students are asked to identify the products from the functional models in these three abstraction levels. In addition to identifying the product, students are asked to record time and list any keywords in the functional model that help them to choose a product. Analysis of the results indicates that interpretability of a functional model increases substantially by using free language terms over a limited functional vocabulary and environmental context of the product. Additionally, the number of functions within the functional model correlates with the identification of similar products.

Environmental Analysis of Consumer Products During the Conceptual Phase of Product Design

2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matt R. Bohm ◽  
Karl R. Haapala ◽  
Kerry Poppa ◽  
Robert B. Stone ◽  
Irem Y. Tumer
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Environmental Impacts ◽  
Life Cycle Analysis ◽  
Real Life ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Design Knowledge ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Analysis Techniques ◽  
Research Show

This paper describes efforts taken to further transition life cycle analysis techniques from the latter, more detailed phases of design, to the early-on conceptual phase of product development. By using modern design methodologies such as automated concept generation and an archive of product design knowledge, known as the Design Repository, virtual concepts are created and specified. Streamlined life cycle analysis techniques are then used to determine the environmental impacts of the virtual concepts. As a means to benchmark the virtual results, analogous real-life products that have functional and component similarities are identified. The identified products are then scrutinized to determine their material composition and manufacturing attributes in order to perform an additional round of life cycle analysis for the actual products. The results of this research show that enough information exists within the conceptual phase of design (utilizing the Design Repository) to reasonably predict the relative environmental impacts of actual products based on virtual concepts.

The Classification System of Literary Works Based on K-Means Clustering

2021 ◽  
pp. 2141001
Author(s):  
Sanqiang Wei ◽  
Hongxia Hou ◽  
Hua Sun ◽  
Wei Li ◽  
Wenxia Song
Keyword(s):  
Clustering Algorithm ◽  
Performance Ratio ◽  
Levels Of Abstraction ◽  
Text Documents ◽  
Text Data ◽  
Literary Works ◽  
Accuracy Comparison ◽  
Word Classification ◽  
Text Features ◽  
And Performance

The plots in certain literary works are very complicated and hinder readers from understanding them. Therefore tools should be proposed to support readers; comprehension of complex literary works supports their understanding by providing the most important information to readers. A human reader must capture multiple levels of abstraction and meaning to formulate an understanding of a document. Hence, in this paper, an Improved [Formula: see text]-means clustering algorithm (IKCA) has been proposed for literary word classification. For text data, the words that can express exact semantic in a class are generally better features. This paper uses the proposed technique to capture numerous cluster centroids for every class and then select the high-frequency words in centroids the text features for classification. Furthermore, neural networks have been used to classify text documents and [Formula: see text]-mean to cluster text documents. To develop the model based on unsupervised and supervised techniques to meet and identify the similarity between documents. The numerical results show that the suggested model will enhance to increases quality comparison of the existing Algorithm and [Formula: see text]-means algorithm, accuracy comparison of ALA and IKCA (95.2%), time is taken for clustering is less than 2 hours, success rate (97.4%) and performance ratio (98.1%).

scholarly journals An Immersive VR Application for Interactive Product Concept Generation and Qualitative Evaluation

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christian Noon ◽  
Ruqin Zhang ◽  
Eliot Winer ◽  
Jim Oliver ◽  
Brian Gilmore ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Conceptual Design ◽  
Computer Aided Design ◽  
Systems Design ◽  
Qualitative Evaluation ◽  
Assessment Tools ◽  
Design Phase ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Early Assessment ◽  
Element Analysis ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase

Currently, new product concepts are evaluated by developing detailed virtual models with Computer Aided Design (CAD) tools followed by evaluation analyses (e.g., finite element analysis, computational fluid dynamics, etc.). Due to the complexity of these evaluation methods, it is generally not possible to model and analyze each of the ideas generated throughout the conceptual design phase of the design process. Thus, promising ideas may be eliminated based solely on insufficient time to model and assess them. Additionally, the analysis performed is usually of much higher detail than needed for such early assessment. By eliminating the time-consuming CAD complexity, engineers could spend more time evaluating additional concepts. To address these issues, a software framework, the Advanced Systems Design Suite (ASDS), was created. The ASDS incorporates a PC user interface with an immersive virtual reality (VR) environment to ease the creation and assessment of conceptual design prototypes individually or collaboratively in a VR environment. Assessment tools incorporate metamodeling approximations and immersive visualization to evaluate the validity of each concept. In this paper, the ASDS framework and interface along with specifically designed immersive VR assessment tools such as state saving, dynamic viewpoint creation, and animation playback are presented alongside a test case example of redesigning a Boeing 777 in the conceptual design phase.

Creation of Assembly Models to Support Automated Concept Generation

2005 ◽  
Author(s):  
Venkat Rajagopalan ◽  
Cari R. Bryant ◽  
Jeremy Johnson ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams ◽  
Robert B. Stone ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Consumer Products ◽  
Design Tool ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Assembly Model ◽  
Model Method ◽  
Modeling Process ◽  
Structural Interactions ◽  
Different Types ◽  
Flow Interactions ◽  
Assembly Models

This paper presents an assembly model process that fully characterizes the structural and flow interactions between artifacts in a product. Reverse engineering techniques were employed during the analysis of thirty-three existing consumer products to arrive at a concise standardization of the modeling process. During the product investigation, four different types of structural interactions were identified. These structural interactions, couple, secure, position and guide, were defined using a standardized vocabulary of functional terms. These four structural interactions are rigorously described in this paper in an effort to outline an assembly model method that is accurate and repeatable. Additionally, flow interactions between components are also characterized within the presented modeling technique. A rough representation of the artifact configuration of a product can also be achieved through placement of the component structures in the model. Analysis of the consumer product set also revealed that a new design tool can be generated using the structural interaction information contained in the described assembly models.

A Modular Design Approach to Support Sustainable Design

2004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cari R. Bryant ◽  
Karthik L. Sivaramakrishnan ◽  
Michael Van Wie ◽  
Robert B. Stone ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Life Cycle ◽  
Product Design ◽  
Modular Design ◽  
Sustainable Design ◽  
Consumer Products ◽  
Design Approach ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Conceptual Design Phase ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Pair Wise Comparison

This paper presents a redesign method supporting sustainable design of products. The method correlates product modularity with various life cycle directions at the conceptual stage of design. In the case of product redesign, the modular design approach allows designers to focus on increasing the sustainability of a product in terms of recyclability, disassembly and reduction of resource usage at the conceptual stage. By stepping back to the conceptual design phase and analyzing the product free from its current embodiment solutions, the scope of redesign and the potential product improvement increases. At this stage of design, the comprehension of the relationship between the various life cycle aspects of the product and the product design is essential. The elimination preference index (EPI) metric, calculated by pair-wise comparison of various factors governing the product design, quantifies the effect of redesign alternatives on product sustainability. The method is applied to the redesign of twelve small-scale consumer products, of which one example is presented here. In all cases, the redesigned products exhibited enhancement in modularity and part count reduction.

Mining Functional Model Graphs to Find Product Design Heuristics With Inclusive Design Illustration

2013 ◽  
Vol 13 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shraddha Sangelkar ◽  
Daniel A. McAdams
Keyword(s):  
Data Mining ◽  
Functional Model ◽  
Inclusive Design ◽  
Generation Process ◽  
Graph Visualization ◽  
Concept Generation ◽  
Product Representation ◽  
Graph Data ◽  
Design Heuristics ◽  
Functional Models

Engineering design heuristics offer the potential to improve the design process and resultant designs. Currently, heuristics are empirically derived by experts. The goal of this paper is to automate the heuristics generation process. Functional modeling, a well-established product representation framework, is applied in this research to abstract the intended functionality of a product. Statistically significant heuristics, extracted from a database of functional models, serve as design suggestions or guidelines for concept generation. The heuristics can further be applied to automate portions of the concept generation process. Prior research efforts in automated concept generation rely heavily on the design repository. The repository needs to be appended for broader categories of design problems, and, at the same time, a tool for quick analysis of the expanded repository is required. An automated heuristic extraction process has the capability to efficiently mine the updated repositories and find new heuristics for design practice. A key objective of this research is to develop design heuristics applicable in the diverse and challenging domain of inclusive design. The research applies graph theory for mathematical representation of the functional model, graph visualization for comprehending graphs, and graph data mining to extract heuristics. The results show that the graphical representation of functional models along with graph visualization allows quick updates to the design repository. In addition, we show that graph data mining has the capability to efficiently search for new design heuristics from the updated repository.

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