Research in Interactive Design Vol. 3

An obvious fact of the present industrial epoch is the advancement of computing techniques that has strongly contributed to the emergence of engineering processes becoming more and more efficient, rapid and high-powerful. Computing Science has allowed efficient virtual tools to emerge. Nevertheless, today all industrial experts share the idea that computational tools do not represent a sufficient solutions for leading to innovation. Some strong transfers between Industry and Research have been developped in order to make around the virtual tools new techniques that lead to whole and complete solutions really ensuring a support to decision making in product engineering.

Automated concept generation is non-trivial task. The complexity of this problem is mainly due to lack of formal representation frameworks that lend themselves easily to a computational approach. Generative grammar has emerged as a potential solution to this problem and presents a number of different possibilities for conceptual design automation. A novel search method is presented: it has been developed specifically for search trees defined by a special class of generative grammar in which rules of the grammar have parameters associated with them. A novel feature of the proposed search is Human in the loop approach in which learning about the search space is achieved by querying the user. The user fatigue restricts the maximum number of comparisons of candidate solutions (30–50). Prom the data gathered from the comparisons, a stochastic decision making process proposed in this paper quickly converges to a region of design space which best meet the user's preference. The method is implemented and applied to a grammar for shampoo bottle concept generation. It is shown through multiple user-guided and automated experiments that the method has ability to learn and adopt through human computer interaction process.

The interactive product design is of major economic and strategic importance in the development of new and innovative industrial products and processes. Designers have to deal with new constraints coming from the increasing customer requirements, the new environmental constraints (fuel consumption, emission of dioxide of carbon…), the constant mutation of the product and the continuous needed of specialist employees to drive and realize such products and processes. The research in interactive product design is related to a wide range of various thematic of research and engineering activities embracing high realistic multi-sensorial virtual prototyping. The main objectives are to facilitate, develop and support industrial innovations. The classical approaches supporting design and manufacture phases have to mute. This mutation should enable industrials to develop new techniques to quickly emerge creative ideas, development of effective low cost solution and the creation of technical consensus to market, leading immediately benefits on the economic requirements. Virtuality should be used as early as possible all along the lifecycle of the development of product and associated processes. Since the tools related to the virtuality allow exploring rapidly solution spaces, to accurate study draft solutions into their future environment through a high realistic way and to assess the product efficiency with their future product end-users. Interactive product design and manufacturing methods are implemented in various tools and processes responding to these expectations covering a wide spectrum of multidisciplinary research.

A brief view on a Resarch and Development project (named SPIRES) dealing with ergonomic and environmental design is presented. A methodology has been developed to combine ergonomie and environmental aspects within design development projects. This methodology has been tested within two SMEs and will be applied in a second stage on a wider range of enterprises. We present here the context of this project, the methodology we developed and first results on a case study with a SME.

The globalisation of manufacturing industries leads to a thirst for rapid advancements in technological development and expertise in the fields of advanced design and manufacturing, as it poses a number of new challenges to both multi-national companies as well as for companies, especially small to medium sized enterprises (SME), relying on an independent supply chain. In this context, both industry and the academia have an urgent need to equip themselves of latest knowledge, understanding, tools and techniques developed for design and manufacture for this new paradigm.

The chapter focuses on virtual environments and virtual prototyping methods and techniques, whose application in the design of products, manufacturing processes, assistive devices, medical tools and treatments, can improve the human condition both in industry, and in everyday life. Human beings can benefit from experiments, carried out on digital human models, in order to evaluate their performances on the work, their interaction with automated mechanical systems and their feedback about innovative medical treatments. Virtual Ergonomics and Virtual Safety are more and more recognised as crucial aspects of the life cycle management of industrial products. Indeed, it is understood that digital humans simulations can be very useful to evaluate the Workplace Health and Safety. Moreover, both in industrial and in non-industrial contexts, reliability and safety are of great importance when human beings and robots need to share their workspaces to collaboratively perform a specific task.

Industrial design is currently one of major keys to increase added-values of products and to differentiate them in the worldwide market. Especially, in case of high-tech and intelligent products with human interfaces such as information appliances, the industrial design processes not only includes styling design but also interaction design.

The capability to manage Intellectual Property is becoming essential, especially for SMEs that actively try to face competition of emerging countries and Far East (China, India, etc.). Whether a company is a small, mid, or large one, a strong intellectual property portfolio will provide the company with the ability to become a more effective competitor and enhance shareholder value. Nevertheless, some aspects are often neglected, such as the importance of patents, not only as a legal protection from unauthorized copying of inventions, but also as a tool for the innovation of both product and process. Establishing a strategy for Intellectual Property Management is important for every company that uses technology to secure a significant competitive advantage. In such a context, methodologies and tools for systematic innovation, such as TRIZ, can help to deal with specific issues of Intellectual Property Management (IPM) and are key issues to systematically innovate product/process/service. These themes are really actual and are attracting more and more interest from both industrial and academic communities.

The chapter on Methods and Simulation Tools for Assembly Design and Manufacturing (MEST4ADM) deals with the methods and simulation tools aimed to face the “design-manufacturing” process, as a whole, achieved through multi-station processes, within wide-spread factory contests.

We have presented three different programs of qualification and certification of competences in the area of modern product development, which comply with a European standard. The AIP-PRIMECA community is invited to participate in these programs as trainers or students, as well as dissemination partner. Based on the schema presented above, we envisage new professions and corresponding trainings and certifications created and supported by EMIRAcle and AIP-PRIMECA together. Joining efforts of these networks has a unique potential of disseminating an international training and certification scheme for modern job roles in product development in France with strong links to international communities.