Cognitive Tools for Design Engineers: A Framework for the Development of Intelligent CAD Systems

Abstract

Great design engineers are highly creative and unorthodox individuals who invent novel solutions that satisfy a set of constraints that are often ill-defined and customer driven. Designers use many tools to develop their designs, such as computer aided design (CAD) systems, that do not support the cognition that drives the design process. This paper develops the cognitive psychological background, a based rationale for CAD enhancement and the research framework for cognitive CAD tools that support the design engineer during the creative problem solving process through reasoning and meaningful design alternatives. The research framework presented here was initially created for the development of cognitive tools for mechanical design but is transferable to other design disciplines. At the core of the research plan are the development and implementation of an artificial memory that is interpreted with real-time data analyses supported by machine learning, and made accessible to the design engineer through interaction design for intelligent CAD (iCAD).