Matthew I. Campbell, Jonathan Cagan
Computational Design Laboratory
Department of Mechanical Engineering
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
AND
Kenneth Kotovsky
Department of Psychology
Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA
This paper provides an introduction to a new design methodology known as A-Design, which combines aspects of multi-objective optimization, multi-agent systems, and automated design synthesis. The A-Design theory is founded on the notion that engineering design occurs in interaction with an ever-changing environment and therefore computer tools developed to aid in the design process should be adaptive to these changes. In this paper, A-Design is introduced along with some simple test problems to demonstrate the capabilities of different aspects of the theory. The theory of A-Design is then shown as the basis for a design tool that adaptively creates electro-mechanical configuration designs for changing user preferences.