A smart conflict resolution model using multi-layer knowledge graph for conceptual design

Reducing the impact of conflicts on requirement-function-structure mapping in the early stage of product design is an important measure to achieve conceptual innovation, which relies on accurate reasoning of multi-domain knowledge. As product requirements become more personalized and diverse, traditional discrete knowledge organization and reasoning methods are difficult to adapt to the challenges of continuity and precision in conceptual solution. Knowledge graphs with complex networks have obvious advantages in association detection, knowledge visualization, and explainable reasoning of implicit knowledge, which offer innovative opportunities for conflict resolution in conceptual design. Therefore, a smart conflict resolution model using a multi-layer Knowledge Graph for Conceptual Design(mKGCD) is proposed in this study. A knowledge expression form of FBS-oriented design patent vocabulary is proposed, which is used for knowledge entity recognition and relation extraction based on natural language processing. A label mapping method based on inventive principles is used for patent classification and a four-layer semantic network for conflict resolution is constructed. Through semantic distance calculation, the designer's requirements for function/behavior/structure are smart deployed to obtain appropriate knowledge. A case study of the conceptual design of a collapsible installation and handling equipment demonstrates the feasibility of the proposed approach. The proposed method can not only meet the functional solution and innovation in the context of different design requirements, but also effectively improve the design efficiency in the iterative design process by means of multiple meanings of one graph.     

Concept design for quality in virtual environment

The early identification of the optimal concept is a critical task of the design process in order to increase the chances of satisfying customers. The challenging aspect of the approach proposed in this work relies in the quality evaluation of virtual prototypes of new industrial products (i.e. concept designs) by adopting a statistical procedure previously applied to service industries. Following this approach, the optimal concept design is defined at the end of a process consisting of five phases: identification of the quality elements of the concept design, classification of the quality elements, generation and quality evaluation of product concepts and, finally, definition of the optimal concept. Currently, virtual reality (VR) environment offers the opportunity to evaluate the characteristics of different virtual prototypes by involving experts and/or customers, overcoming the need for several physical prototypes. On the other side, the dynamics of simulation and the stereoscopic visualization in VR environment provides a more realistic and impressive interaction with virtual prototypes than in CAD environment.

The proposed methodology is fully exploited through two case studies: the choice of the optimal design for a traditional Neapolitan coffee maker, addressed by the Italian designer Riccardo Dalisi, and for a subassembly of a new minicar.     

面向计算机的产品创新设计新模型与新原理(Ⅰ)

文章提出利于计算机表示的产品物元系统模型、产品软硬模型、产品结构模型。基于物元系统模型深入分析了产品的多功能性、一征多产品性、一值多产品性。提出了在一定条件下,同物产品同功、同特征产品同功、同值产品同功的产品创新设计原理。基于产品软硬模型、产品结构模型研究了产品的功能分解、产品功能与产品构件的函数关系、产品功能与产品结构的函数关系。新模型和新原理为开发支持产品创新设计的智能CAD打下了良好基础。     

A TRIZ-inspired knowledge-driven approach for user-centric smart product-service system: A case study on intelligent test tube rack design

With the advancement of information and communication technologies, smart product-service system (PSS) has attracted increasing research attention to integrate diverse providers/stakeholders and deliver value-added services. Many studies have thusly been conducted to design and develop the smart PSS, while i) how to identify multi-source requirements through reviewing the entire service interaction cycle, ii) how to define and deduce the innovative smart connected products (SCPs) features under contradictory interests, and iii) how to specify the functional and data service configuration solutions are still unclear. To tackle these problems, a knowledge-driven approach was introduced to better organize the multi-source design knowledge and deduce service recommendations for personalized user demands. Specifically, a user journey map-based method was proposed for knowledge elicitation of the specific user demands. To organize the user knowledge for better understanding, hierarchical personalized user requirements (PURs) analytics were proposed to quantitively transfer PURs into proper design engineering parameters. To inspire the problem-solving logic for design solution generation, TRIZ inventive principles were retrieved and referred to. With the generated design concept, the service logic diagrams were structured to define the personalized service content of SCPs. Having the service logic and SCPs, the overall service network of the user-centric smart PSS can be outlined. The proposed approach was demonstrated and validated in the digital health area via a case study on smart test tube rack (STTR) design, and it was validated from an economic feasibility perspective. It showed that the STTR was promising to reduce manual work, improve the nurses' performance, and enhance patients’ medical experience. Furthermore, it was suggested that the proposed approach can effectively guide the innovative SCPs creation in a straightforward and instructive manner, and is promising to process the service solution deduction and improve the efficiency of service creation in real practice.     

Using the theory of inventive problem solving to brainstorm innovative ideas for assessing varieties of phone-cameras

Today, to survive in an extremely turbulent business environment, traditional products characterized by limited capabilities cannot satisfy diverse customer requirements. In particular, it is observed that the boundaries between smart phones, digital cameras, and tablets are becoming more and more blurred than before. Therefore, for attracting the ad-hoc segments, global companies began to develop hybrid pad-phones and phone-cameras. Unfortunately, some of these products are facing poor sales without incurring much market attention. In order to overcome the aforementioned difficulty, this paper presents a novel framework to reduce the gaps between producer expectation and user perception. By means of the TRIZ (the theory of inventive problem solving), a contradiction matrix is applied to handle engineering conflicts among multi-functional alternatives to seek inventive solutions. Then, ARM (association rule mining) is conducted to identify critical features that formulate customer dissatisfaction (purchase intention). Finally, CA (conjoint analysis) is employed to derive customer utilities for benchmarking varieties of design concepts. In summary, the proposed framework cannot only help product planners efficiently generate innovative ideas, but also effectively justify the validity of design concepts.     

Generation and evaluation of product concepts by integrating extended axiomatic design,quality function deployment and design structure matrix

Existing product concept generation and evaluation methods are mainly based on designers' experience to determine design schemes in the process of product development, which is time-consuming and ineffective. This paper proposes an approach to generate and evaluate design concepts by integrating the extended axiomatic design, quality function deployment and design structure matrix. Different design domains are mapped for matrix operations to generate feasible concepts based on design criteria. A domain mapping matrix is built to determine technical measures, functional requirements and design parameters based on customer requirements. The proposed approach provides a structured method to quantify, validate and qualify design concepts. A case study of the design of a hand rehabilitation device demonstrates the effectiveness of the proposed method.     

The application of the methodology for secure cyber–physical systems design to improve the semi-natural model of the railway infrastructure

The paper suggests a new methodology for secure cyber–physical systems design. The proposed methodology consists of two main cycles. The main goal of the first cycle is in design of the system model, while the second one is about development of the system prototype. The key idea of the methodology is in providing of the most rational solutions that are improving the security of cyber–physical systems. Such solutions are called alternatives and built according to functional requirements and non-functional limitations to the system. Each cycle of the methodology consists of the verification process and seven stages that are associated with the used cyber–physical system model. The objective of the verification process is in checking of constructed models and prototypes in terms of their correctness and compatibility. The model represents cyber–physical systems as sets of building blocks with network between them, takes elements internal structure into account and allows direct and reverse transformations. The novelty of the suggested methodology is in the combination of design, development and verification techniques within a single approach. To provide an example of the design methodology application, in this paper it is used to improve the semi-natural model of the railway infrastructure.     

Smart concept design based on recessive inheritance in complex electromechanical system

Due to the substantial increase in users demand, the scale of complex electromechanical systems is rapidly enlarging when systems are rapidly merging, and the complexity of the system has been greatly increased. Even if the original system is running well, singular phenomena often occurs in the process of complex electromechanical systems integration, which leads to the failure of the functional requirements of the new generation of products. In the face of the singular phenomena of complex electromechanical systems, traditional solutions focus more on solving the problems existing in the current complex electromechanical systems, and do not deeply study the root causes of the singular phenomena in the design process of complex electromechanical systems. The singular phenomena of system has high concealment and is not easy to be detected at the design stage, and similar singular phenomena will appear repeatedly in multiple generations of the same product. These characteristics are very similar to the characteristics of recessive inheritance of biological systems. Therefore, the paper will compare complex electromechanical systems with biological systems, and propose a recessive inheritance mechanism of complex electromechanical systems that can be used in smart concept design by introducing the recessive inheritance mechanism of biological system into the complex electromechanical system design process. First, use function trimming to build a functional gene for new complex electromechanical systems. Second, combine the Length and Time dimension chart (L-T chart) and Computer Aided Innovation (CAI) to find the recessive parameters that may exist in the design of the new generation system and analyze the possible coupling phenomena between the recessive parameters. Then, using the Invention Problem Solving Theory (TRIZ) tools to solve the coupling relationship between recessive parameters to reduce the possibility of singular phenomena in the new generation system, forming a new generation of complex electromechanical system smart concept design theory framework. Finally, for the design example of the new generation of energy-saving surface platform, the proposed method is used to determine the design scheme, establish a 3D model and verify the feasibility and scientificity of the theory by Ansys analysis.     

智能家居情境感知服务的运行时建模与执行方法

随着智能家居基础设施的不断发展,智能家居逐渐进入以智能服务为特征的新时期.大量复杂、异构的智能设备相互协同,构成海量、智能、集成的智能家居应用.其中,情境感知服务根据服务对象所处情境的变化为其提供准确的服务,是智能家居应用的典型代表.目前,情境感知服务往往面向场景进行构建,其设备多样性和服务随需性给应用开发带来极大的挑战.开发者需要熟悉设备管理接口、进行接口调用和交互,同时,理解服务功能和质量需求,进行管理逻辑的编写.为了快速定制和开发情境感知服务,将知识图谱引入开发过程,提出一种智能家居情境感知服务的运行时建模与执行方法：首先,提出智能家居情境感知服务知识图谱概念模型,定义其情境中各种概念和关系;其次,提出智能家居情境感知服务知识图谱实例模型的构造与维护机制,通过运行时概念、关系实例表示情境知识;最后,提出基于知识推理的智能家居情境感知服务执行方法,通过知识推理自动执行设备功能.面向实际场景,构建智能家居原型系统.实验结果显示,该方法能够实现情境感知服务运行时建模与执行,其代码减少量超过90%.     

基于我国端游产品的用户体验设计策略研究

在体验经济的时代环境下,探析客户端游戏产品设计中所运用的用户体验设计策 略,为今后的传统产品设计寻求新的设计视角。采用文献研究和案例分析法,以用户体验设计 发展为基础,以产品设计、用户体验设计、交互设计、设计心理学及感性工学中的方法理论为 依托,借助客户端游戏产品为研究对象,对其蕴含的用户体验设计策略进行研究。给出一种用 户体验的量化评价模型,并提出了能够提升客户端游戏产品用户体验的设计策略,在此基础上 为传统产品的创新设计提供新的启示和指导。     

Virtual engineering at work: the challenges for designing mechatronic products

The product race has become an innovation race, reconciling challenges of branding, performance, time to market and competitive pricing while complying with ecological, safety and legislation constraints. The answer lies in “smart” products of high complexity, relying on heterogeneous technologies and involving active components. To keep pace with this evolution and further accelerate the design cycle, the design engineering process must be rethought. The paper presents a mechatronic simulation approach to achieve this goal. The starting point is the current virtual prototyping paradigm that is widely adopted and that continues to improve in terms of model complexity, accuracy, robustness and automated optimization. Two evolutions are discussed. A first one is the extension to multi-physics simulation answering the design needs of the inherent multi-disciplinarity of “intelligent” products. Integration of thermal, hydraulic, mechanical, haptic and electrical functions requires simulation to extend beyond the traditional CAD-FEM approach, supporting the use of system, functional and perception models. The second evolution is the integration of control functions in the products. Where current industrial practice treats mechanical system design and control design as different design loops, this paper discusses their integration in a model-based design process at all design stages, turning concepts such as software-in-the-loop and hardware-in-the-loop into basic elements of an industrial design approach. These concepts are illustrated by a number of automotive design engineering cases, which demonstrate that the combined use of perception, geometric and system models allows to develop innovative solutions for the active safety, low-emission and high-comfort performance of next-generation vehicles. This process in turn poses new challenges to the design in terms of the specification and validation of such innovative products, including their failure modes and fault-tolerant behaviour. This will imply adopting a model-based system engineering approach that is currently already common practice in software engineering.     

基于智能场景概念的学习方式及设计研究

从场景的概念入手,在学习领域内探索智能时代下的产品设计方法,研究智能应 用场景中用户、产品、环境等各要素之间的关系,提出智能学习场景下的产品设计路径,以满 足智能时代下的用户需求。基于场景的概念,结合智能产品的特征建立智能应用场景模型,分 析得到智能系统的典型结构。结合学习方式的转变,构建智能学习场景模型,提出智能学习场 景下的学习类产品设计的概念。     

BERT and Pareto dominance applied to biological strategy decision for bio-inspired design

Bio-inspired design (BID) approaches have provided numerous novel proposals for innovative design. Meanwhile, it resulted in an explosion of alternatives. Choosing a small amount of the personalized recommendations is becoming more and more difficult, and engineers may prefer fewer goals. Furthermore, engineers may choose designs that have variety and feasibility in BID. However, the diversity and feasibility of BID are often contradictory. Engineers need to apply multi-objective optimization methods to find better BID to ensure implementable. Aiming to overcome the above problems, based on the biological strategies from the most popular BID-AskNature, we proposed an interdisciplinary approach with the bidirectional encoder representation from transformers (BERT) and Pareto dominance for biological strategy decision (BPBSD) in the BID. First, we use BERT to find potential biological strategies similar to the keyword of BID. Then, aiming at the functional diversity and the feasibility of BID, we used the Pareto dominance theory to solve the contradiction. Finally, we verify the effectiveness of the proposed approach with three different application cases. Experiments show that the proposed BPBSD can balance the relationship between diversity and feasibility in BID. It is hoped that this work provides practical guidance for BID.     

A synthetical development approach for rehabilitation assistive smart product–service systems: A case study

Digital transformation (DT), the combination of information, computing, communication and connectivity technologies, which has triggered an effective upgrade of different aspects of market strategy, customer experience etc. Nowadays, rehabilitation assistive devices (RADs) are evolving to be more digital, intelligent and personalized. Digitalization and servitization have fostered to an emerging business model—the smart product–service system (Smart PSS). Therefore, DT of the RADs’ industry advocates not only the design of products and functions, the more important is the management of service processes and resource integration. With the increase in the elderly and disabled population, the requirement for RADs is becoming more urgent. However, research on Smart PSS for RAD is still limited. The rehabilitation assistive smart product–service systems (RASPSS) was introduced into the development of RADs based on the “Design and Management of DT” strategy through the service design of assistive devices and user requirements analysis. Further, an integrated design of RAD and Smart PSS has been created, a development method of RASPSS proposed, the theoretical model of the Smart PSS based on RADs built. To specify the service framework, this case study discusses the development of a home rehabilitation assistive system for femoral stem fracture patients. This paper evaluates the usability of the system, the results of which prove usability and effectiveness of the RASPSS development method. The RASPSS development model is designed to meet needs of stakeholders, improve the user rehabilitation experience, promote the service innovation of Smart PSS, bring certain market benefits of rehabilitation aids and create social value.     

Smart product-service systems in interoperable logistics: Design and implementation prospects

To deal with the increasing complexity of customer demands, supply chain (SC) and logistics organisation and management have been constantly moving towards collaboration, intelligence, and service-orientation. The importance of service-oriented design for SC and logistics systems has been stressed, especially with regards to interoperability and sustainability. In this context, the recent intelligent interoperable logistics paradigm has been increasingly studied and the Smart Product-Service System (PSS) concept seems interesting for the paradigm. Smart PSS are characterised by their ability to collect and process information autonomously and subsequently make decisions and self-act/evolve. Interested in the potential for tackling complex logistics systems, this paper investigates how smart PSS could be considered and designed for service-oriented, intelligent interoperable logistics. A recent breakthrough logistics paradigm called the Physical Internet (PI) is taken as a practical example in this research. We present and discuss key design issues and innovative business models associated with smart PSS in PI. The results clearly indicate the promising potential of smart PSS in PI and the need for further research. Consequently, new research avenues leading to a new era of intelligent interoperable logistics are outlined. This paper intends to contribute to two main areas of research: the design and implementation of smart PSS in PI, and functional and conceptual research on PI and intelligent interoperable logistics.     

代偿机制下适老智慧产品交互设计研究

探讨智慧养老服务模式下,适老智慧产品交互设计策略与方法,发挥代偿机制作 用实现科技产物与老年人的亲和性匹配。首先通过对比研究分析技术支撑下的“新老年”较之 传统老年人不同特征及更高层次需求信息,探讨老年智能产品交互障碍问题,进而引入感官代 偿设计理论,从产品使用方式层级出发,提出以知觉为导向的功能认知适老化、以效用为导向 的行为交互适老化、以互动为导向的情感体验适老化设计策略与方法,应用多种感官代偿、心 理代偿、运动能力辅助等代偿方法,优化人-机交互绩效,使老年人轻松、愉悦地使用智能产品, 实现技术与人文的融合生长。     

A design method for an intelligent manufacturing and service system for rehabilitation assistive devices and special groups

The maturity of Industrial 4.0 technologies (smart wearable sensors, Internet of things [IoT], cloud computing, etc.) has facilitated the iteration and digitization of rehabilitation assistive devices (RADs) and the innovative development of intelligent manufacturing systems of RADs, expanding the value-added component of smart healthcare services. The intelligent manufacturing service mode, based on the concept of the product life cycle, completes the multi-source data production process analysis and the optimization of manufacturing, operation, and maintenance through intelligent industrial Internet of things and other means and improves the product life cycle management and operation mechanism. The smart product-service system (PSS) realizes the value-added of products by providing users with personalized products and value-added services, service efficiency, and sustainable development and gradually forms an Internet-product-service ecosystem. However, research on the PSS of RADs for special populations is relatively limited. Thus, this paper provides an overview of an IoT-based production model for RADs and a smart PSS-based development method of multimodal healthcare value-added services for special people. Taking the hand rehabilitation training devices for autistic children as a case, this paper verifies the effectiveness and availability of the proposed method. Compared with the traditional framework, the method used in this paper primarily helps evaluate rehabilitation efficacy, personalizes schemes for patients, provides auxiliary intelligent manufacturing service data and digital rehabilitation data for RAD manufacturers, and optimizes the product iteration development procedures by combining user-centered product interaction, multimodal evaluation, and value-added design. This study incorporates the iterative design of RADs into the process of smart PSS to provide some guidance to the RADs design manufacturers.     

Fixture knowledge model development and implementation based on a functional design approach

The development of a knowledge model applied to fixture design is a complex task. The main purpose of such model is the development of a knowledge-based application to assist fixture designers. It comprises a detailed specification of the types and structures of data involved in the execution of the inference process needed to create a fixture solution for machining a raw part. A development method together with a knowledge model for automating fixture design is proposed. The development was divided into three parts: Design Process Model, definition of Top-level functional functions and Product Knowledge Model. Adopting a functional design approach, the fixture design solution was created in two levels: functional and detailed. The functional level is based on fixture functional elements and the detailed one is based on fixture commercial elements. The definitions and concepts used in the application are specified in several Units of Knowledge (UoK) that comprises the Fixture Knowledge Model. Common Knowledge Analysis and Design Structuring (CommonKADS), Methodology and software tools Oriented to KBE Applications (MOKA), Integrated DEFinition for Function Modelling (IDEF0) and Unified Modelling Language (UML) are the methodologies and techniques used in the proposed method. Finally, a prototype KBE application for fixture design was developed.     

A new design paradigm for the development of custom-fit soft sockets for lower limb prostheses

This paper presents a new 3D design paradigm for the development of specific custom-fit products, such as the soft socket of prostheses for lower limb amputees. It is centered on the digital model of the human body and, contrarily to the traditional process almost manually based, it considers the integration of methods and tools coming from different research and application fields: Reverse Engineering, Medical Imaging, Virtual Prototyping, Physics-based Simulation, and Rapid Prototyping. The paper describes the techniques adopted to acquire and create the digital model of the residual limb, the procedure to generate the socket model, the strategy developed for the functional simulation of the socket-stump interaction and, finally, the realization of the physical prototype. Each design step is described with the related problems and the obtained results. Both trans-tibial and trans-femoral amputees have been considered; however, for now the complete process has been validated for trans-tibial prostheses. Major outcomes of the proposed approach stand in a better quality of the final product, in a shorter involvement of the amputee implying a lower psychological impact, in a limited use of physical prototypes, and in a shorter development time. Moreover, the resulting paradigm answers to the Collaborative Engineering guidelines by optimizing the interaction between different domains and enhancing their contributions in a homogeneous development framework.