Constructing a hybrid Kansei engineering system based on multiple affective responses: Application to product form design

This study proposes an expert system, which is called hybrid Kansei engineering system (HKES) based on multiple affective responses (MARs), to facilitate the development of product form design. HKES is consists of two sub-systems, namely forward Kansei engineering system (FKES) and backward Kansei engineering system (BKES). FKES is utilized to generate product alternatives and BKES is utilized to predict affective response of new product designs. Although the idea of HKES and similar hybrid systems have already been applied in various fields, such as product design, engineering design, and system optimization, most of existing methodologies are limited by searching optimal design solutions using single-objective optimization (SOO), instead of multi-objective optimization (MOO). Hence the applicability of HKES is limited while adapting to real-world problems, such as product form design discussed in this paper. To overcome this shortcoming, this study integrates the methodologies of support vector regression (SVR) and multi-objective genetic algorithm (MOGA) into the scheme of HEKS. BKES was constructed by training SVR prediction model of every single affective response (SAR). The form features of these product samples were treated as input data while the average utility scores obtained from all the consumers were used as output values. FKES generates optimal design alternatives using the MOGA-based searching method according to MARs specified by a product designer as the system supervisor. A case study of mobile phone design was given to demonstrate the analysis results. The proposed HKES based on MARs can be applied to a wide variety of product design problems, as well as other MOO problems involving with subjective human perceptions.     

A support vector regression based prediction model of affective responses for product form design

In this paper, a state-of-the-art machine learning approach known as support vector regression (SVR) is introduced to develop a model that predicts consumers’ affective responses (CARs) for product form design. First, pairwise adjectives were used to describe the CARs toward product samples. Second, the product form features (PFFs) were examined systematically and then stored them either as continuous or discrete attributes. The adjective evaluation data of consumers were gathered from questionnaires. Finally, prediction models based on different adjectives were constructed using SVR, which trained a series of PFFs and the average CAR rating of all the respondents. The real-coded genetic algorithm (RCGA) was used to determine the optimal training parameters of SVR. The predictive performance of the SVR with RCGA (SVR–RCGA) is compared to that of SVR with 5-fold cross-validation (SVR–5FCV) and a back-propagation neural network (BPNN) with 5-fold cross-validation (BPNN–5FCV). The experimental results using the data sets on mobile phones and electronic scooters show that SVR performs better than BPNN. Moreover, the RCGA for optimizing training parameters for SVR is more convenient for practical usage in product form design than the timeconsuming CV.     

基于多目标进化算法的锅炉热损失优化研究

针对锅炉热损失模型的特点,提出基于Pareto最优概念的多目标进化算法实现运行工况寻优,然后根据模糊集理论在Pareto解集中求得满意解,获得最佳的锅炉燃烧调整方式.通过某600MW锅炉热损失的优化研究,并与基于神经网络的寻优结果比较,数值计算表明支持向量机模型寻优结果在Pareto前沿具有更好的多样性,结果更优,可指导运行人员进行参数优化调整,提高燃烧经济性.     

Affective design of products using an audio-based protocol: Application to eyeglass frame

The measurement and understanding of user emotions elicited by product appearance are critical elements of the product development process. This paper proposes a new emotion measurement method, called Auditory Parameter Method. It is a non-verbal technique that uses auditory stimuli (music samples) and association tests for evaluating a set of products, given by their pictures. From user-tests, it provides an assessment of these products according to a series of emotional dimensions. We present the methodological framework used to build the links between user's emotional responses and geometrical features of the products. The method is described on an application case, an eyeglass frame. Analysis of Variance models are employed to examine how various shape factors influence users' emotional responses. To demonstrate the effectiveness of our protocol, we compare the proposed method with the conventional Semantic Differential using Principal Component Analysis and Generalized Procrustes Analysis. The new protocol demonstrates interesting qualities for collecting the intuitive emotions of users and for providing a discriminant measurement of emotions. It can also be used by designers to stimulate creativity.     

基于可拓表征与神经网络的苗族图案设计

针对苗族图案的文化传承及设计应用问题,提出基于可拓表征和神经网络的民族图案创新设计方法,对苗族蜡染图案进行解构、映射和重构.首先对苗族蜡染图案进行可拓表征,运用发散树法构建设计生长阶段模型对苗族图案基元进行拓展分析.其次基于感性工学对苗族蜡染图案进行感性意象分析,提出一种面向图案构型、纹样语义和种类的图案解构方法,构建...     

Kansei engineering as a powerful consumer-oriented technology for product development

Kansei engineering was founded 30 years ago, as an ergonomics and consumer-oriented technology for producing a new product. When a consumer wants to buy something, he/she will have a kind of feeling and image (kansei in Japanese) in his/her mind. If the consumer's feeling could be implemented in the new product, he/she would be more satisfied with the product. Kansei engineering aims at translation of kansei into the product design field including product mechanical function. This is why it is called the consumer-oriented aspect. There are many products in Japan which have applied kansei engineering. Recently, it has also been applied to construction products as well as to community design.     

Single and Multi-objective Evolutionary Algorithms for the Coordination of Serial Manufacturing Operations

This paper focuses on a typical problem arising in serial production, where two consecutive departments must sequence their internal work, each taking into account the requirements of the other one. Even if the considered problem is inherently multi-objective, to date the only heuristic approaches dealing with this problem use single-objective formulations, and also require specific assumptions on the objective function, leaving the most general case of the problem open for innovative approaches. In this paper, we develop and compare three evolutionary algorithms for dealing with such a type of combinatorial problems. Two algorithms are designed to perform directed search by aggregating the objectives of each department in a single fitness, while a third one is designed to search for the Pareto front of non-dominated solutions. We apply the three algorithms to considerably complex case studies derived from industrial production of furniture. Firstly, we validate the effectiveness of the proposed genetic algorithms considering a simple case study for which information about the optimal solution is available. Then, we focus on more complex case studies, for which no a priori indication on the optimal solutions is available, and perform an extensive comparison of the various approaches. All the considered algorithms are able to find satisfactory solutions on large production sequences with nearly 300 jobs in acceptable computation times, but they also exhibit some complementary characteristics that suggest hybrid combinations of the various methods.     

Memory-based adaptive partitioning (MAP) of search space for the enhancement of convergence in Pareto-based multi-objective evolutionary algorithms

A new algorithm, dubbed memory-based adaptive partitioning (MAP) of search space, which is intended to provide a better accuracy/speed ratio in the convergence of multi-objective evolutionary algorithms (MOEAs) is presented in this work. This algorithm works by performing an adaptive-probabilistic refinement of the search space, with no aggregation in objective space. This work investigated the integration of MAP within the state-of-the-art fast and elitist non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm (NSGAII). Considerable improvements in convergence were achieved, in terms of both speed and accuracy. Results are provided for several commonly used constrained and unconstrained benchmark problems, and comparisons are made with standalone NSGAII and hybrid NSGAII-efficient local search (eLS).     

Cycle-breaking acceleration for support vector regression

Support vector regression (SVR) is a powerful tool in modeling and prediction tasks with widespread application in many areas. The most representative algorithms to train SVR models are Shevade et al.'s Modification 2 and Lin's WSS1 and WSS2 methods in the LIBSVM library. Both are variants of standard SMO in which the updating pairs selected are those that most violate the Karush-Kuhn-Tucker optimality conditions, to which LIBSVM adds a heuristic to improve the decrease in the objective function. In this paper, and after presenting a simple derivation of the updating procedure based on a greedy maximization of the gain in the objective function, we show how cycle-breaking techniques that accelerate the convergence of support vector machines (SVM) in classification can also be applied under this framework, resulting in significantly improved training times for SVR.     

A product configuration analysis method for emotional design using a personal construct theory

Identifying emotion-related product attributes (perceived by consumers) is no easy task in the realm of emotional design. Conventionally, this process relies heavily on the researchers who conduct the Kansei experiments selecting product attributes such as color, form, and texture for Kansei studies. However, in so doing, other product attributes that also play a vital role in product-emotion associations might be neglected by the researchers. More importantly, the identification of product attributes should be based on consumer's point of view (and feelings). Accordingly, a personal construct theory based product configuration analysis method is proposed in this work. The method develops the customer's mind map for each Kansei tag in order to capture replications of candidate products. A means-value chain is used to generate targets which are later compared with candidate products by consumers. The comparison results could suggest product attributes that are relevant to the desired Kansei. The proposed approach is presented and illustrated using a case study of Graffiti designs on notebooks. Results obtained are discussed. It appears that the proposed method is promising in identifying product attributes with desired Kansei impacts.     

Regression models for estimating product life cycle cost

Product life cycle cost (LCC) is defined as the cost that is incurred in all stages of the life cycle of a product, including product creation, use and disposal. In recent years, LCC has become as crucial as product quality and functionality in deciding the success of a product in the market. In order to estimate LCC of new products, researchers have employed several (parametric) regression analysis models and artificial neural networks (ANN) on historical life cycle data with known costs. In this article, we conduct an empirical study on performance of five popular non-parametric regression models for estimating LCC under different simulated environments. These environments are set by varying the number of cost drivers (independent variables), the size of sample data, the noise degree of sample data, and the bias degree of sample data. Statistical analysis of the results recommend best LCC estimation models for variable environments in stages of the product life cycle. These findings are validated with real-world data from previous work.     

Improving the training time of support vector regression algorithms through novel hyper-parameters search space reductions

The selection of hyper-parameters in support vector machines (SVM) is a key point in the training process of these models when applied to regression problems. Unfortunately, an exact method to obtain the optimal set of SVM hyper-parameters is unknown, and search algorithms are usually applied to obtain the best possible set of hyper-parameters. In general these search algorithms are implemented as grid searches, which are time consuming, so the computational cost of the SVM training process increases considerably. This paper presents a novel study of the effect of including reductions in the range of SVM hyper-parameters, in order to reduce the SVM training time, but with the minimum possible impact in its performance. The paper presents reduction in parameter C, by considering its relation with the rest of SVM hyper-parameters (γ and ε), through an approximation of the SVM model. On the other hand, we use some characteristics of the Gaussian kernel function and a previous result in the literature to obtain novel bounds for γ and ε hyper-parameters. The search space reductions proposed are evaluated in different regression problems from UCI and StatLib databases. All the experiments carried out applying the popular LIBSVM solver have shown that our approach reduces the SVM training time, maintaining the SVM performance similar to when the complete range in SVM parameters is considered.     

Evolutionary Multiobjective Design in Automotive Development

This paper describes the use of evolutionary algorithms to solve multiobjective optimization problems arising at different stages in the automotive design process. The problems considered are black box optimization scenarios: definitions of the decision space and the design objectives are given, together with a procedure to evaluate any decision alternative with regard to the design objectives, e.g., a simulation model. However, no further information about the objective function is available. In order to provide a practical introduction to the use of multiobjective evolutionary algorithms, this article explores the three following case studies: design space exploration of road trains, parameter optimization of adaptive cruise controllers, and multiobjective system identification. In addition, selected research topics in evolutionary multiobjective optimization will be illustrated along with each case study, highlighting the practical relevance of the theoretical results through real-world application examples. The algorithms used in these studies were implemented based on the PISA (Platform and Programming Language Independent Interface for Search Algorithm) framework. Besides helping to structure the presentation of different algorithms in a coherent way, PISA also reduces the implementation effort considerably.