Towards automated development of specialized algorithms for design synthesis: Knowledge compilation as an approach to computer-aided design

We describe the emerging area of artificial intelligence research on knowledge compilation, the transformation of explicitly represented knowledge about a domain into an efficient algorithm for performing some task in that domain. In particular, we are interested in the case where the task is design synthesis. We survey several research projects based on this approach, and we use an example of geartrain design from the DIOGENES project to illustrate it in detail. We assess the potential of this approach for improving computer-aided design and identify some of the obstacles that knowledge compilation will have to overcome first.Earlier versions of this paper were presented at the Workshop on Research Directions in AI and Design, at Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA, in April 1989, and at the NSF Engineering Design Research Conference, at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA, USA, in June 1989 Mostow 89a].The opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author and do not reflect any policies, either expressed or implied, of any granting agency.