The EDRC and design: a deeper understanding

Since its inception in 1986, Carnegie Mellon University's Engineering Design Research Center (EDRC), sponsored by the National Science Foundation, has worked to achieve a broader and deeper understanding of design. By broader, we mean expanding from an artifact's detailed physical design to its full life cycle (from conception to disposal); by deeper, we mean providing a science base for comprehending the design process itself so that computer based methods and tools can better support it. This would provide conceptual bases and computational support to aid US industry in producing superior products more quickly and at lower cost. The EDRC's research emphasizes: understanding design's qualitative aspects to the same extent that the quantitative, algorithmic aspects have been addressed in the past; creating an interdisciplinary environment where pursuing innovation and understanding of the design process is a major goal; and training students in those aspects of design that currently cannot be automated. The EDRC's research accomplishments can be described in terms of three phases: applying cognitive science and computer science techniques and tools to engineering design problems; creating integrated, computational tool environments for particular domains; and supplying comprehensive, team-supportive environments where researchers can design and fabricate artifacts. Throughout all three phases, it was discovered that AI design techniques apply to synthesis tools and to environments that integrate tool and design collaboration.