ESTIA-Recherche

In this paper, a decision aid method for preoptimization is presented. The method is called "negotiation", and it is based on the identification, formulation, modeling and use of indicators defined as "negotiation indicators". These negotiation indicators are used to explore the solution space by means of a classbased approach. The classes are subdomains for the negotiation indicators domain. They represent equivalent cognitive solutions in terms of the negotiation indictors being used. By this method, we reduced the size of the solution space and the criteria, thus aiding the optimization methods. We present an example to show the method.

Industrial designers have to design products that meet user requirements. User requirements are usually used as validation elements at the end of the product design process. Yet, at this stage in the product design process, many decisions have already been made. Decisions made by designers in the preliminary design phase account for 70% of total product development costs. Therefore, iterating a design process is very expensive. The objective of the approach presented in this paper is to integrate user requirements at the beginning of preliminary design. The general object of the approach is to find links between a sensory characterisation and a functional characterisation of a product. Using such links, designers will be able to evaluate the influence of design decisions on user sensations. We propose to identify a product's functionalities. On the one hand, we define and quantify sensory variables relating to a product's functionalities and on the other hand we identify and quantify criteria variables and design variables. Then we search for relations between sensory variables (SVs) and criteria variables (CV)/design variables (DV). Methodologies and process used are presented in this paper. The present approach is applied to the parabolic ski in basic turn. With this example, we study somesthesia which is the sensations set perceived within muscles and ligaments. We obtain links between SVs and DV. We can integrate user requirements into preliminary design.

Most of the time, the innovative product concept identification is based on strategic and complex processes. Design actors' individual initiatives and development of new ideas emerge from conflicting contexts combining the technical, economical and social aspects. In this paper, we propose a new approach that aims at assisting design product from the early phases of the design process to the embodiment design phase. We suggest a combination of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system and specific developed tools (Meta-modelling techniques, Numeric-CSP solver and 'Innovation Development and Diffusion' (ID 2 ) system) to enhance cultural heterogeneity encountered within the team project and to take advantage of this aspect to foster design innovation and product quality.

This document presents a technique developed to switch between different behavioral models in the interactive simulation of a mechanical object. When conducting interactive simulations several behavioral models may be required, due to limitations of the models' validity domain. In other cases, alternative models are developed to improve the accuracy or the precision of the estimated response. Smaller time of response is also another feature that fosters model creation. In this work, an all-available model approach is proposed to perform interactive simulations where using only one model during the simulation may not be desirable, since its validity domain is finite and its advantages may appear only in a specific range of behavior. This paper proposes coupling several available models to cover a reasonable validity domain, and in particular, to improve the overall time of response. A selector, based on the Takagi-Sugeno-Kang method of inference, is constructed to dynamically switch between models, accordingly to the environment's status. This flexible model, created from a collection of sub-models, may also adapt itself to manage the accuracy/precision-time relation. The concept has been implemented in the simulation of the mechanical response of a simple structure, and performed better than the sub-models that it integrates.

This article illustrates a model selection management approach for virtual prototypes in interactive simulations. In those numerical simulations, the virtual prototype and its environment are modelled as a multiagent system, where every entity (prototype,human, etc.) is modelled as an agent. In particular, virtual prototyp ingagents that provide mathematical models of mechanical behaviour inform of computational methods are considered. This work argues that selection of an appropriate model in a changing environment,supported by models? characteristics, can be managed by the deter-mination a priori of specific exploitation and performance measures of virtual prototype models. As different models exist to represent a single phenomenon, it is not always possible to select the best one under all possible circumstances of the environment. Instead the most appropriate shall be selecting according to the use case. The proposed approach consists in identifying relevant metrics or indicator...

Innovation has been extensively studied both in the social sciences and in the engineering design field. In this paper we present the specifications and features of a new tool designed to coordinate the development of new solutions during the early phases of design projects. It is the result of 18 months of fieldwork within industrial companies during which we played an active role in the development of an innovative solution. We were also able to closely analyze the activities of certain actors (in this case materials experts) who are often behind proposals for new materials and processes. The Innovation Development and Diffusion (ID 2 ) tool is geared to help innovative solutions emerge, on the one hand, and consolidate these solutions by circulating them to the company's different specialists on the other. The tool is based on a concepts/ criteria table enabling the viewpoints of the different actors involved to be summarized during the design phase. In this paper we shall show how functional features such as links, questions, alarms, information enquiries, and the possibilities for exchanging information between actors can contribute to developing solutions for these different professionals. We will also see how the ''innovative'' solution proposed can be developed further by comparing and assessing it in relation to a list of criteria which is gradually drawn up by the actors involved in the project. This tool is designed to be managed by a coordinating actor who may also, depending on his/her strategy, consolidate the proposal by involving an increasing number of people.

This paper presents the results of an empirical study focused on the observation and analysis of an innovative design process. We have had the opportunity to observe and participate in the early phase of a new innovative project within a design office of a truck manufacturer. Our observations based on the actor network theory (ANT) highlight the importance of the various design rationales carried by the actors involved. The results of this study show the weakness and complexity of an innovative process within a highly constrained environment. We particularly show that carrying out innovation requires different viewpoints with regard to the object of the design to evolve along with the network of actors and the organisation involved. The issue of product and process integration involving knowledge transfer between actors throughout the design process is also discussed here. As a result, we highlight the importance of rethinking the interface role played by the material expert (in our case) and, in line with other works, we put forward the "interface actor" as the key network actor involved during the early development phases. In order to provide the network and the interface actor with a means to share information and co-operate during these informal early design phases we propose some features of a new web-based information system and the basis for a debate on the ILM (Idea Lifecycle Management) concept as a solution to the issue of innovative idea information structuring.

Most of the time, the innovative product concept identification is based on strategic and complex processes. Design actors' individual initiatives and development of new ideas emerge from conflicting contexts combining the technical, economical and social aspects. In this paper, we propose a new approach that aims at assisting design product from the early phases of the design process to the embodiment design phase. We suggest a combination of Product Lifecycle Management (PLM) system and specific developed tools (Meta-modelling techniques, Numeric-CSP solver and 'Innovation Development and Diffusion' (ID 2 ) system) to enhance cultural heterogeneity encountered within the team project and to take advantage of this aspect to foster design innovation and product quality.