In Search of Design Genes: Chaotic versus Controlled Mitosis

To create many of the complex products and systems we have around us in the modern world we have needed advanced technology. But to enable us to use this, and create the volume and complexity of products we have also needed complex organisational systems and processes. Large complex organisations have in particular relied on the Systems Engineering process, to help guide complex projects through to completion. Many products, such as aircraft, only exist because of this systematic approach. But this systematic approach has a downside. To maintain control of a complex design it is necessary to fix ideas and concepts, and work through detail in a top-down approach. This flow down keeps development within the bounds of the original idea or concept, but naturally prevents innovation and variation. In fact, such variation and innovation are in some ways the enemy of the controlled organisation needed to keep a global enterprise on track. One great fear is the phenomenon of emergence; inherently unknowable behaviour.

But ironically, to take advantage of the many opportunities offered by new technologies, such as composite materials or additive manufacturing, this kind of innovation is desperately needed. But marrying these technologies within a complex fixed organisational structure and process is clearly very difficult.

This work looks to nature for inspiration, for an unconstrained approach to the creation of engineering designs. It seeks to start from the bottom up rather than top down. The creation of an elemental set of rules based on energy and equilibrium, could allow variation to naturally arise in design. In nature, the rules are applied blindly with no fixed final form. That final form only arising as a consequence of its environment. Trees are a wonderful example of this.

So the aim of this work is: to seek an elementary set of rules, akin to a DNA of design, for designing components & systems.

Our hypothesis is that by reimagining design as a series of elemental rules and growth mechanisms that react to environment and stimuli, the design of complex systems will be simplified, and emergence could be used as a tool for innovation beyond conventional paradigms.

We see three major challenges:
* Obtaining growth rules for component seeds to allow components to emerge from the activity
* Defining stimuli that will make the component seeds grow and establishing if that growth can be controlled via the stimuli.
* Capturing the emergent behaviour into a working set of parameters which can interact with existing design and manufacturing systems - i.e. is there a set of parameters which will define a CAD model?

In this project we will investigate theoretical aspects of this approach, and the practical implications of using these elementary rules in engineering design.

We will use intelligent software agents to represent component seeds which will create a design depending on the environment around it. The agents will grow to form a more complete component or system which can be envisioned in a CAD system. The agents will have the ability to spawn others as the system develops in response to the environment. For example, as in forming a branch, or root, or in an engineering context a stiffener or hole.

The result from the work should be a set of rules encapsulated in a prototype system that will automatically create a component from a simple seed definition. Depending on the information of its surroundings, it will grow large or small, taking form, shape & colour according to need. One seed should be capable of producing a wide variety of solutions, generating innovation naturally. By tweaking the rules and behaviours we expect to allow some emergent behaviour to occur. This feeds back to the aim of this study - to establish if these elementary rules can be put to effective use in design. This study will assess and report on this, its potential and practicality.

The basic concept within this proposal is a new way of approaching design which will have impacts across existing manufacturing enterprises, changing how they operate, and also introducing opportunity for new business models and the economic and environmental benefit that comes with this. Manufacturing accounted for approximately £150Bn of national economic output in 2013 and this proposal aims to enhance this area. It also has the potential to impact society through the novel products it will facilitate the design of.

An important aspect of the work being developed is the "seeds" in which the rules will be programmed. In the longer term this will mean that the entire design enterprise and role of the designer will have to be reconsidered. Gifted designers will be able to have a much more significant impact as they will be responsible for programing the seeds which will exploited more widely than one person currently can be. A new infrastructure will have to be developed to support the use of these seeds. For example, the seed for a heat pump may be defined by the core concept owner. This will contain the information to develop the system, its basic form and function. The seed would then be sold to a local manufacturing company that will add its own environmental elements as inputs. This might include aesthetics such as colour & shape, and technical aspects such as materials. Innovation would prosper with lower skills needed to nurture a seed into the final form of a product. It also offers the potential for more high-tech, entrepreneurial, "cottage industries" as people will be able to program and trade their own seeds, which will be exploitable by big industry, without the person being employed by them directly. This could enable more creative people to impact the economy more quickly than is currently realised.

New generations of technologies or processes can more easily be integrated by simply including the relevant behaviours in the agents so that the new generation of product comes out influenced by those technologies and processes. Enhancement and improvement would naturally occur.

Ultimately, with a cloud based system, the supply chain could self select. Agents representing individual companies interacting with the seed agents and offering any service (or product) provider a range of designs & costs, depending on which agents combine for the given seed and environment. It could be a different procurement approach for customers, and different bidding process for companies, providing fluidity and innovation and appropriate local solutions. This is a radical shift from today's current approach to product development, manufacturing and sales. If this does become a reality, it is essential that the UK be at the forefront of its realisation.

The project partners are central to the impact that will be achieved. Glen Dimplex is a UK company that is the world's largest manufacturer of electrical heating. It owns a number of subsidiary companies which are well known through out the world. For example Morphy Richards is so popular that at least one of their appliances can be found in over 90% of all British households. Airbus is a major manufacturer across the UK and Europe, and has established itself as a pioneer in aircraft design. Their products represent the pinnacle of achievement in large, complex engineering systems. Their ability to innovate has significant impact on society, the environment and the UK/European economy. TranscenData supply innovative CAD/CAE software to many of the major industries in the UK and America (e.g. Airbus, Rolls-Royce, BAE). Being able to realise this ambitious research in partnership with these leading partners will ensure the impact in the UK and further afield will be significant.