In Search of Design Genes: Chaotic versus Controlled Mitosis
Lead Research Organisation:
Queen's University Belfast
Department Name: Sch Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
Abstract
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.
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.
Planned Impact
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.
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.
Organisations
- Queen's University Belfast (Lead Research Organisation)
- LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY (Collaboration)
- IBS Precision Engineering (Collaboration)
- Rolls Royce Group Plc (Collaboration)
- OxMet Technologies (Collaboration)
- Airbus Group (Collaboration)
- BOMBARDIER INC. (Collaboration)
- National Composites Centre (NCC) (Collaboration)
- FAR-UK Ltd (Collaboration)
- Glen Dimplex (Collaboration)
- UNIVERSITY OF YORK (Collaboration)
- Denroy Group Ltd (Collaboration)
- Transcendata Europe Ltd (Project Partner)
- Airbus (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
- GlenDimplex (United Kingdom) (Project Partner)
Publications
McGirr L.
(2022)
Human Robot Collaboration: Taxonomy of Interaction Levels in Manufacturing
in 54th International Symposium on Robotics, ISR Europe 2022
Dubey R
(2023)
Local Fitness Landscape Exploration Based Genetic Algorithms
in IEEE Access
Hickinbotham S
(2020)
Novelty Search for Shape Descriptors
Hickinbotham S
(2020)
Novelty Search for Shape Descriptors
Barbhuiya S.
(2019)
SmartMaaS: A Framework for Smart Manufacturing-as-a-Service
in Advances in Transdisciplinary Engineering
Barbhuiya S
(2020)
SmartMaaS: A Framework for Smart Manufacturing-as-a-Service
Description | This project entailed exploring a range of approaches to the autonomous generation of structural designs from what we have termed a 'seed'. The seed contained basic information on how the geometry describing a shape should change in response to the designers needs as described in the external environment. Until now the finding from the initial experiments were not well understood. Recent work from follow on projects using these results has now confirmed that it is possible to represent a design using a fundamentally different description of the model. This description contains characteristics more aligned to product function than typical dimensions of a physical artefact. A key break through emerging from this in the engineering design field is that we know understand that those characteristics include the capabilities of the manufacturing system that will be used to make the artefact. This raises the possibility that the design and manufacturing system can emerge together each evolving to the others needs. A number of significant and interesting research questions have emerged from this and these are being addressed in the follow on funding for an EPSRC Programme Grant on Re-Imagining Engineering Design. |
Exploitation Route | The results are being explored and expanded in the Programme Grant funded by EPSRC (as per above). The partnership has been significantly expanded with 10 companies now directly involved with the new concepts emerging. |
Sectors | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Energy,Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
URL | https://biohaviour.com/ |
Description | The Belfast Region City Deal is establishing a new ~£100m Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC) to support regional economic development, and in particular the manufacturing sector. AMIC is intended to support technology advancement and capability focused on needs of key regional and national industries. Critical sectors here include transport (buses and aviation), materials handling and food. The advanced design capabilities initially explored here "In Search of Design Genes" have been developed further through subsequent projects enabled by follow on funding from EPSRC's Design the Future 2 (Building the Blind Watchmaker) and eventually the EPSRC Programme Grant "Re-Imagining Engineering Design" have formed the basis of the key pillar of "Smart Design" in AMIC. The emerging vision from this work is forming the basis of the future strategic direction of the AMIC. The core findings forming this basis is that a fundamental set of rules and behaviours can be encoded to enable an integrated design and manufacturing system to be evolved together facilitating the autonomous generation of a diverse and innovative suite of solutions to engineering product creation. |
First Year Of Impact | 2023 |
Sector | Aerospace, Defence and Marine,Agriculture, Food and Drink,Construction,Creative Economy,Digital/Communication/Information Technologies (including Software),Manufacturing, including Industrial Biotechology |
Impact Types | Economic |
Description | Advanced Design Methods |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
Impact | This course brings the latest thinking in design methods giving engineering students new skills in carrying out design and understanding how to deal with ambiguity in complex decision making processes, including using advanced tools such as AI in engineering design processes. A range of design frameworks are discussed and explored within the context of general problem solving and applied to simple cases. Tools to support design are discussed and in particular the latest developments in inclusive design, generative design systems and bio-inspired design provide a backdrop for an innovative design exercise. |
URL | https://www.qub.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/aerospace-engineering-meng-h402/#modules |
Description | Advanced Manufacturing Innovation Centre (AMIC) - Belfast Region City Deal |
Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
Policy Influence Type | Contribution to new or improved professional practice |
Description | Campaign for Science and Engineering |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
URL | https://www.sciencecampaign.org.uk/analysis-and-publications/report/ |
Description | Jet Zero Council Delivery Subgroup |
Geographic Reach | National |
Policy Influence Type | Participation in a guidance/advisory committee |
URL | https://iuk.ktn-uk.org/news/jet-zero-council-zero-emission-flight-delivery-subgroups-meet-for-the-fi... |
Description | Advancing Creative Circular Economies for Plastics via Technological-Social Transitions (ACCEPT Transitions) |
Amount | £860,684 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/S025545/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 04/2019 |
End | 09/2020 |
Description | EPSRC Design the Future 2 - Booster Projects |
Amount | £792,707 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/R003564/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 11/2017 |
End | 04/2021 |
Description | Re-Imagining Engineering Design: Growing Radical Cyber-Physical-Socio Phenotypes |
Amount | £7,335,902 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V007335/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2021 |
End | 04/2026 |
Description | Re-Imagining Engineering Design: Growing Radical Cyber-Physical-Socio Phenotypes |
Amount | £7,355,902 (GBP) |
Funding ID | EP/V007335/1 |
Organisation | Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) |
Sector | Public |
Country | United Kingdom |
Start | 05/2021 |
End | 04/2026 |
Description | Airbus |
Organisation | Airbus Group |
Department | Airbus Operations |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | We have been exploring ideas for new design methods for airframe structures. |
Collaborator Contribution | Airbus have provided advice and guidance, and access to facilities. |
Impact | Papers as per the publications list. |
Start Year | 2015 |
Description | Glen Dimplex |
Organisation | Glen Dimplex |
Country | Ireland |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Working with the Dimplex design team to explore new innovative design solutions for some of their products. |
Collaborator Contribution | Providing guidance and feedback, and commercial example test cases. |
Impact | N/A |
Start Year | 2016 |
Description | Loughborough University |
Organisation | Loughborough University |
Department | Wolfson School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | The Wolfson School and our team have partnered to tackle interdiscplinary challenges in engineering design. Our team brings geometry and design systems and processes skills and key industry partners from aerospace. |
Collaborator Contribution | The Wolfson School brings expertise in manufacturing systems and embedded intelligence and key industry partners from automotive and medical devices. |
Impact | None yet - main work programme is just beginning. |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | Partnership with the National Composites Centre (NCC) on Certified Design Processes |
Organisation | National Composites Centre (NCC) |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | Defining joint projects to explore avenues where the new design tools emerging from RIED can be directly integrated into today's design processes. |
Collaborator Contribution | Defining joint projects to explore avenues where the new design tools emerging from RIED can be directly integrated into today's design processes. Industrial needs and common practices are brought in by our partners to guide activity and potential opportunities for impact. |
Impact | A joint project is now underway to create directly usable tools for industry from the RIED research programme. Additionally, a Fellowhip proposal to EPSRC was supported which entails a series of activities over 5 years to fast rack industrial uptake of the research work. |
Start Year | 2022 |
Description | RIED - Bombardier Aerospace (now Spirit Aerosystems) |
Organisation | Bombardier Inc. |
Department | Bombardier United Kingdom |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | QUB brings skills and new ideas in engineering design systems and a suite of partners interested in generic problems. |
Collaborator Contribution | Bombardier bring expertise in manufacturing and challenging manufacturing problems. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | RIED - Denroy Plastics |
Organisation | Denroy Group Ltd |
Department | Denroy Plastics Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | The research team is providing skills and new ideas in engineering design. |
Collaborator Contribution | Denroy bring practical industrial skills and advice in engineering design practice as well as challenging industrial manufacturing problems. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | RIED - FAR UK Ltd |
Organisation | FAR-UK Ltd |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | QUB brings skills and new ideas in engineering design and geometry handling and a wider partnership with shared interest in design. |
Collaborator Contribution | FAR-UK Ltd bring expertise in manufacturing and challenging engineering design and manufacturing problems. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | RIED - JW Kane Precision Engineering |
Organisation | IBS Precision Engineering |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | QUB brings new ideas and skills in design and a wider partnership interested in common challenges in aerospace manufacturing. |
Collaborator Contribution | Kane Engineering bring manufacturing expertise and challenging problems. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | RIED - JW Kane Precision Engineering |
Organisation | IBS Precision Engineering |
Country | Netherlands |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | QUB brings new ideas and skills in design and a wider partnership interested in common challenges in aerospace manufacturing. |
Collaborator Contribution | Kane Engineering bring manufacturing expertise and challenging problems. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | RIED - OxMet Technologies |
Organisation | OxMet Technologies |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | QUB brings skills and new ideas in engineering design and geometry handling. |
Collaborator Contribution | OxMet bring challenging industrial problems. |
Impact | None yet. |
Start Year | 2020 |
Description | Rolls Royce |
Organisation | Rolls Royce Group Plc |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Private |
PI Contribution | New methods for modifying, generating and using design geometry and analysis models. |
Collaborator Contribution | expert advice and guidance. |
Impact | as per publications list |
Start Year | 2019 |
Description | University of York |
Organisation | University of York |
Country | United Kingdom |
Sector | Academic/University |
PI Contribution | We have partnered with complementary expertise. QUB provides the growth models for designs to York who use these in their evolutionary models. |
Collaborator Contribution | We have partnered with complementary expertise. QUB provides the growth models for designs to York who use these in their evolutionary models. |
Impact | output number 4 - submitted for conference. |
Start Year | 2017 |
Description | China - Congress on Innovation Design |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Policymakers/politicians |
Results and Impact | This was a high level event organised by the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and Chinese Academy of Engineering to engage discussion and provide impetus in China to innovation in design. Many of the audience were from provincial government. The event was invitation only and 2 days of formal speeches. The invitation was extended once collaborating partners in China discovered the "Design the Future" Programme for EPSRC. I was the only UK representative. The presentation outlined the EPSRC programme and our specific project. It produced significant interest as the approach is very different to normal practice and innovative. Several interviews with the media in China resulted from the presentation. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
URL | http://www.idachina.org/ccid/en.html |
Description | Digital Enterprise Technology - Keynote Presentation |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Industry/Business |
Results and Impact | Presentation of the research ideas from the project for a mixed academic & engineering practitioner audience. As the proposed method in this research is radically different from existing design practices it sparked significant interest and questions as to what this could mean for advanced design and manufacturing/ |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
URL | http://www.detconference.org/det-2016/#sthash.kS9cNMgU.dpuf |
Description | Handley Page Lecture RAeS |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | The Handley Page Lecture is a prestigious named lecture held annually at the Royal Aeronautical Society in London. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2019 |
Description | Invited Seminar to the EPSRC NetworkPlus in Digitalised Surface Manufacturing |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | National |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | 20+ Academic and Research staff attended this seminar. The DSM Network arranges these to receive input from other relevant but external research activities from which they may learn. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2021 |
URL | https://digitalisedsurfacemanufacturing.com/ |
Description | Key Note Speach - 17th International Conference On Manufacturing Research Incorporating the 34th National Conference on Manufacturing Research |
Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | International |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Delivered a keynote speech to a major conference audience of academia, industry and research organisations. The audience was approximately 150. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
Description | Nature Inspired Design Seminar |
Form Of Engagement Activity | Participation in an activity, workshop or similar |
Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
Geographic Reach | Regional |
Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
Results and Impact | Part of the Loughborough University seminar series which invites external speakers to deliver seminars on relevant or interesting research topics. |
Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2022 |