This thesis uses the manuscript option, and consists of a previously-published paper and a paper that has been accepted for publication. Manuscript One details an independent confirmatory study to Choo et al. (2014), which demonstrated that correlations exist between personality type and the outcome of concept ideation methods. This is...
Innovation can be considered the driving force behind product design. This thesis strives to improve the ease at which innovation is achieved. Firstly by examining how design information is presented and comprehended by various personality types. The Myers-Briggs Type Indicator test is a quick, easy, and accurate way to determine...
This dissertation focuses on defining underlying mechanisms to enable the bio-inspired design of aerodynamic and/or hydrodynamic vehicles that operate within complex environments. This dissertation introduces four overarching research gaps found in current bio-inspired design research and four corresponding approach questions that guide the framework of the presented research. This research...
Over 54 million people report having disabilities in the United States. In addition, there are 40.3 million people 65 years and older living in America. As the population continues to live longer and problems with obesity continue to increase, the number of people with limited capabilities will escalate as well....
Due to the growing complexity, sophistication, and interconnectedness of present day engineered products and services, the use of ontologies in engineering design is becoming more widespread. An ontology provides a standardized way of describing concepts in a domain of interest and the relationships between these concepts to better understand the...
Analysis of alternative concepts has a significant impact on design project outcomes, and yet many design teams fail to consider a significantly broad range of conceptual solutions. Within the realm of conceptual design exists a technique called design by analogy (DBA) -- the practice of reapplying old solutions to new...
A number of computational tools now exist to aid in developing conceptual solutions based on a functional description of a design problem. A key limitation of these tools is the way results are organized for presentation to the user. In general, results are an undifferentiated mass of potential solutions. Analysis...
Biological organisms, phenomena and strategies, herein referred to as biological systems, provide a rich set of analogies that can be used to inspire engineering innovation. Biologically-inspired, or biomimetic, designs are publicly viewed as creative and novel solutions to human problems. Moreover, some biomimetic designs have become so commonplace that it...
Since the Industrial Revolution, automated systems have increasingly become a part of everyday life. Automated systems range in scale and scope from simple assists to complete robotic replacements. Inexpensive integrated circuits, sensors and microprocessors have allowed automated systems to become smaller, cheaper and more prevalent. Identifying appropriate opportunities for automation,...
The purpose of this work is to build a foundation of understanding and methodologies as the steps toward automating functional modeling. We have achieved significant progress in the automatic generation of functional representations, which can be connected at the interface of components to create a functional model. This work highlights...