Marina Monti

A modelling tool for the management of product data in a co-design environment

This paper illustrates a product-modelling tool named Product Manager, aimed at supporting networks of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) collaborating in the design of a unique final product. SMEs are usually characterised by well-established knowledge on specific components but, usually, do not have internally all the capacities to develop the complete product and to lead the whole project, so for their nature they adopt co-design principles while maintaining a full autonomy. The presented Product Manager includes all and only those concepts pertaining to the description of the product whose design is in charge of the node and its lower level co-designers. Thus, the emphasis is given to the product specification, possibly by project reuse, and to the negotiation activity usually carried out to identify the right project partner and the final product configuration.

Aesthetic-driven tools for industrial design

The present paper describes an innovative approach in computer-aided industrial design; despite the availability of sophisticated modelling tools, there are still critical issues to be faced in order to provide creative users with functionality really suited to their mentality and able to support them in more easily attaining a model with a certain aesthetic and emotional character and in its preservation during the required model modifications. Currently, the adopted computer-aided design tools offer functionality mostly based on low-level geometric elements, while designers would like to act on properties more directly connected with their design intent. In order to understand which properties are important, we deeply analysed the process followed by designers and computer-aided design operators for achieving the desired product. The possible relationships between shape geometry and aesthetic character have been investigated and a software prototype has been developed to demonstrate the validity of the research outcomes. The presented work has been mainly developed within the framework of a Research and Development project supported by the European Commission, named FIORES-II, which involved, beside several research institutions from different European countries, a wide and direct participation of industrial application companies, such as Alessi, BMW, Pininfarina, Saab, Formtech and Eiger.

A framework for the automatic annotation of car aesthetics

The design of a new car is guided by a set of directives indicating the target market, specific engineering, and aesthetic constraints, which may also include the preservation of the company brand identity or the restyling of products already on the market. When creating a new product, designers usually evaluate other existing products to find sources of inspiration or to possibly reuse successful solutions. In the perspective of an optimized styling workflow, great benefit could be derived from the possibility of easily retrieving the related documentation and existing digital models both from internal and external repositories. In fact, the rapid growth of resources on the Web and the widespread adoption of computer-assisted design tools have made available huge amounts of data, the utilization of which could be improved by using more selective retrieval methods. In particular, the retrieval of aesthetic elements may help designers to create digital models conforming to specific styling properties more efficiently. The aim of our research is the definition of a framework that supports (semi)automatic extraction of semantic data from three-dimensional models and other multimedia data to allow car designers to reuse knowledge and design solutions within the styling department. The first objective is then to capture and structure the explicit and implicit elements contributing to the definition of car aesthetics, which can be realistically tackled through computational models and methods. The second step is the definition of a system architecture that is able to transfer such semantic evaluation through the automatic annotation of car models.

An Ontology-based Framework for Sustainable Factories

ABSTRACTThe problem of factory sustainability is commonly addressed by focusing on specific aspects related to products, processes or production resources, while the impact of the building and facilities is usually neglected even though it counts for 40% of the total worlds energy consumption. This paper presents a holistic framework based on an integrated collaborative virtual environment that facilitates the sharing of the complete factory information and knowledge between various software tools, supporting the sustainable design and management of all the factory entities. In particular, the attention is focused on the Semantic Data Model that provides a semantic representation of the data and knowledge required for sustainability assessment.

Deriving Functionality from 3D Shapes: Ontology Driven Annotation and Retrieval

Abstract3D shapes are of crucial importance in several applications but capturing, representing and processing the complexity of the knowledge a shape may reveal is not an easy task. Therefore it becomes crucial to study which form characteristics may have a specific meaning in order to make explicit, sharable and, above all, machine understandable, the knowledge embedded in 3D shapes. This may be done from different perspectives due to the increasing diversity of potential users. This paper illustrates a knowledge-based (KB) system supporting the functionality driven annotation and retrieval of 3D models. Kernel of the system is the Form, Functionality and Behavior ontology, which provides a representation of the knowledge needed to infer object functionality and behavior from the shape of models and their components.

Semantic-based operators to support car sketching

This paper presents a first step in the elaboration of a semantic-based modelling environment addressed to the conceptual design phase of an industrial product. Up to now, shape generation and manipulation in aesthetic design are still based on low-level geometric tools that come from the classical computer-aided design paradigm. On the other hand, the design of a product is mainly driven by designers’ creativity and high-level constraints. To capture and structure the semantics embedded in the first sketches representing the product, an ontology has been devised to guide more easily the generation and manipulation of curves that are basic elements of the product description in the early design phase. This ontology includes a taxonomy of the aesthetic curves in the automotive field and a curve manipulation setting based on a shape grammar, creating explicit connection between the two contexts.

Semantic granularity for the semantic web

In this paper we describe a framework for the application of semantic granularities to the Semantic Web Given a data source and an ontology formalizing qualities which describe the source, we define a dynamic granularity system for the navigation of the repository according to different levels of detail, i.e., granularities Semantic granularities summarize the degree of informativeness of the qualities, taking into account both the individuals populating the repository, which concur in the definition of the implicit semantics, and the ontology schema, which gives the formal semantics The method adapts and extends to ontologies existing natural language processing techniques for topics generalization.

A Knowledge-based Tool for Risk Prevention on Pressure Equipments

AbstractProcess plants design, construction, and operation of major equipments are ruled by standards and engineering codes, which are intended to assure reliability and safety. In the case of pressure vessels these rules are aimed at guaranteeing the stability under required pressure and temperature conditions. In this paper we exploit the most advanced capabilities of CAD systems, in order to support safety rules compliance of pressure equipments during the design and verification activities. We present a knowledge-based tool supporting the appropriate safety normative since the first stages of the design process of pressure vessels, and the a posteriori normative verification required for certification purposes. The knowledge base of the tool has been formalized through the use of ontology.

Styling Properties and Features in Computer Aided Industrial Design

AbstractModelling tools supporting styling are currently being developed, taking into account a structured approach aiming at conserving the design intent during the whole product design process: this requires the storage of all the information necessary for recreating the model without losing any important characteristic. To this aim, it becomes crucial to study those elements of the model that may have a specific meaning directly connected to the design intent, i.e. styling features. The paper focuses on the definition and application of the feature concept for styling, mainly based on the research activities carried out within the framework of a Research and Development project supported by the European Commission named FIORES-II, which involved, beside many research Institutions from different European countries, a wide and direct participation of industrial application companies, such as Alessi, BMW, Pininfarina, SAAB, Formtech and Eiger.

Regular patterns of repeated elements in CAD assembly model retrieval

ABSTRACTA multitude of online repositories and a large amount of specific CAD model databases are currently available. Therefore, it is crucial to have access to these data in an easy and in a multi-perspective manner according to multiple access keys, not only in terms of annotation data or shape similarity, but also in terms of specific characteristics. In this perspective, this paper proposes a multi-level approach for CAD assembly model retrieval, which exploits assembly specific information related not only to the shape of the constituting components but also to peculiar assembly information, such as kinematic joints and component arrangements. In many cases, most of this information is not explicitly stored, thus tools for its extraction must be provided. In this paper, we focus on the detection of regular patterns of repeated elements in CAD assemblies and on their exploitation for the browsing and retrieval of assembly models.