MACHINE LEARNING IN DESIGN Workshop

Sat 22nd June 1996, 8:45-12:45.

Fourth International Conference on
ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN DESIGN
Stanford, USA, 24-27 June 1996

Note:
As Alex Duffy has been sick the main coordination of this workshop has been taken over by Dave Brown.

Call For Papers

Overview

The Machine Learning (ML) in Design workshop is part of the Artificial Intelligence in Design '96 conference. This workshop is intended to provide a forum for provocative discussion related to the application and evolution of machine learning techniques in design.

To improve a product's quality or reduce the design cycle time designers require the right information, at the right time. Developments in computing technology present designers with ever increasing amounts of information and improved access. Therefore, the effective and efficient re-use of past design procedures and product knowledge is becoming more critical in contemporary design.

Designers not only use information of specific experiences but also, by learning and understanding salient issues, they can abstract or generalise knowledge from those experiences. For example, they learn how to carry out design, what key decisions need to be made and when, what factors are crucial to decisions and what are the implications of those decisions, about the product itself, it's life expectancy and environment, it's manufacturability, the current state of technology, trends in the market place, and a lot more besides.

Designers use their learned knowledge to create new designs (which may be novel or innovative) in an attempt to produce not only feasible but competitive products. Consequently, there is a growing realisation that for future computer-based design systems to be more effective they must continually evolve their state of knowledge to reflect new experiences and that they must use that knowledge in all aspects of design problem solving.

By supporting the learning process it can be argued that computer based systems can become more effective tools which are better equipped to aid designers make well-informed decisions. Machine Learning, whose utility has been explored typically in chemistry, game-playing, image recognition, and many other fields, provides a basis to capitalise on the utility of inherent and explicit past design knowledge. However the application of machine learning in design is relatively immature and as such presents exciting and challenging issues to Machine Learning and Intelligent CAD researchers alike.

Purpose of the workshop

The purpose of the workshop is to explore the issues and requirements of learning in design with a view of critically evaluating the current and required support from machine learning techniques. The objective is not only to identify key areas for future research but also to stimulate synergy in the Machine Learning in Design research community.

Workshop Format and Topics

The workshop will run for half a day prior to the main AI in Design conference. Its format will depend upon submitted position papers but is likely to consist of a number of small working groups tackling identified issues and presenting their deliberations to the workshop participants for discussion. Topics may address issues such as:

Guidelines for Position Papers

Position papers (in ascii or postscript form) of around three to four pages should be submitted by email to alex@cad.strath.ac.uk (Alex Duffy) no later than the 30th April 1996.

All accepted position papers will be distributed to the participants.

Number of Participants

To stimulate lively debate and constructive discussions numbers will be restricted to around 20-30 participants. Admission, as determined by a selected panel, will be based upon the expediency of the submitted position papers and limited to attendees of the AI in Design conference.

Coordinators/Organisers

Coordinators: 
  Prof David C Brown
     Worcester Polytechnic Institute, U.S.A.
     dcb@cs.wpi.edu
     http://www.wpi.edu/~dcb/

  Prof Ashok Goel
     Georgia Institute of Technology, U.S.A.
     goel@cc.gatech.edu
     http://www.cc.gatech.edu/ai/faculty/goel/

  Dr Alex H B Duffy
     University of Strathclyde, U.K.
     alex@cad.strath.ac.uk
     http://www.cad.strath.ac.uk/People/alex.html
International Advisory Panel:
	Dr Tomasz Arciszewski (USA)
	Prof Ivan Bratko (Slovenia)
	Prof Mary Lou Maher (Australia)
	Dr Yoram Reich (Israel)

Further information

If you require further information then you can visit AID'96 home page at http://www.arch.su.edu.au/kcdc/conferences/aid96/

or contact Dave Brown or Alex Duffy directly: 

Dr Alex Duffy                       Postal Address: CAD Centre
E-mail: alex@cad.strath.ac.uk                       University of Strathclyde
Phone:  +44-41-552-4400  Ext. 3005                  75 Montrose Street
Fax  :  +44-41-552-3148                             Glasgow  G1 1XJ
                                                    Scotland, UK.

**** NOTE: As Alex Duffy has been sick the main coordination of this
           workshop has been taken over by Dave Brown.

[WPI] [CS]
dcb@cs.wpi.edu; Mon Mar 25 19:11:04 EST 1996