Abstract: We present a novel interaction system, “Shape-It-Upâ€Â, for creative expression of 3D shapes through the naturalistic integration of human hand gestures with a modeling scheme dubbed intelligent generalized cylinders (IGC). To...
Extended Multitouch: Recovering Touch Posture & Identity Using Depth Cameras on a Pen+Touch Tabletop Interface
Abstract: Multitouch surfaces are becoming prevalent, but most existing technologies are only capable of detecting the user’s actual points of contact on the surface and not the identity, posture, and handedness of the user. In this paper,...
ACTIVE-Hand: Automatic Configurable Tactile Interaction in Virtual Environment
Abstract: We present a novel, low-power and untethered pneumatic haptic device, namely the ACTIVE-Hand, for realistic and real-time 3D gaming experience. Currently, body-motion based 3D gaming systems primarily use visual feedback to provide partly...
The evolution, challenges, and future of knowledge representation in product design systems
Abstract: Product design is a highly involved, often ill-defined, complex and iterative process, and the needs and specifications of the required artifact get more refined only as the design process moves toward its goal. An effective computer...
A Proposed Platform to Simplify the Integration of Electronics into a Mechanical Engineering Design Course
Abstract: The interdisciplinary nature of engineering design and the pervasiveness of electronics in most products has made it necessary for practitioners of “design thinking†to understand electronics and embedded systems, in order to...
Enhancing Visual Thinking in a Toy Design Course Using Freehand Sketching
Abstract: Engineering graduates in advancing economies are not only expected to have engineering knowledge, but also use them in creative and innovative ways. The importance of visual thinking has been critical for creativity and innovation in...
Handy-Potter: Rapid 3D Shape Exploration Through Natural Hand Motions
Winner of the “All-Conference Best paper of ASME IDETC/CIE 2012†award Abstract: We present the paradigm of natural and exploratory shape modeling by introducing novel 3D interactions for creating, modifying and manipulating 3D shapes...
Kaleidogami: Multi-Primitive Reconfigurable Artistic Structures
Abstract: In this paper we present our initial prototypical explorations as well as the associated transformative design concept called Kaleidogami™. This method is used for developing spatial objects that can be flattened,...
Designing-in Sustainability by Linking Engineering Curricula with K-12 Science Projects
Abstract: Â In light of society's increasing awareness with regards to the health of the environment, many engineering firms are hiring recent engineering graduates with project- (or course-) based experience in environmental sustainability....
Discovering Material Recovery Scenarios for Industrial Machinery
Abstract: Decision-making methodologies for evaluating a product’s end-of-life options have become a significant area of research. Extensive work has been carried out in the area of product recovery, e.g. module-based disassemblability,...
Teaching Design for Environment through Critique within a Project Based Product Design Course
Abstract:  Future environmental regulations are creating new employment requirements within traditional engineering organizations. These organizations require recent graduates to have a strong handle on environmental issues related to new...
Center-Shift: An Approach Towards Automatic Robust Mesh Segmentation (ARMS)
Abstract: In the area of 3D shape analysis, research in mesh segmentation has always been an important topic, as it is a fundamental low-level task which can be utilized in many applications including computer-aided design, computer animation,...
ME 444: Redesigning a Toy Design Course.
Abstract: Design is a complex process which requires several tools, knowledge and procedures in order to be successful. Although technology provide designers with new and improved tools, those tools should be placed in the right stage during the...
Towards locally and globally shape-aware reverse 3D modeling
Abstract: The process of re-creating CAD models from actual physical parts, formally known as digital shape reconstruction (DSR) is an integral part of product development, especially in re-design. While, the majority of current methods used in DSR...
Product and production systems life cycle and interaction
Introduction: This work package focuses on product life cycle and production system lifecycle. This work package describes these life cycles and then to consider the integration of product and production system life cycles. These aim at...
3DMolNavi: A web-based retrieval and navigation tool for flexible molecular shape comparison
Abstract (provisional): Background Many molecules of interest are flexible and undergo significant shape deformation as part of their function, but most existing methods of molecular shape comparison treat them as rigid shapes, which may lead to...
Computing the Inner Distances of Volumetric Models for Articulated Shape Description with a Visibility Graph
Abstract: A new visibility graph based algorithm is presented for computing the inner distances of a 3D shape represented by a volumetric model. The inner distance is defined as the length of the shortest path between landmark points within the...
Implementing Design Critique for Teaching Sustainable Concept Generation
Abstract:  Product design is one of the most important activities that can influence sustainability. Therefore, it is critical to educate students about these methodologies as they are the next generation of engineers. This paper details a study...
Virtual Repair: Geometric Reconstruction for Remanufacturing Gas Turbine Blades
Abstract: The usage of Direct Metal Deposition (DMD) technology for repairing defective voids in high-value metallic components is time consuming, since traditional geometric reconstruction methods are not seamlessly connected to the DMD process....
Towards Enabling Visual Design Exploration Involving Multiple Abstractions of Design Descriptions
Abstract: Designers use several visual tools for exploring and understanding design problems and solutions. House of Quality (HoQ), function-structure, Morphological matrices, concept selection tables, 2D drawings are some of the visual tools and...
HeatWalk: Robust Salient Segmentation of Non-rigid Shapes
Authors: William Benjamin , Andrew Wood Polk , S. V. N. Vishwanathan , and Karthik Ramani Published in: Computer Graphics Forum Vol: 30 (7). 2011, Pages 2097-2106 Abstract: Segmenting three dimensional objects using properties of heat diffusion on...
sLLE: Spherical Locally Linear Embedding with Applications to Tomography
Abstract: The tomographic reconstruction of a planar object from its projections taken at random unknown view angles is a problem that occurs often in medical imaging. Therefore, there is a need to robustly estimate the view angles given random...
Temperature Distribution Descriptor for Robust 3D Shape Retrieval
Abstract: Recent developments in acquisition techniques are resulting in a very rapid growth of the number of available three dimensional (3D) models across areas as diverse as engineering, medicine and biology. It is therefore of great interest to...
APIX: Analysis from Pixellated Inputs in Early Design Using a Pen-based Interface
Abstract: Product development is seeing a paradigm shift in the form of a simulation-driven approach. Recently, companies and designers have started to realize that simulation has the biggest impact when used as a concept verification tool in early...
Global Geometric Affinity for Revealing High Fidelity Protein Interaction Network
Abstract: Protein-protein interaction (PPI) network analysis presents an essential role in understanding the functional relationship among proteins in a living biological system. Despite the success of current approaches for understanding the PPI...
Heat-Mapping: A Robust Approach Toward Perceptually Consistent Mesh Segmentation
Abstract: 3D mesh segmentation is a fundamental low-level task with applications in areas as diverse as computer vision, computer-aided design, bio-informatics, and 3D medical imaging. A perceptually consistent mesh segmentation (PCMS), as defined...
Evaluating Wikis as a Communicative Medium for Collaboration Within Colocated and Distributed Engineering Design Teams
Abstract: Wikis, freely editable collections of web pages, exhibit potential for a flexible documentation and communication tool for collaborative design tasks as well as support for team design thinking early in the design process. The purpose of...
Addressing Uncertainties within Product Redesign for Sustainability: A Function Based Framework
Using Diffusion Distances for Flexible Molecular Shape Comparison
Abstract: Background Many molecules are flexible and undergo significant shape deformation as part of their function, and yet most existing molecular shape comparison (MSC) methods treat them as rigid bodies, which may lead to incorrect shape...
Estimating view parameters from random projections for Tomography using spherical MDS
Abstract: During the past decade, the computed tomography has been successfully applied to various fields especially in medicine. The estimation of view angles for projections is necessary in some special applications of tomography, for example,...
Integrated Sustainable Lifecycle Design: A Review
Abstract:  Product design is one of the most important sectors influencing global sustainability, as almost all the products consumed by people are outputs of the product development process. In particular, early design decisions can have a very...
A Port-based Agent Approach to Guiding Concept Generation for Customizing Modular Varieties
Abstract: As the description of design requirements at the earlier design stage is inaccurate and vague, it is difficult to figure out functional structure of a product and make sense product configuration. Therefore, it plays an important role to...
Creating Polytope Representations of Design Spaces for Visual Exploration Using Consistency Techniques
Abstract: Understanding the limits of a design is an important aspect of the design process. When mathematical models are constructed to describe a design concept, the limits are typically expressed as constraints involving the variables of that...
Understanding Innovation in Student Design Projects
Abstract: Over the past few years, academic institutions have become aware of the importance of innovation in education, as well as its broader role in strengthening the economy. Creativity and innovative thinking are not easily taught in the...
Developing Customer Preferences for Concept Generation by Using Engineering Ontologies
Abstract: As customer preference is viewed as a reflection of desires for product features and even future product opportunities, it is crucial for the generation of design concepts. In this paper, a six-stage methodology is described for...
Integration of Sustainability Into Early Design through the Function Impact Matrix
Abstract: The issue of environmental sustainability, which is unprecedented in both magnitude and complexity, presents one of the biggest challenges faced bymodern society. Design engineers can make significant contributions by...
PCS: Prominent Cross-Sections for Mesh Models
Abstract: Analysis of mesh models is gaining prominence as it has wide range of applications from engineering to medicine. In this paper, we present a method for analyzing meshes through the abstraction of its prominent cross-sections (PCS). An...
Development of a Framework for Sustainable Conceptual Design
Abstract: The cost and environmental impacts of a product are largely determined during conceptual design. Most often, due to cost and time limitations, only a limited set of design concepts are carried forward for detailed design. As a result,...
Function Impact Matrix for Sustainable Concept Generation: A Designer’s Perspective
Abstract: Reducing the environmental effects of products has become a significant focus of corporate strategies. As a result, easy-to-use ecodesign tools thatcan be implemented during the early design stage are essential for...
Guiding Concept Generation Based on Ontology for Customer Preference Modeling
Abstract: Customers often show different preferences relative to the same products, such as function, shape, color, costs, etc. They will surely affect product market activities further. In this paper, a model of preference elicitation from...
Shape-based clustering for 3D CAD objects: A comparative study of effectiveness
Abstract: 3D shape retrieval and clustering is of current interest in several different fields, including mechanical engineering. Several new shape representations for 3D objects are continuing to emerge. Most shape representations are embedded in...
Integration of Sustainability into Early Design through Working Knowledge Model and Visual Tools
Abstract: The issue of environmental sustainability, which is unprecedented in both magnitude and complexity, presents one of the biggest challenges faced by modern society. Engineers, including mechanical engineers, can make significant...
Computing global visibility maps for regions on the boundaries of polyhedra using Minkowski sums
Abstract A global visibility map is a spherical image built to describe the complete set of global visible view directions for a surface. In this paper, we consider the computation of global visibility maps for regions on the boundary of a...
Three dimensional shape comparison of flexible protein using the local-diameter descriptor
Abstract: Background: Techniques for inferring the functions of the protein by comparing their shape similarity have been receiving a lot of attention. Proteins are functional units and their shape flexibility occupies an essential role in...
A method for measuring part similarity using ontology and a multi-criteria decision making method
Abstract: When existing parts are re-used for the development of a new product or business-to-business transactions, a method for searching parts from a part database that is similar to the user’s requirements is necessary. To this end, it...
Port-based Ontology Semantic Similarities for Module Concept Creation
Abstract: The modularity indicates a one-to-one mapping between functional concepts and physical components. It can allow us to generate more product varietiesat lower costs. Functional concepts can be described by precise syntactic...
FEAsy:A Sketch-based Interface Integrating Structural Analysis In Early Design
Abstract: The potential advantages of freehand sketches have been widely recognized and exploited in many fields especially in engineering design and analysis. This is mainly because the freehand sketches are an efficient and natural way...
A Framework for evaluating wikis as a medium for communication within engineering design teams
Abstract: Wikis, freely editable collections of web pages, exhibit potential for a flexible documentation and communication tool for collaborative design tasks as well as support for team design thinking early in the design process. The...
Survey of Wikis as a Design Support Tool
Abstract: The use of design notebooks has long been common practice for engineers and designers. Wikis, freely editable collections of web sites, are becoming increasingly popular as flexible documentation and communication tools for collaborative...
Using least median of squares for structural superposition of flexible proteins
Abstract: Background: The conventional superposition methods use an ordinary least squares (LS) fit for structural comparison of two different conformations of the same protein. The main problem of the LS fit that it is sensitive to outliers,...