Enhancing Visual Thinking in a Toy Design Course Using Freehand Sketching

Enhancing Visual Thinking in a Toy Design Course Using Freehand Sketching

Elkin Taborda, Senthil Chandrasegaran, Lorraine Kisselburgh, Tahira Reid, Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the ASME 2012 IDETC/CIE.

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

Handy-Potter: Rapid 3D Shape Exploration Through Natural Hand Motions

Vinayak, Sundar Murugappan, Cecil Piya, Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the ASME 2012 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE 2012, August 12-15, 2012, Chicago, Illinois, USA

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

Kaleidogami: Multi-Primitive Reconfigurable Artistic Structures

Wei Gao and Karthik Ramani
Hyperseeing Spring 2012, Special Issue on Proceedings of SMI 2012 Fabrication and Sculpting Event

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

Designing-in Sustainability by Linking Engineering Curricula with K-12 Science Projects

William Z. Bernstein, Arjun Ramani, Xiulin Ruan, Devarajan Ramanujan, and Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the ASME 2012 IDETC/CIE.

Abstract:  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

Discovering Material Recovery Scenarios for Industrial Machinery

William Z. Bernstein, Devarajan Ramanujan, Mikko Koho, Fu Zhao, and Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the 2012 ASME MSEC.

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

Teaching Design for Environment through Critique within a Project Based Product Design Course

William Z. Bernstein, Devarajan Ramanujan, Fu Zhao, Monica F. Cox, and Karthik Ramani
IJEE: Special Issue on Design Centric Engineering Education, Vol. 28, No. 4, pp.1-12.

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)

Center-Shift: An Approach Towards Automatic Robust Mesh Segmentation (ARMS)

Mengtian Sun , Yi Fang , and Karthik Ramani
IEEE Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), 2012

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.

ME 444: Redesigning a Toy Design Course.

Elkin Taborda, Senthil Chandrasegaran and Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of TMCE 2012, May 7–11, 2012, Karlsruhe, Germany, edited by I. Horváth and Z. Rusák, A. Albers and M. Behrendt.

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

Towards locally and globally shape-aware reverse 3D modeling

Manish Goyal, Sundar Murugappan, Cecil Piya, William Benjamin, Yi Fang, Min Liu, Karthik Ramani
Computer-Aided Design, Volume 44, Issue 6, June 2012, Pages 537-553

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

Product and production systems life cycle and interaction

Devarajan Ramanujan, William Z. Bernstein, Mikko Koho, Seppo Torvinen
Competitive and sustainable production systems and networks, KEKE

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...

Computing the Inner Distances of Volumetric Models for Articulated Shape Description with a Visibility Graph

Computing the Inner Distances of Volumetric Models for Articulated Shape Description with a Visibility Graph

Yu-Shen Liu, Karthik Ramani, Min Liu
IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence (PAMI), 2011, 23(12): 2538-2544.

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

Implementing Design Critique for Teaching Sustainable Concept Generation

William Z. Bernstein, Devarajan Ramanujan, Monica F. Cox, Fu Zhao, John W. Sutherland, and Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the 18th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED11), Vol. 8, pp. 55-65.

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

Virtual Repair: Geometric Reconstruction for Remanufacturing Gas Turbine Blades

Cecil Piya, J. Michael Wilson, Sundar Murugappan, Yung Shin, and Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the ASME 2011 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Design for Manufacturing and the Life Cycle Conference IDETC/DFMLC 2011 August 29 - 31, 2011, Washington, DC, USA

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

Towards Enabling Visual Design Exploration Involving Multiple Abstractions of Design Descriptions

Srikanth Devanathan , Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the ASME 2011 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE 2011 August 28-31, 2011, Washington, DC, USA (Best Paper Award)

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

HeatWalk: Robust Salient Segmentation of Non-rigid Shapes

William Benjamin, Andrew Wood Polk, S. V. N. Vishwanathan, and Karthik Ramani
Computer Graphics Forum Volume 30 (2011), Number 7 Pages 2097-2106

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

sLLE: Spherical Locally Linear Embedding with Applications to Tomography

Yi Fang, S.V.N. Vishwanathan, Mengtian Sun, and Karthik Ramani
Published in IEEE Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), pp 1077-1129, 2011

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

Temperature Distribution Descriptor for Robust 3D Shape Retrieval

Yi Fang, Mengtian Sun, and Karthik Ramani
4th Workshop on Non-Rigid Shape Analysis and Deformable Image Alignment (NORDIA'11). 2011 IEEE Computer Society Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition Workshops (CVPRW)

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

APIX: Analysis from Pixellated Inputs in Early Design Using a Pen-based Interface

Sundar Murugappan, Vinayak, Karthik Ramani, and Maria. C. Yang
Proceedings of the ASME 2011 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE 2011, Washington, DC, USA

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

Global Geometric Affinity for Revealing High Fidelity Protein Interaction Network

Yi Fang, William Benjamin, Mengtian Sun, and Karthik Ramani
PLoS ONE 6(5): e19349.

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

Heat-Mapping: A Robust Approach Toward Perceptually Consistent Mesh Segmentation

Yi Fang, Mengtian Sun, Minhyong Kim, and Karthik Ramani
IEEE Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition (CVPR), pp 2145-2152, 2011

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

Evaluating Wikis as a Communicative Medium for Collaboration Within Colocated and Distributed Engineering Design Teams

Carolynn J. Walthall , Srikanth Devanathan , Lorraine G. Kisselburgh , Karthik Ramani , E. Daniel Hirleman , and Maria C. Yang
J. Mech. Des. 133, 071001 (2011), DOI:10.1115/1.4004115

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

Addressing Uncertainties within Product Redesign for Sustainability: A Function Based Framework

Devarajan Ramanujan, William Z Bernstein, Fu Zhao, Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the ASME 2011 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE 2011, August 28-31, 2011, Washington, DC, USA
The Function Impact Method (FIM) is a semi-quantitative eco-design methodology that is targeted specifically towards the early stages of the design process.
Using Diffusion Distances for Flexible Molecular Shape Comparison

Using Diffusion Distances for Flexible Molecular Shape Comparison

Yu-shen Liu, Qi Li, Guo-Qin Zheng, Karthik Ramani, and William Benjamin
BMC Bioinformatics 2010, 11:480

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...

Integrated Sustainable Lifecycle Design: A Review

Integrated Sustainable Lifecycle Design: A Review

Karthik Ramani, Devarajan Ramanujan, William Z Bernstein, Fu Zhao, John Sutherland, Carol Handwerker, Jun-Ki Choi, Harrison Kim, and Deborah Thurston
Published in the Journal of Mechanical Design, Sept. 2010, Vol. 132, No. 9, pp. 1-15.

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

A Port-based Agent Approach to Guiding Concept Generation for Customizing Modular Varieties

Dongxing Cao, Karthik Ramani, Ming Wang Fu, and Runli Zhang
in Proceedings of the ASME 2010 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE 2010 August 15-18, 2010, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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...

Understanding Innovation in Student Design Projects

Understanding Innovation in Student Design Projects

Luis A. Elizondo, Lorraine G. Kisselburgh, E. Daniel Hirleman, Raymond Cipra, Karthik Ramani, Maria Yang, and Tamara Carleton
Proceedings of the ASME 2010 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE 2010 August 15-18, 2010, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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

Developing Customer Preferences for Concept Generation by Using Engineering Ontologies

Dongxing Cao , Karthik Ramani , Zhanjun Li , Victor Raskin , Ying Liu , and Zhanwei Li
Proceedings of the ASME 2010 IDETC/CIE August 15-18, 2010, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

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

Integration of Sustainability Into Early Design through the Function Impact Matrix

Srikanth Devanathan, Devarajan Ramanujan, William Z Bernstein, Fu Zhao, and Karthik Ramani
Journal of Mechanical Design, August 2010, Vol. 132, No. 8, pp. 1-8.

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

PCS: Prominent Cross-Sections for Mesh Models

Subramani Sellamani, Ramanathan Muthuganapathy, Yagnanarayanan Kalyanaraman, Sundar Murugappan, Manish Goyal, Karthik Ramani, and Christoph M. Hoffman
Computer Aided Design and Applications (CADA), Volume 7, Number 4, Pages 601-620, 2010

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

Development of a Framework for Sustainable Conceptual Design

William Z Bernstein, Devarajan Ramanujan, Srikanth Devanathan, Fu Zhao, Karthik Ramani, and John W. Sutherland
Proceedings of the 17th CIRP International Conference on Life Cycle Engineering.

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

Function Impact Matrix for Sustainable Concept Generation: A Designer’s Perspective

William Z Bernstein, Devarajan Ramanujan, Srikanth Devanathan, Fu Zhao, John Sutherland and Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the ASME 2010 IDETC/CIE, Paper no. DETC2010-28340, pp. 377-383.

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

Guiding Concept Generation Based on Ontology for Customer Preference Modeling

Dongxing Cao, Karthik Ramani, and Zhanjun Li
Published in Proceedings of the TMCE 2010, April 12–16, 2010, Ancona, Italy, Edited by I. Horváth, F. Mandorli and Z. Rusák

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

Shape-based clustering for 3D CAD objects: A comparative study of effectiveness

Subramaniam Jayanti, Yagnanarayanan Kalyanaraman and Karthik Ramani
Computer-Aided Design Volume 41, Issue 12, December 2009, Pages 999-1007

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

Integration of Sustainability into Early Design through Working Knowledge Model and Visual Tools

Srikanth Devanathan, Pranav Koushik, Fu Zhao, Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the 2009 International Manufacturing Science and Engineering Conference MSEC, October 4-7, 2009, West Lafayette, IN, USA

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...

A method for measuring part similarity using ontology and a multi-criteria decision making method

A method for measuring part similarity using ontology and a multi-criteria decision making method

Duhwan Mun, Junmyon Cho and Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of DETC ‘09 ASME 2009 Design Engineering Technical Conferences, August 30- September 2, 2009, San Diego, CA, USA

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

Port-based Ontology Semantic Similarities for Module Concept Creation

Dongxing Cao, Karthik Ramani, Ming Wang Fu , Runli Zhang
ASME 2009 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences and Computers and Information in Engineering Conference (IDETC/CIE2009) August 30–September 2, 2009 , San Diego, California, USA

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

FEAsy:A Sketch-based Interface Integrating Structural Analysis In Early Design

Sundar Murugappan and Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the ASME 2009 International Design Engineering Technical Conferences & Computers and Information in Engineering Conference IDETC/CIE 2009 August 30 - September 2, 2009, San Diego, CA, USA

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

A Framework for evaluating wikis as a medium for communication within engineering design teams

Carolynn J. Walthall, Srikanth Devanathan, Lorraine Kisselburgh, Karthik Ramani and E. Dan Hirleman
Published in IDETC/CIE 2009. 31 Aug - 2 Sept. 2009,San Diego, CA, USA

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

Survey of Wikis as a Design Support Tool

Carolynn J. Walthall, Christian Sauter, Tobaias Deigendesch, Srikanth Devanathan, Albert Albers and Karthik Ramani
Proceedings of the 17th International Conference on Engineering Design (ICED'09), Vol. 6, Design Methods and Tools, Pages 211-222

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

Using least median of squares for structural superposition of flexible proteins

Yu-shen Liu , Yi Fang and Karthik Ramani
BMC Bioinformatics, 2009, 10:29

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,...

IDSS: deformation invariant signatures for molecular shape comparison

IDSS: deformation invariant signatures for molecular shape comparison

Yu-shen Liu, Yi Fang and Karthik Ramani
BMC Bioinformatics 2009, 10:157

Abstract: 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 (MSC) treat them as rigid bodies, which may lead to...

Towards Beautification of Freehand Sketches using Suggestions

Towards Beautification of Freehand Sketches using Suggestions

Sundar Murugappan, Subramani Sellamani and Karthik Ramani
SBIM '09: Proceedings of the 6th Eurographics Symposium on Sketch-Based Interfaces and Modeling, New Orleans, Louisiana, 2009, pp 69-76

Abstract: Beautification of freehand sketches is integral for building robust sketch understanding systems and sketch-based inter-faces for CAD. Many of the current methods for beautification do not consider some important information implied in...

Developing Engineering Ontology for Information Retrieval

Developing Engineering Ontology for Information Retrieval

Zhanjun Li, Yang,M.C. and Karthik Ramani
Journal of Artificial Intelligence for Engineering Design, Analysis and Manufacturing 8, 011003 (2008)

Abstract: When engineering content is created and applied during the product life cycle, it is often stored and forgotten. Current information retrieval approaches based on statistical methods and keyword matching are not effective in understanding...