Computational intelligence in product design engineering: review and trends

Product design engineering is undergoing a transformation from informal and largely experience-based discipline to a science-based domain. Computational intelligence offers models and algorithms that can contribute greatly to design formalization and automation. This paper surveys computational intelligence concepts and approaches applicable to product design engineering. Taxonomy of the surveyed literature is presented according to the generally recognized areas in both product design engineering and computational intelligence. Some research issues that arise from the broad perspective presented in the paper have been signaled but not fully pursued. No survey of such a broad field can be complete, however, the material presented in the paper is a summary of state-of-the-art computational intelligence concepts and approaches in product design engineering. Keywords: Computational intelligence, engineering design, product engineering, decision making, design automation