Extenics enhanced axiomatic design procedure for AI applications

Abstract This paper introduces a method to improve the design procedure of axiomatic design theory (AD) with Extenics. A comprehensive review of the AD indicates that the powerful principle of AD has been widely studied and applied to many areas, however, inexperienced practitioners of the AD theory still find it difficult to follow or apply the principles in their design which inadvertently often leads to misunderstanding and skepticism. The lack of definitive descriptions for all the elements and specific approaches to guiding the mapping process restricts the development and application of AD theory. This paper improves the design procedure of AD with Extenics. The elements in AD domain are expressed by basic-elements of Extenics, and the formulations are generated. The mapping process based on AD and Extenics is developed. The improved design procedure provides designers with a theoretical foundation based on the logical and rational thought process, meanwhile the solution space can be expanded and innovative designs are inspired. Based on the proposed design procedure, a computer-aided system is developed, which makes the complex and fuzzy design activity clear and easy to follow by filling in the blanks in a step-by-step manner. An example of a novel corn harvester header design scheme is considered to illustrate the validity of the improved design procedure.