aaahat does one make of an eager new assistant? Many design engineers are discovering they have a new helpe that can research on the fly fill in the geometric constraints and other key design requirements, even subtly point out potential drawbacks oF outright error Working with that kind of assistant is certainly a delight, until the creeping doubt arises: Is he or she gun. ning for my job? This new on-the-job helper is actually found in many popular CAD platforms today and will be even more capable in the near future. Those platforms, including PTC's Creo and Siemens NX, have now implemented artificial intel: ligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) functionality—better known as generative design and topology optimization tools—in their latest releases, These tools offer engineers the ability to more quickly innovate, collaborate, analyze, and optimize their designs. fe their ability to There is tremendous opportunity to use AI to unlock the creativity of engineers and supercha getting more complex and AI is perfectly suited to tackle complexity As AI/ML solutions become more pervasive in different areas of the mechanical engineering arena, many design said Gurdeep Pall, corporate vice president of business Al at Microsoft. “Modern systems are inherently ng to ask questions. How can engineers learn how to best utilize them for success? And how will these new tools change the engineering profession‘DIGITAL ENGINEERING Pret One software provider says users may set up produ: eer er ere ere ty Can aaa De ere ee eee) parting line constrai rt a casting manufacturing CUCU rea) Perera All about the Algorithm CAD platforms have long been a valuable tool in the mechanical engineer's arsenal. Yet, as functionality has increased, so has the ability to efficiently use such tools to their full potential. “CAD tools are now quite mature and have all kinds of different commands and operations that you can perform, in them, which is of benefit to engineers and their designs,” said Chad Jackson, chief analyst and CEO of Lifecycle Insights, “But we're now at the point where there are 500 different commands you could execute as you design a circuit board or mechanical piece of hardware. It's almost become too much.” This is exactly where artificial intelligence and machine learning can help, said Paul Bevan, a senior technical product manager at Siemens and design engineer by training. Al, or computing systems designed to a plish tasks that usually require human intelligence such as reasoning, decision-making, problem-solving, and learning, are now being used across a wide swath of industries. Mi specific type of AL algorithm that uses large data sets to fuel learning, is familiar to anyone who has used a shopping ‘website and discovered it could make recommendations based on user history For industrial designers, the right ML algorithm eould learn the standard workflows that certain individuals or organizations typically use, transforming the user interface at different steps to provide a toolbar with a focused set of, commands. Siemens has implemented such an algorithm this way in its widely used NX CAD system. “The algorithm is able to see that, most of the time, once you complete this step, you usually go on to this particular command, so it gives you the most commonly used com- ‘mands based on typical workflows,” Bevan sai quickly adapt based on a user's behavior anc with about 95 percent accuracy, what commands people |want to use at that point to continue on with that design.” Creo, PTC’s CAD offering, has added generative design capabilities, as well as simulation-driven design, to help engineers more quickly produce optimized designs for engineered systems, Jesse Coors-Blankenship, senior v president of technology at PTC, said Al-related improve- ‘ments can help younger engineers be more productive and create better designs faster “Some engineers may not have the real-world experi- ence yet to know what designs are best to solve a particular problem,” Coors-Blankenship said, “Instead of weeding through and testing hundreds of designs, this can help you get to a handful of good designs in a relatively short period of time, alow you to easily iterate those designs, and speed up the whole development process.” Designs developed with the help of AI/ML may not end up looking the way you thought they might. Todd Grimm,ceeanea exMcnn | U8uney MARCH) | 037 president of 7. A. Grimm & Associates and an expert in additive manufacturing, said Siemens, in partnership with HP 3D Printing, recently used the NX system to optimize the additive manufacturing design of a printer cooling duct. Using NX, with input from computational fluid dynamic simulations, the engineering team came up with design that looks a bit like an old-school Dustbuster vacuum with a tongue flopping out of its mouth. Yer, this bizarre looking result offered a 22 percent performance improvement over the old part. “When you look at the end design of this, art, it seems cerintuitive to the design that most engineers would think would work best,” Grimm said, “These new tools have the potential to really open up the design space to places we might not have gotten to on our own. Quick Study s-Blankenship said AI can optimize other engi ing processes as well. He and his team are currently ‘working on AL upgrades that will help to support concur- rent engineering and collaborative work. Such product data management programs ean not only control who has access to design files—and, even, perhaps, specific parts of design files—but also keeps track of who changed what when. “One engineer may have really good knowledge regarding the physical requirements of product performance, another may have more experience in mamufacturing-related processes,” he said, “This kind of solution can support a team coming together into single, aggregate data source to create a generative model that can evolve and adapt based on all the different information it receives. This kind of approach helps to save not only time, but also the other costs surrounding procurement, materials, and manufae- turing needs. Those benefits could help with manufacturing optimizs tion, as well. Microsoft's Pall heads Project Bonsai, a new program that uses AI to help engineers create and optimize autonomous control in manufacturing. In the past, creating the right approach could take quite a bit of time, Pall said, and even more trial and error. “Today, simulations are primarily used for validation and testing,” he said. “But simulators can also provide the syn- thetic data needed for an AI to learn. As such, developing a faithful representation of the physics, mechanics, chemistry, and other factors needed to model the system behavior can help provide the speed of production, and reduce waste. The AI model can run a particular simulation 100,000 times in a day so, instead of it taking several months to come up with the opti- mization, it ean be done in a week.” There are dozens of other AI/ML use eases for manufac- turing optimization and factory automation. To spotlight mens is currently working on AI/ML solu- mation to accelerate innovation, increase Tea aay This final part, a cooling duct, was optimized for improved Sa re re eee Pe een eae Perea Perera openers tsir yc) Poe Tests on the optimized cooling duct revealed a 97 perce correlation to predicted airflow. image: SiemensDIGITAL ENGINEERING tions that can provide predictive maintenance information for the factory floor, “The machines we use in manufacturing are quite expensive and if they fail, you usually have to halt produc: tion,” said Colm Gavin, a digitization specialist a “phere could be perhaps someone accidentally leaves a serewdriver near the ‘mold that could cause a problem. But if an AI solution could watch and listen to what’s happening to identify potential problems, you can predict an issue before the machine fails, and just take care of, saving.a lot of time and money in the process, Expert Systems Developers like Coors-Blankenship and Bevan are working hard to ensure that any AI/ML enhancements seamlessly work in the background of their design tools. So cone could be forgiven for thinking that engineers can simply just keep doing their work the way they always have; the algorithm will just ill in the blanks for you. ‘That's not necessarily the case, said Allen Rol a mechanical engineering professor at Carnegie Mellon Universit. Infact, engineer ‘way AI/ML will change their profession. And fast. Phis isn't something that is coming.” Robinson said, “This is something that is already here. Many people don't realize that AI/ML, as well as more data-driven design and fucturing approaches, are already having a big impact om the way engineering is done and how engineers do their work. I's not going away need to come to grips with the Wy ML algorithm is only as good as the data ‘one puts into itso Robinson said it is vital eng pared to learn how to become sophisticated users of such ‘arnegie Mellon offers AI/ML models, He points out thatcourses for mechanical engineers at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. “We are trying to teach students how AI/ML can comple- ment the more traditional physics-based design principles that every engineer should know,” he said, “We are trying to show them how they can apply these tools to get to the best desigen—but getting to the best design means they need to understand the essence of the problem. Ifyour A/ML algorithm has been trained on data that doesn't overlap your problem space, you aren’t going to get a solution that works.” ‘A.generative design tool, for example, might lead to a faulty design ifthe constraints aren't properly inputted. Robinson s hhanical engineers should understand the problem space well enough to identify when the model has gone astray Gavin, for his part, said he doesn’t expect mechanical il cme eer | RUHR | #38 engineers to become data scientists so the fle tively use AI/ML solutions. Rather, they ean and should be the subject matter experts that provide the appropriate data to create fruitful AI models “There may be a few mechanical engineers who end up writing AT algorithms, ifthatis where their interest lies” he said. “But I think itis more important that they really understand the principles underlying the problem the AL is trying to solve so they can provide that knowledge to the data scientist or programmer who will build the model” ‘The data scientists building AI/ML tools believe engi neers can best work with such models by simply being the best engineers they can be, fully understanding the mechan- ical constraints of any problem inside-out. But Bevan added that engineers should also be willing to keep an open mind about what an AI/ML future might offer and accept the changes as they «1 first started in the industry designing machinery and the tools have changed quite abit since then,” he said. “These algorithms can add a lot to design. There's no reason to just stick to the status quo just because that’s the way ‘we've always done things. I hope that people are willing to accept some of these changes and see we are just providing broader set of tools that give engineers a chance to create better solutions.” {As for the old trope about AI/ML models one day replacing mechanical engineers? Grimm said the idea is utter nonsense. AI/ML algorithms can augment an engi neer’s abilities but they don’thave the power to replace them. “AI/ML is not something that engineers should be afraid of” Grimm said, “Rather, it should be viewed as an advance that liberates us and takes away some of the drudgery and ‘grunt work. It's not something will take away your creativity asa designer. It should actually enhance it, especially if the AI/ML suggests something that then takes you down a path you might not have otherwise considered. But, as with any- thing else in engineering, you have to apply your knowledge, clligence, and experience to make that new thing pos- sible, It's only going to go where you lead it.” ME KAYT SUKEL is a technology miter based in Huston,