People-centred Computational Environments for Design Discovery: Establishing a Fully Integrated Framework

With advances in technology, design is becoming an increasingly complex activity. New computational techniques coupled with increasing computing power now mean that opportunities are available to support design activity which did not exist just a few years ago. One such example is the development of artificial intelligence and visualisation techniques. Coupled with these technology advancements is a change in people’s expectation and perceptions associated with the design process and the use of products.

The project will investigate the integration of the latest computational intelligence techniques with more established enabling computational technologies to provide utility during the conceptual stages of design. Implicit in this is that a human-centred approach will be taken to ensure the design of the interface matches the user’s expectations and capabilities whilst reducing uncertainty and risk by ensuring constant user evaluation of the system’s output. The study takes a multidisciplinary approach with key academics and industrialists working together representing design across engineering; drugs; biosensors; software; virtual products; and ‘wearable technologies’.

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