Collaborative mechatronic system design

Integrated product and process development is accomplished by multidisciplinary teams. To support the team approach we have developed ICM, the Interdisciplinary Communication Medium. It accommodates and integrates many perspectives within a design and manufacturing enterprise. The ICM prototype integrates a shared graphic modeling environment and network-based services. The graphics include 3D models of evolving designs, and network-based services include knowledge-based reasoning tools that critique the performance of the proposed device. ICM implements an iterative communication cycle in which team members: (1) propose form models in a shared graphic modeling environment, (2) interpret the shared graphic models as semantic discipline models, (3) gather information by using the discipline models to customize their search for additional discipline information, (4) critique the discipline models to derive behavior and compare it to function, (5) explain the results to other members of the team, and (6) route change notifications for proposed changes.