A Quantitative Similarity Metric for Design-by-Analogy Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • During the design and development of new products, design engineers use many techniques to generate and define new and good concepts. Inherent in this search for solutions is the conscious and unconscious reliance on prior experience and knowledge, or design-by-analogy. In this paper, a quantitative metric for design-by-analogy is developed. This metric is based on the functional similarity of products. By using this product-similarity metric, designers are able to formalize and quantify design-by-analogy techniques during concept and layout design. The methods, as developed in this paper, allow a designer with limited experience to develop sophisticated solutions that enhance the overall design of a new product. Also, a designers current design-by-analogy vocabulary can be extended beyond his or her immediate experience, providing access and contributions to new domains by discovering different products with common functions. The similarity metric and its application are clarified and validated through a case study. The case study is the original design of a pickup winder.

published proceedings

  • Journal of Mechanical Design

author list (cited authors)

  • McAdams, D. A., & Wood, K. L.

citation count

  • 77

complete list of authors

  • McAdams, Daniel A||Wood, Kristin L

publication date

  • June 2002