Page 27 - Handbook of Biomechatronics

20 Ahmed R. Arshi

that are most likely to be affected when applied to different fields of science.
The objective is to identify and isolate all such areas and more importantly
to abstract and structuralize their common characteristics.
The series of activities commonly performed by practicing designers are
affected by the nature of design environment and the designer’s intuition and
creativity. The ultimate objective of a designer has always been to obtain
some optimum solution in the face of imposed constraints. The search area,
on the other hand, may already be isolated by the existence of such
constraints and these can be primarily dictated by the disciplines involved.
Thus by keeping the constraints away from the most elementary stages of
the design process, it is possible to synthesize the system independent of
any discipline or any energy domain. Adoption of this approach in synthesis
is acceptable in a general conceptual term and in an optimum form, an ideal
conceptual design (ICD). It follows that the designer can be encouraged
to produce an ICD independent of any discipline. This abstract model of
a system, however, must represent true and intended functionality
(Figs. 4 and 5).

Conventional inclusion of constraints in the early stage of design
Design
Discipline
specification
Experience Laws
Designer
knowledge theories

Constraints

Function
Subsystem Subsystem Subsystem

No analytical structures for No structure for information
connectivities in the system feedback
Designer’s best solution is dictated by System assemblage performed
experience and scientific knowledge through trial & error
Fig. 4 Conventional inclusion of constraints in the early stages of design.