ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE: EXPERT SYSTEM MODEL OF THE DESIGN PROCESS.

A research study, reported here, is conducted to automate the design process intelligently by networking multiple domains. The data frames, coupled with production rules which are linked by top-down constraint propagations, worked well in the expert system modeling of the design process. During the research, a considerable amount of work was spent in resolving such issues as: when to translate the local knowledge into the global knowlede base; the level of interruptions that should be allowed to the user; and strategies in instances of conflicting reasoning. The research demonstrates that artificial intelligence and expert systems will be valuable tools for engineering and manufacturing design processes.