Application of Artificial Intelligence Technology in Product Design

Artificial intelligence (Al) technology applied to product design in Monozukuri (Japanese way of manufacturing) aims to provide computerized support to various tasks in developing products that currently rely on human experience. As the conventional approach, in which knowledge and rules are explicitly given, has its limit, new technologies based on machine learning have been recognized as important in research and development of Al. Applying machine learning that predicts data to be acquired in the future with a certain accuracy, we can obtain efficient and less -variable judgment and eliminate conventional work depended on personal knowledge or experience. In order to apply Al technology to a product development environment, MONOZUKURI Al framework was developed on the cloud as a system to facilitate efficient collection of product development data, and, at the same time, for managing and leveraging learning models extracted from such data. By connecting this framework with Flexible Technical Computing Platform (FTCP), Fujitsu's integrated development platform, this new design development environment will provide various design tools on a platform with new, enhanced design-assisting features. This paper describes various cases in which machine learning is applied to designing, and presents our plan to introduce it into an integrated development platform.