Education | Scholars | Training & CPD

 

 

Wei Peng

 

 


Course of study:

 

PhD, University of Sydney

Research topic:

 

Adaptive Design Tool that Learns

Since completing PhD / Masters

 

Since August 2006 Wei continues to work at CSIRO in Hobart involved in projects around Irrigation Control, Environmental Monitoring and Health Infomatics

Research contribution to theory:

 

With over half a centurys development on Computer Aided Design tools, the functionalities of design tools have been multiplying to embrace new technologies. However, they continue to be built on a paradigm that is founded on the notion that the tool is unchanged by its use. These design tools keep repeating themselves irrespective of their interactions with the design environment. The knowledge and functions are encoded in a hard-wired manner during the development stage. This research aims to develop an approach that enables a design tool to learn by its use, and hence to adapt itself. We explore a computation model that is founded on the ideas of situatedness. A situated agent extends an existing design tool to model interactions, from which the agent is able to learn from its experiences. Via the agency provided, the tool would be able to embody learning and to develop adaptive behaviour to assist designing.

Research contribution to industry practice:

 

Designing is an arduous process that requires design expertise and creativity. Designers interact with their design environments in developing the design. They also change the course of developing the design depending on these interactions. In order to assist designers in this dynamic process, we need design tools to address the interactions between the tool, the problem it is being used in and the use. The research contributes to developing a knowledgeable and personalised design tool which can learn new concepts from its use, and apply these concepts to facilitate interactions.