The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has selected a team of Xerox‘s PARC subsidiary and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to create artificial intelligence software that would automate design of complex mechanical systems.
Xerox said Tuesday PARC and UW-Madison will collaborate to develop the Design by Function-sharing thrOugh Compositional qUalitative Synthesis platform through DARPA’s Disruptioneering program.
D-FOCUS will serve as a mathematical framework for determining topological layouts needed to produce a conceptual design of aircraft and other vehicle assemblies.
Johan de Kleer, project lead and AI expert in model-based reasoning at PARC, said he believes the integration of topological, functional, behavioral and geometric reasoning into a single framework can transform design tools.
PARC conducts research and development of AI and machine learning techniques through its system sciences laboratory.