AI and Engineering Design

[Rannsachair]

In a past life I was a design engineer, I was using AI to restore an old photograph and though I would try it with an engineering challenge.

I asked it to use TRIZ ( a systematic approach to problem solving using patents for principles) to design a motorcycle seat.

Chat GPT took seconds to come up with:

1. Define the Core Contradictions (TRIZ Step 1)
Main user needs vs. conflicts:
Comfort vs. Control
Rider wants a soft seat for long rides
But also needs firm support for control and feedback
Comfort vs. Weight
More padding = more comfort
More padding = heavier, bulkier seat
Heat Management vs. Weather Protection
Seat should breathe and stay cool
But also be waterproof and weatherproof
Universal Fit vs. Personalization
Manufacturers want one seat fits many
Riders want custom fit (height, weight, riding style)

2. Relevant TRIZ Inventive Principles
From the TRIZ contradiction matrix, these principles are especially relevant:
Principle 1 – Segmentation
Principle 3 – Local Quality
Principle 15 – Dynamization
Principle 24 – Intermediary
Principle 35 – Parameter Change
Principle 40 – Composite Materials

3. TRIZ-Inspired Seat Design Concept

Concept Name: Adaptive Cell Motorcycle Seat

A. Segmented, Zonal Comfort (Principles 1 & 3)
Instead of one foam block:
Seat is divided into micro-zones:
Firm zones near tank & edges (control, braking support)
Soft zones under sit bones
Elastic zones at rear for vibration damping
Each zone behaves differently → comfort and control without compromise.

B. Dynamically Adjustable Firmness (Principle 15 – Dynamization)
Seat contains air or gel micro-cells
Rider can adjust firmness via:
Manual valve under seat
Or electronically linked to riding mode:
Sport: firmer
Touring: softer
Urban: medium
Result: one seat adapts to multiple riding styles.

C. Thermal & Moisture Control Layer (Principles 24 & 35)
Introduce an intermediate layer:
Phase-change material (PCM) absorbs heat when hot, releases when cold
Perforated upper surface + waterproof lower membrane
Channels guide airflow using bike motion
Result: cool in summer, neutral in cold, still rainproof.

D. Lightweight Composite Structure (Principle 40)
Base shell: carbon-reinforced polymer or glass-fiber composite
Comfort layers: hybrid foam + 3D-printed lattice
Reduces weight while increasing strength and vibration isolation

E. Personalized Fit Without Custom Manufacturing (Principle 35)
Seat height and contour adjusted via:
Interchangeable upper modules (low / standard / high)
Snap-in support inserts for rider weight ranges
One SKU → many body types.

4. “Ideal Final Result” (IFR – TRIZ Goal)
The seat automatically provides maximum comfort, perfect control, optimal temperature, and ideal posture for every rider, in every condition, without increasing weight or complexity.

5. Summary of the Innovation
What makes this seat “new” using TRIZ thinking:
Comfort is not uniform, but intelligently distributed
Firmness is adaptive, not fixed
Cooling is passive and integrated, not an add-on
Personalization is modular, not custom-built

Given this took seconds on the free version of CHAT GPT, it looks like it will not be long until AI takes over from engineers. Obviously I could have refined this by asking it to focus on aspect or use Value engineering to reduce costs, you can see an impact on human engineering resource never mind how will university's identify original work from students is not AI generated

 

[DanZac]

never mind how will university's identify original work from students is not AI generated

As an honest question. Does it matter?

We have always used the tools available to us and is AI not just another step in that direction. I suspect that when calculators first became available there was outcry amongst maths professors at the dumbing down of ability and cheating, but we wouldn't have progressed to where we are today without.

Maybe instead of worrying about the use of AI in course work etc the universities should be looking at how to teach and adapt to the current and future usage and needs?

 

[daleyd]

Does it actually work? Looks good at first glance, could be absolute purgatory to sit on, in which case the flashiness it’s generated is all for nothing.

 

[Rannsachair]

As an honest question. Does it matter?

We have always used the tools available to us and is AI not just another step in that direction. I suspect that when calculators first became available there was outcry amongst maths professors at the dumbing down of ability and cheating, but we wouldn't have progressed to where we are today without.

Maybe instead of worrying about the use of AI in course work etc the universities should be looking at how to teach and adapt to the current and future usage and needs?

Fair point, though calculators were doing arithmetic calculation rather than proofs: I suppose I am trying to understand in the future where can an engineer add value if an AI can do most of a job including innovation.

 

[RaceDiagnostics]

I use AI daily, however it needs to be used with extreme caution as it makes so many mistakes. Still far from being completely trustworthy.

 

[Rannsachair]

Does it actually work? Looks good at first glance, could be absolute purgatory to sit on, in which case the flashiness it’s generated is all for nothing.

In that example it came up with a valid analysis and some interesting design concepts that could be developed.

 

[minimutly]

Does it actually work? Looks good at first glance, could be absolute purgatory to sit on, in which case the flashiness it’s generated is all for nothing.

Does it pass the butt test...

 

[Rannsachair]

I use AI daily, however it needs to be used with extreme caution as it makes so many mistakes. Still far from being completely trustworthy.

I had staff developing it for HR applications and much of the work was reviewing what it did and correcting it so it could learn for similar questions in the future. I had never tried an engineering design related question before and was surprised what it came up with, without any refinement. I suspect it will improve at great speed.

 

[tom2207]

fitness for purpose , and pleasure in use ,,, tend to be my starting points ,,,, I think Im artificially intelligent ,, it certainly wasnt natural. lol

 

[daleyd]

In that example it came up with a valid analysis and some interesting design concepts that could be developed.

Maybe - it seems to me like it’s just thrown loads of stuff in there, because it can.

Once the accountant AI gets its hands on it, it will probably end up looking like every other motorcycle seat because if you make it like it’s drawn it then it’ll cost about £3k

 

[Dragnet]

What a human can come up with using a sandwich-fuelled brain and a pencil is creative. What a tundra-melting server farm reliant on stolen intellectual property to train its machine learning can do is just more tech-bro wankery. I don't use 'AI' (it's artificial, but certainly not intelligent) at all, have no intention to and think there's a moral imperative to avoid doing so. There is no need for it at all. It's hugely energy-intensive (just as useless and damaging to humanity as memecoin mining) and is a simple technological imperative: "it exists therefore we must use it". Nonsense, I say. Let's not become the slobs in WALL-E's hover chairs who can't even walk because they're obsessed by their entertainment screens. Let's use our lovely big brains rather than turning every creative impulse into another opportunity to tend a computer, just because those with no imagination prefer to believe what's on a screen. I think we need to resist the way that people lack critical thinking to the extent that they're abrogating their own decision-making power to a computer, even down to making shopping lists. I think the whole thing's completely bizarre.

There is one legitimate use for machine-learning, which is all it's good at; large-scale pattern matching, particularly in very large medical datasets. In this limited use, a large-language model can be an asset. But...outside this specific task, people are 'marrying' these programmes. It's hard to find the words.

 

[Screwdriver]

As an honest question. Does it matter?

We have always used the tools available to us and is AI not just another step in that direction. I suspect that when calculators first became available there was outcry amongst maths professors at the dumbing down of ability and cheating, but we wouldn't have progressed to where we are today without.

Maybe instead of worrying about the use of AI in course work etc the universities should be looking at how to teach and adapt to the current and future usage and needs?

Well, what are those "engineers" going to do instead of engineering? Same with booking agents, accountants, graphic designers etc. those jobs (we once knew as vocations) can all be "replaced" or at the very least their numbers decimated.

As for "using AI as a tool", who exactly is going to be doing that? The engineers? See point #1 - what engineers? Will the people operating the AI driven design process even need to study engineering? Bottom line of course being how much will they be paid when pretty much anyone will be able to push the right button.

And who is going to tell them what to do? The "engineering manager"? "I need a widget that does XYZ" well, they might just as well type that into ChatGPT themselves...

 

[Smallfry]

Strangely enough, I was going to create a thread about AI today. I went to see my old boss on my normal Christmas visit, and one of his sons was there. He works in advertising and video creation and editing. You would have seen some of his creations on TV and the net. Also got a very expensive big drone, night vision cameras and all.

He showed me what it can do, and its truly frightening. Apart from making up video and audio scenarios and cloning websites, anyone with an office or admin job should be very worried IMO. I can see its going to crucify jobs.

 

[owas]

I use it as a teacher that I can repeatedly ask questions until it clicks.

Real world, ive come up with a few formulas at work so I can quickly work out a few bits i wouldnt normaly have been able to do,

our 'engineers' just bung it into a CAD program, asked one how he came up with a blank length ... just put it in the computer.

It won't be welding things up for me.

 

[indykid]

Well, what are those "Engineers" going to do instead of engineering? Same with booking agents, accountants, graphic designers etc. those jobs (we once knew as vocations) can all be "replaced" or at the very least their numbers decimated.

As for "using AI as a tool", who exactly is going to be doing that? The Engineers? See point #1 - what Engineers? Will the people operating the AI driven design process even need to study engineering? Bottom line of course being how much will they be paid when pretty much anyone will be able to push the right button.

And who is going to tell them what to do? The "engineering manager"? "I need a widget that does XYZ" well, they might just as well type that into ChatGPT themselves...

Fixed that for you.

Has anyone questioned why all the annotation about front and back of the seat has been reversed? If it can't simple things like that right, why would you trust anything else it spits out?

 

[Screwdriver]

Fixed that for you.

Has anyone questioned why all the annotation about front and back of the seat has been reversed? If it can't simple things like that right, why would you trust anything else it spits out?

Assume this is a "funny" but I don't see anything changed.

 

[indykid]

Assume this is a "funny" but I don't see anything changed.

Engineer has a capital e unless you're talking about gas fitters, vending machine repair techs et al.

Don't worry, even car insurance companies can't wrap their head around engineer vs Engineer.

 

[Erie Fred]

Does it pass the butt test...

Does it pass the Nutt test.....

 

[DanZac]

Well, what are those "engineers" going to do instead of engineering? Same with booking agents, accountants, graphic designers etc. those jobs (we once knew as vocations) can all be "replaced" or at the very least their numbers decimated.

As for "using AI as a tool", who exactly is going to be doing that? The engineers? See point #1 - what engineers? Will the people operating the AI driven design process even need to study engineering? Bottom line of course being how much will they be paid when pretty much anyone will be able to push the right button.

And who is going to tell them what to do? The "engineering manager"? "I need a widget that does XYZ" well, they might just as well type that into ChatGPT themselves...

Whilst I dont disagree with anything that @Screwdriver and everyone else has written above, the rhetoric around job losses sounds very familiar to the luddite movement of the industrial revolution.

As with any new technology, as it matures we will undoubtedly see a shift in the job market, but that has been going on since the start of time.

I can garuntee that all the jobs listed above have already been decimated by the use of computers and AI will just be the next step in that change.

50 years ago we had drawing offices full of people hand copying drawings, accountants with rows of people filling in ledgers by hand and couriers on bikes whipping between city offices with bits of paper. All of which are now long gone, replaced by CAD, Excel and E mail, and AI will just be the next step in that process.

Whilst I can't see into the future, I suspect that the limitations of AI will soon become apparent (its a tool not a solution) and there will always be a need for people to get their hands dirty, it may just look different to how it does today?

 

[Kayos]

I use AI to help me code

Not quite vibe coding because I do have a level of understanding but I use it to help me explore new functions and more recently to tidy things up

I'm working on something and everything is a module so last week I used AI to help me apply a consistent look to everything, that was small updates to about 20 modules, done in seconds rather than hours

I also used my Linux cli fu to check it hasn't "accidentally" rewritten any/all the modules beyond the requested changes, happy to say it had not