Ian C. Parmee Knihy

The Adaptive Computing in Design and Manufacture conference series has become a well-established, largely application-oriented meeting recognised by several UK Engineering Institutions and the International Society of Genetic and Evolutionary Computing. The main theme of the series relates to the integration of evolutionary and adaptive computing technologies with design and manufacturing processes whilst also taking into account complementary advanced computing technologies. Evolutionary and adaptive computing techniques continue to increase their penetration of industrial and commercial practice as awareness of their powerful search, exploration and optimisation capabilities becomes ever more prevalent, and increasing desk-top computational capability renders stochastic population-based search a far more viable proposition. There has been a significant increase in the development and integration of commercial software tools utilising adaptive computing technologies and the emergence of related commercial research and consultancy organisations supporting the introduction of best practice in terms of industrial utilisation. The book is comprised of selected papers that cover a diverse set of industrial application areas including engineering design and design environments and manufacturing process design, scheduling and control. Various aspects of search, exploration and optimisation are investigated in the context of integration with industrial processes including multi-objective and constraint satisfaction, development and utilization of meta-models, algorithm and strategy development and human-centric evolutionary approaches. The role of agent-based and neural net technologies in terms of supporting search processes and providing an alternative simulation environment is also explored. This collection of papers will be of particular interest to both industrial researchers and practitioners in addition to the academic research communities across engineering, operational research and computer science

Optimization in Industry comprises a collection of papers presented at the third US United Engineering Foundation's 'Optimization in Industry' Conference. The main thrust of this, the third conference of the series is related to engineering optimization including both manufacture and parametric design. The papers included explore the relationships between well-established deterministic optimization methods and the emerging stochastic and mainly population-based search and optimization algorithms. A mix of approaches across a wide range of engineering disciplines is included. It illustrates the manner in which various techniques can be utilised either in a stand-alone manner or within hybrid systems to give best performance in terms of optimal design and computational efficiency. The papers span scientific, application, awareness/information dissemination and industrial requirements areas. They provide information on available search and optimization techniques and their application to specific design problems and across the field of manufacturing generally. Papers identifying and dealing with problems of incorporating novel optimization techniques within day-to-day design practice and industrial software requirements are also included. The book will thus be of interest to both the industrial and academic communities.

The Adaptive Computing in Design and Manufacture Conference series is now in its tenth year and has become a well-established, application-oriented meeting recognised by several UK Engineering Institutions and the International Society of Genetic and Evolutionary Computing.

Following an introduction to the various techniques and examples of their routine application, this potential is explored through the introduction of various strategies that support searches across a far broader set of possible design solutions within time and budget constraints. Generic problem areas investigated - design decomposition; - whole-system design; - multi-objective and constraint satisfaction; - human-computer interaction; - computational expense. Appropriate strategies that help overcome problems often encountered when integrating computer-based techniques with complex, real-world design environments are described. A straightforward approach coupled with examples supports a rapid understanding of the manner in which such strategies can best be designed to handle the complexities of a particular problem.

The fourth evolutionary/adaptive computing conference at the University of Plymouth again explores the utility of various evolutionary/adaptive search algorithms and complementary computational intelligence techniques within design and manufacturing.

The third evolutionary adaptive computing conference organized by the Plymouth Engineering Design Centre (PEDC) at the University of Plymouth focuses on the utility of adaptive search algorithms and complementary computational intelligence techniques in engineering design and manufacturing. The aim is to explore strategies beneficial as both system optimizers and exploratory design tools, addressing the varying needs of conceptual, embodiment, and detailed design while considering manufacturing criteria that influence design direction. Interest in integrating adaptive computing technologies with engineering has surged as practical examples demonstrate their potential for enhancing system performance and design process efficiency, alongside significant commercial benefits from evolutionary planning and scheduling strategies. This conference series has evolved from annual PEDC workshops to the biennial 'Adaptive Computing in Engineering Design and Control' conference, reflecting the growing academic and industrial interest. The name change to include manufacturing signifies an intention to broaden the scope to cover integrated product development, facility layout, scheduling, and process/machine control.