Infrastructure and Collaboration
The main infrastructure and equipment needed for the research are available in CADLab at University of Zagreb Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture (UNIZG-FSB), thus enabling experimentation within the field of the data-driven design paradigm and AI support tools. Part of the equipment needed for computational modeling and development of the AI support was acquired during the previous CSF project TAIDE and is installed in CADLab at UNIZG-FSB. Other necessary items will be acquired and installed within this project (ML and data mining workstations and software frameworks).
Additional infrastructure needed for experimentation within the proposed project will be enabled through collaboration with the DEPICT lab, built at Luleä University of Technology (LTU), Sweden. In addition to the traditional equipment for external monitoring of individuals and teams, the lab has the equipment to measure brain activity, eye and muscle movements, pulse, respiration, and brain waves, as well as software to interpret and analyze gathered content. The world-class state-of-the-art technologies installed in the DEPICT lab will be utilized in the proposed project to enlarge the body of empirical research focusing on advanced digital representations and human-computer interaction. Prof. Peter Törlind, the Head of the Innovation and Design Division at the Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, will be the main contact point at LTU and research consultant offering his expertise in quantitative experimental research for innovation-oriented product development.
Also, the Virtual Prototyping & Human Modelling Lab at Politecnico di Milano (Polimi) will offer research infrastructure for advanced virtual prototyping and human modeling. The Laboratory is equipped with state-of-the-art technologies and tools for virtual and augmented reality, haptics, and digital human modeling. The Laboratory is focused on developing multisensory interactive virtual prototypes for design analytics, simulation and testing purposes, real-time rendering on high-performing workstations, modeling of human-machine interaction, data science, and bioengineering. Prof. Gaetano Cascini will be the main contact point at Polimi and research consultant, offering his expertise in data-driven approaches for innovation-oriented product development.
In addition to the support from LTU and Polimi, the project will be actively supported by two other high profile international research consultants. Dr. Tino Stanković, senior researcher ad ETH Zurich, Engineering Design and Computing Laboratory EDAC and Prof. Anja Maier Head of the Design, Manufacturing and Engineering Management (DMEM) Department at the University of Strathclyde. They will provide the team with his expertise in computational design methods, computational design-synthesis tools, mathematical modeling of design search space and advanced optimizations approaches that will be key for research on design automation.