Preparing Engineers for aFuture with CollaborativeTechnologyUTPAL ROY

Department of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering, 151 Link Hall, Syracuse University,Syracuse, New York 13244

Received 10 June 1997; accepted 12 December 1997

ABSTRACT: To educate our engineering students and other professionals, we devel-oped and taught a course on collaborative multidisciplinary analysis and design (MAD)technology in the spring semester, 1997 at Syracuse University. The objective is to teachstudents how to use different MAD tools in the product realization process. The coursematerials cover interdisciplinary subjects related to engineering, information technology,networking, artificial intelligence (AI) , and World Wide Web (WWW) –based tools. In spe-cific, it includes collaborative design and product development, multiuser architectures,information sharing and virtual teaming, negotiation and transaction management, andnetworking technology to deliver information services in a virtual computing environment,and other AI and WWW-based MAD tools. The course involves a variety of teaching/ learningactivities including regular classroom lectures, software demos, and hands-on workshopsessions. A semesterlong project on collaborative technology is required for each student.Students are evaluated based on their class participation and the course project. q 1998

John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Comput Appl Eng Educ 6: 99–104, 1998

Keywords: collaborative; multidisciplinary; World Wide Web

INTRODUCTION current engineering paradigm in collaborative envi-ronment. Companies are encouraging collaboration

Information technology has already been identified among technical and nontechnical personnel of allas one of the top emerging technologies critical to kinds and are organizing them into teams with sig-the nation’s economic prosperity. It is now consid- nificant levels of decision-making authority. In anered essential to world-class manufacturing because effort to reduce time (as well as save money), com-competitiveness boils down to the successful devel- panies are building their own private scale model ofopment of management and deployment of new the Internet’s World Wide Web, known as Intranets.techniques to shorten the product development cycle According to the Wall Street Journal [1] , corporateand get better production to market faster. To use of Intranets is already exploding. The studyachieve this, U.S. companies are embracing the con- found that ‘‘companies are using Intranets to share

information among employees and collaborate onprojects. . . . The mean number of Intranet usersContract grant sponsor: Syracuse University.

q 1998 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. CCC 1061-3773/98/020099-06 at the surveyed companies was 5,905 in late 1996.

99

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The companies expect that number to more than (HTML), and virtual reality markup language(VRML) provide unique opportunities to exploredouble this year to 12,408. . . .’’

To be sure, companies are finding that ‘‘Intranets the possibilities of developing robust architecturefor a collaborative product design environment. Theare a cheaper, faster and more convenient way to

broadcast and share information to staffers, monitor main objective of this course is to educate our un-dergraduate and graduate student in these relevantprojects and cut down on time wasting data searches

and burdensome paperwork.’’ There is also a tre- collaborative MAD technologies. In particular, thecourse (a) provides exposure to the collaborativemendous amount of attention and investment in the

engineering and computing fields on emerging tech- design environment and MAD problems of indus-trial interest and national economic significance, (b)nologies for collaboration. It has been reported that

investment in deploying Intranet systems could rise provides hands-on experience with existing infor-mation technology and MAD environments so thatto more than $13 billion in 1999 from $2.67 billion

in 1996. But study shows that the Intranet still could students can use the tools in their immediate designprojects, and (c) provides an opportunity to applynot make a large impact in engineering collabora-

tion, mainly because of existing cultural and techni- knowledge learned in a wide variety of other engi-neering courses. The course emphasizes practicalcal barriers. One of the main reasons lies in the fact

that there has been little consideration given to how MAD situations, and provides extensive experiencewith existing commercial product modeling envi-we are going to prepare our new and existing engi-

neers and other professionals to design, implement, ronments suitable for use in MAD applications, suchas I-DEAS, AUTOCAD, Pro/Engineer, etc. Gradu-and use such systems in their daily routines. To

prepare our future engineers, we developed and ates of the proposed course are expected to contrib-ute immediately to revolutionary changes in thetaught a graduate course on collaboration, and mul-

tidisciplinary analysis and design (MAD) technol- product development process that are realizedthrough application of collaborative tools ( learnedogy in the Spring 1997 semester at Syracuse Univer-

sity. The course materials were drawn from our own in this course) .research results from different disciplines of engi-neering and computer science together. This coursewas offered first on an experimental basis and was

COURSE DESCRIPTIONrestricted to a group of graduate students in manu-facturing engineering. In future (starting from theSpring 1998 semester) , the course will be open to The course materials cover interdisciplinary sub-

jects related to engineering, information technology,both graduate and senior undergraduate students inany department of the university. The course materi- networking, artificial intelligence, and World Wide

Web (WWW) –based tools. The students are re-als will also be tailored to meet the needs of otherprofessionals from industry, who may wish to take quired to participate in a semesterlong product de-

velopment project. The project allows students withthe course on a part-time basis.diverse backgrounds to apply knowledge from theirperspective areas to the development of product re-alization concepts in collaborative environments. InCOURSE GOALS AND METHODSgeneral, there are two classes each week during thefirst half of the semester, and one class and one labThe course aims to achieve integration of complex

research results from a range of disciplines of engi- each week during the rest of the semester. In addi-tion, there is a 1-h design coaching session for eachneering and computer science including high-per-

formance computing and communications, net- time each week (throughout the semester) as the needsarise. Guest lectures are also arranged on some specificworking, distributed systems, artificial intelligence,

and software engineering. Advances in those areas topics (such as WWW-based tools, high-perfor-mance distributed computing, networking, etc.) to up-now provide the basis for the development of a

new generation of product design tools capable of date the students regarding recent developments inthose areas. Since the course covers a broad scope,seamlessly integrating analysis and design for

teams, consisting of individuals with specific roles, there is no assigned text; readings and activity descrip-tions (including required workshop materials) areand teams of teams to collaborate more effectively.

In addition, the rapid development of the commer- handed out during class. Students are encouraged toread books and several journal articles to pursue topicscial information technology products, based on stan-

dards such as JAVA, Hypertext markup language of interest. There are a number of technology demon-

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PREPARING ENGINEERS FOR COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGY 101

strations and hands-on workshop materials which stu- use. This project deals with the development of aprogram–program collaborative methodology fordents must finish before starting their project works.

Course materials have been developed in a mod- removal of extraneous features (from a CADmodel) . These features do not affect the analysisular format and will be accessible via the WWW

in future. From the available materials in the litera- as such but make the analysis process unnecessarilycomplex. Thus, the removal of these features savesture of the field and judgment about what knowl-

edge would be most useful to students in research a lot of computational time.and job settings, we developed a comprehensive listof topics covering different aspects of collaborative Project 4: Development of an AutomatedMAD technology. Table 1 shows the particular set DFM (Design for Manufacture) Checkerof the topics that were covered in 14 weeks of the for Sheet Metal Working [5]semester.

Hands-on workshop materials are prepared in ad- This project aims at developing a ‘‘smart’’ com-puter-aided, collaborative tool that has the abilitydition to the above-mentioned class topics to help

students understand collaborative tools and tech- to advise the designer regarding the correctness ofa sheet metal part design. The checker is able toniques. Table 2 describes the contents of different

workshops briefly. analyze the design of a given part and test it forvarious design deficiencies.

STUDENT PROJECTSCOURSE ASSESSMENT

As part of the course, the students presented projectproposals, plans, and status reports at various stages The course is evaluated once a semester using inter-

nal and external reviews. Internal reviews includeof the project, plus they gave oral and written pre-sentations in the final session. We present some of student evaluations. Student comments and percep-

tions of the new materials are considered to revisethe projects that were completed in the past experi-mental class. the course contents in the future. External reviews

involve publishing papers in related peer-reviewedjournals and exchanging views with academic col-Project 1: Collaborative Designleagues (at other institutions) who are involved inUtilization [2]the similar kind of activities. Students will be en-couraged to present course projects in regional/na-The project aims at developing multiuser access to

multiple single-user applications. It provides with a tional student paper competitions held annually bythe professional societies such as ASME, AIAA,virtual workplace in which a conference could be

conducted between several team members using IEEE, and ASEE. The author will present papersdescribing the results of this course developmentmultiple applications such as voices, three-dimen-

sional solid models, sketches, and video. project at relevant conferences on multidisciplinarydesign optimization and engineering education.

Project 2: Decision Support Mechanismfor Product Specification Generation [3] CONCLUSIONIn this project, a decision support mechanism hasbeen developed. This prototype system is able to We believe that courses on collaborative MAD tech-

nology are necessary to train today’s engineers andassist designers in generating different types ofproduct specifications as geometric tolerances, sur- other professionals. The great promise of collabora-

tive technology is in its ability to provide intelligentface finishes, and heat treatments from user-speci-fied (product) functional requirements) . access to companywide (as well as national) re-

sources anytime and anywhere, and support cus-tomer-centered, collaborative, authentic, and highlyProject 3: Intelligent Modeling andinteractive multiuser environments. The proposedAnalysis in Collaborative Environments [4]course will help students develop the skills andknowledge necessary to help an organization de-Modeling and analysis capabilities in collaborative

environments provide tools that aid the designers in sign, manage, and effectively use its own collabora-tive technologies. In future, local industries will bedetermining the integrity of a design for its intended

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Table 1 Class Topics

Weeks Subject Materials Covered

1 Introduction to collaboration, and multidisciplinary analysis and design (MAD) technologyDesign and manufacturing: context, content, and brief historyInformation technology, and integrated product and process design

2 Strategies for collaborationIssues involved in integrated product and process designCollaboration technology and computer-supported cooperative work

3 Product modeling in product design—study how product modeling is important forcollaborative product design system, and characteristics of product models for designapplications and their structure for multidisciplinary design

4 Qualitative understanding of customer needsGeneral introduction to quality function deployment (QFD)Development of product models for collaborative engineering design

5 Product modeling techniques for interoperability between design systems (via designinformation exchange using STEP/PDES)

Integration with WWW application tools—structuring of product information for WWWtools-based product design system

6 Information sharing and virtual teaming—an introductionInformation sharingCommunication/collocationCoordinationIntegration

7 Networking technology to deliver information services in a virtual computing environmentIntroduction to other enabling technologies

Communication and networkingClient/server modelMessage systemComputer conferencing

8 Multiuser architectures for collaborative designClassification architectures for collaborative designCooperative frameworksArchitectures for shared applications

9 Multiuser negotiation and transaction management communication and networkingCooperative and multiagent negotiationConflict resolutionModels of concurrent, cooperating transactions

10 Toward a shared computational environment for engineering designDistributed and integrated design environmentsOrganizing tasks in a complex design process

11 More on collaborative design and product developmentStudy of available tools for collaboration between cooperative and multiagent negotiation

Human engineersAnalysis/modeling programs

12 Study of some reported collaborative MAD systemsCross-cultural aspects of collaboration

13 Telemanufacturing: rapid prototyping on the Internet14 Class projects and evaluations

contacted so that students will have useful industrial all the materials and workshops. This can be attrib-uted to two main reasons: (a) Since it was the firstinteraction that will give them appropriate insight

and clear understanding of our industrial needs. time we were offering the course, the handouts andworkshop materials were not always ready beforeSince the course materials contain so many different

elements from different disciplines, it is a challenge the class; and (b) students did not have the requisitebackgrounds. We had to cover a list of basic materi-to a faculty to organize the teaching materials prop-

erly. In the last class, we had a hard time finishing als, which hindered our progress in laboratory. The

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PREPARING ENGINEERS FOR COLLABORATIVE TECHNOLOGY 103

Table 2 Workshop Materials

Workshops Objective Contents

1 Introduction to JAVA and animation Review of the basic syntax of the Java DevelopmentKit (JDK) and the compilers

Basics of the JAVA programming language (e.g., thedifference between an application and an applet,methods to invoke an applet, etc.)

Overview of animation programming in JAVA2 Use of abstracting Window toolkit Demonstration of the use of AWT in JAVA by

(AWT) showing a Sketchpad, which uses the graphiccapabilities of the AWT

Demonstration of the use of Net Library and Socketclass in JAVA, both of which are essential formaking the applet/application collaborative

3 Introduction to virtual reality Brief introduction—basic construction methodologymodeling language (VRML) and syntax of VRML

Integration of VRML with JAVA4 Introduction to Netscape Demonstration of Netscape Communicator and

Communicator and Cooltalk Cooltalk capabilitiesCreation, modification, and manipulation of a

wireframe object model on a browser screen5 Introduction to CGI programming Overview of CGI programming, the Perl language

and Perl and how to use these in conjunction with JAVAOverview of how to use HTML to write forms and

interface with Perl6 Use of concept generation tool Collaboration between team members for

conceptualization of a product7 Generation of VRML models from a Description of step-by-step procedure for generating

traditional CAD solid model VRML models from product’s CAD model8 Use of a Web integrated database Integration of MS Access database, located on a

central server, with the Internet through astandard dbweb protocol

9 Use of other manufacturing facilities Use of collaborative interfaces forover Internet (a) Manufacturing site locator

(b) Rapid prototyping(c) Process planning

10 Use of collaborative tools in product Autocad as a collaborative tooldesign Collaboration using Pro/Engineer

course still needs more structure and organization. for the course. Financial assistance from the Officeof the Dean and the Department of Mechanical,It is clear that the faculty who teach this course

have to devote an enormous amount of time to the Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engineering, Syra-cuse University, are greatly appreciated.preparation of its materials, especially for the col-

laborative software tools which are revised so fre-quently.

REFERENCES

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS[1] ‘‘Corporate use of Intranets is taking off, study

says,’’ Wall Street Journal, March 27, 1997.I wish to acknowledge the team of students I have [2] S. Goulet, ‘‘Collaborative design utilization,’’ Finalworked with over the last 3 years, who have contrib- project report, MFE 700: Collaborative MAD, De-uted to various aspects of this course development partment of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufac-and research in collaborative technology. Espe- turing Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse,cially, I thank Siddharth Ashar and Balaji Bharad- NY, 1997.

[3] B. Bharadwaj, ‘‘Decision support mechanism forwaj for helping me develop the workshop materials

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product specification generation,’’ Final project re- neering—Contemporary Issues and Modern DesignTools. Chapman & Hall, New York, 1993.port, MFE 700: Collaborative MAD, Department of

Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufacturing Engi- B. Prasad, Concurrent Engineering Fundamentals Inte-grated Product and Process Organization, Prenticeneering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 1997.

[4] M. Froehlich, ‘‘Collaborative environments and in- Hall PTR, New Jersey, 1996.M. Regan and S. Sheppard, ‘‘Interactive multimediatelligent modeling and analysis,’’ Final project re-

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neering, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 1997. Stanford University, Stanford, CA.W. Reinhard, J. Schweitzer, and G. Volksen, ‘‘CSCW[5] S. Ashar, ‘‘Development of an automated design for

manufacture checker for sheet metal working,’’ Final tools: Concepts and architectures,’’ Computer, 1994,May, pp. 15–17.project report, MFE 700: Collaborative MAD, De-

partment of Mechanical, Aerospace, and Manufac- R. V. Renesse, K. P. Birman, and S. Maffels, ‘‘Horus:A flexible group communication system,’’ Commun.turing Engineering, Syracuse University, Syracuse,

NY, 1997. ACM, Vol. 39, No. 1, 1996.U. Roy, ‘‘An intelligent CAD system in concurrent engi-

neering environment: A knowledge based approach,’’Cybernet. Systems, Vol. 25, No. 4, 1994, pp. 611–628.ADDITIONAL BIBLIOGRAPHY

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R. Baecker, Readings in Groupware and Computer Sup- an intelligent CAD system,’’ Int. J. Comp. Indust. Eng.,ported Cooperative Work. Morgan Kaufmann, San Vol. 30, No. 1, 1996, pp. 13–26.Matio, CA, 1993. U. Roy, B. Bharadwaj, S. Sarathy, and P. Graham, ‘‘De-

R. Bakerjiam (Ed.) , Tool and Manufacturing Engineers velopment of an intelligent product design system: In-Handbook. Vol. 6: Design of Manufacturability. 4th tegration strategies,’’ J. Appl. Artif. Intell., Vol. 9, No.Ed. Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Michigan, 6, 1995, pp. 587–622.1992. U. Roy, S. S. Kodkani, B. Bharadwaj, and M. Cargian,

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M. R. Cutkoski, J. M. Tenenbaum, and J. Glicksman, U. Roy, J. M. Usher, and H. R. Parsaei, Simultaneous‘‘Madefast: Collaborative engineering over the In- Engineering: Methodologies and Applications. Gor-ternet,’’ Commun. Ages, 1996, September, pp. 78–79. don & Breach, New York (forthcoming).

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National Science Foundation, Undergraduate Faculty En- Product Development, MIT-JSME Workshop, MIT,hancement Program, New Product Realization—Con- Cambridge, November 20/21, 1989.current Engineering and Design for Manufacture, Uni- J. M. Usher, U. Roy, and H. R. Parsaei, Integrated Prod-versity of Massachusetts, Lowell, June 24–28, 1996. uct Development: Methods, Tools and Technologies.

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BIOGRAPHY

Utpal Roy is an associate professor in the holds a BS (1978) and MS in mechanical engineering and a PhD(1989) in industrial engineering. Dr. Roy’s research interests areDepartment of Mechanical, Aerospace, and

Manufacturing Engineering at Syracuse in computer-aided design, computer-integrated manufacturing,and artificial intelligence applications. He teaches computer-University, Syracuse, New York. He is also

the director of Syracuse University’s Multi- aided design and manufacturing related courses.disciplinary Analysis and Design Labora-tory (MADLAB) and Knowledge-BasedEngineering Laboratory (KBELAB). He

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