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Interactive Evolution: A Prototyping Framework for Engineering
Author(s) -
Graf Jeanine
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
computer‐aided civil and infrastructure engineering
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.773
H-Index - 82
eISSN - 1467-8667
pISSN - 1093-9687
DOI - 10.1111/j.1467-8667.1996.tb00322.x
Subject(s) - flexibility (engineering) , computer science , set (abstract data type) , engineering design process , software engineering , architectural design , human–computer interaction , systems engineering , architecture , engineering , programming language , mechanical engineering , visual arts , art , statistics , mathematics
Interactive evolution is a powerful method combining the strength of simulated evolution with the judgment of a human user. This technique can serve as a useful tool for achieving flexibility and complexity in architectural design and civil engineering applications. Operators such as recombination, mutation, and expansion are used to evolve variations and improvements on an existing set of models with only a moderate amount of user input and detailed knowledge. One of the main advantages of this method is that it has the potential to optimize a preferred model and to produce many variations from a limited dataset of models. In addition, since it generates constrained variants reflecting the user's preferences, it provides both the architect and engineer with a creative design tool. I present the IDEA system, an interactive X‐window tool, for this purpose. This method is exemplified within an architectural design situation through the design of houses, bridges, and urban planning.