Imaginal Thinking-Based Human-Machine Design Methodology for the Configuration of Reconfigurable Machine Tools

Reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMSs) has emerged as an advanced system for applying Enterprise Systems (ES) in manufacturing enterprises to dynamically adapt to the changing market. Although it has been recognized that human-machine interaction plays a significant role in configuration design, especially for reconfigurable machines tools (RMTs), for the core of RMS, there are no platforms available for the harmonious interaction between human and computer, mainly because of the limitation of traditional artificial intelligence frame. In this paper, we present a human-machine design methodology for the configuration of RMTs based on imaginal thinking, a thinking style described as forming and comparison of images, which is radically different from traditional logical and intuitive thinking. The knowledge and experience that are highly relevant to mechanical design and the related information in logical deduction are organized as high dimensional images. By imitating human imaginal thinking, computer employs Lie subgroup or submanifold and Quotient kinematics to generate all possible configurations in the form of images, while humans make judgments and complete the optimization process through the imaginal human-machine interface. Both human's decision-making ability based on knowledge and experience and computer's high-speed logical computation are exploited to a full extent. This novel design methodology has illustrated its effectiveness by an example concerning the design of a pipe-cutting RMT.