This work is aimed at establishing a common frame and understanding of function modeling (FM) for our ongoing research activities. A comparative review of the literature is performed to grasp the various FM approaches with their commonalities and differences. The relations of FM with the research fields of artificial intelligence, design theory, and maintenance are discussed. In this discussion the goals are to highlight the features of various classical approaches in relation to FM, to delineate what FM introduces to these fields, and to discuss the applicability of various FM approaches in these fields. Finally, the basic ideas underlying our projects are introduced with reference to the general framework of FM.
Function modeling is considered potentially useful in various fields of engineering, including engineering design. However, a close look at practices reveals that practitioners do not use formal function modeling so much, while the concept of "function" frequently appears in many practical methods without a vigorous definition. This paper tries to understand why formal function modeling is not practically utilized in industry by analyzing usage cases of function. By observing product development activities in industry, the paper identifies three problems that prevent formal function modeling from wider applications in practices, namely, practitioners' neglect of function modeling, the lack of practically useful function reasoning, and the complexity of the methods and tools of formal function modeling that make them impractical. Finally, the paper proposes strategies to tackle these problems and illustrates some research efforts in this regard.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.