Study on heredity and evolution of designs considering Kansei by using genetic algorithms

A new concept on the heredity and evolution of designs was proposed and an optimum design method based on the concept was developed newly by one of the authors. Several kinds of needs for designs may exist and users of some products are not satisfied with the functions of the products but also with their sensuous beauties or impressions of shapes and materials. To consider such sensuous quality of the products was called ″Kansei designs″ in Japan and have become or interest and important lately (Nagamachi, 1989). In this study we introduce the same concept on heredity and evolution of designs as in the previous reports shown in Fig. 1 (Yamakawa, 1994) and present a general design method to consider the Kansei design into ordinary design process by making use of both SD (Semantic Differential) and the Genetic Algorithms. In order to support designer's impressions, we also consider to take for other features Kansei estimation, which is similar to the original feature and easier to take ″Kansei″ into account, and developed an interface system which can show the transition of feature during GA process. Front view designs of a car are taken as simple numerical examples and the effectiveness of the proposed method is examined.