Modern machine learning (ML) techniques are transforming many disciplines ranging from transportation to healthcare by uncovering patterns in data, developing autonomous systems that mimic human abilities, and supporting human decision-making. Modern ML techniques, such as deep neural networks, are fueling the rapid developments in artificial intelligence. Engineering design researchers have increasingly used and developed ML techniques to support a wide range of activities from preference modeling to uncertainty quantification in high-dimensional design optimization problems. This special issue brings together fundamental scientific contributions across these areas.
The special issue consists of 24 papers spread over two issues of the Journal of Mechanical Design. The papers use various ML techniques, including artificial neural networks, Gaussian processes, reinforcement learning, clustering techniques, and natural language processing. Based on their research objective, the papers can be broadly classified into four groups: (i) ML to support surrogate modeling, design exploration, and optimization, (ii) ML for...
