Some Key Issues in Using Bond Graphs and Genetic Programming for Mechatronic System Design

Mechatronic system design differs from design of single-domain systems, such as electronic circuits, mechanisms, and fluid power systems, in part because of the need to integrate the several distinct domain characteristics in predicting system behavior. The goal of our work is to develop an automated procedure that can explore mechatronic design space in a topologically open-ended manner, yet still find appropriate configurations efficiently enough to be useful. Our approach combines bond graphs for model representation with genetic programming for generating suitable design candidates as a means of exploring the design space. Bond graphs allow us to capture the common energy behavior underlying the several physical domains of mechatronic systems in a uniform notation. Genetic programming is an effective way to generate design candidates in an open-ended, but statistically structured, manner. Our initial goal is to identify the key issues in merging the bond graph modeling tool with genetic programming for searching. The first design problem we chose is that of finding a model that has a specified set of eigenvalues. The problem can be studied using a restricted set of bond graph elements to represent suitable topologies. We present the initial results of our studies and identify key issues in advancing the approach toward becoming an effective and efficient open-ended design tool for mechatronic systems.