A Clock Grammar: The Use of a Parallel Grammar in Performance-Based Mechanical Synthesis

Effective methods of computational synthesis for mechanical systems must represent both function and structure in order to generate physical designs with desired behaviors. To this aim, a parallel grammar for mechanical synthesis was developed based on a Function-Behavior-Structure design model. This parallel grammar was implemented for the domain of mechanical clocks and watches in order to demonstrate the flexibility and strengths of the approach. Designs were produced using a fully parametric parts library. Incorporating performance considerations, generate-and-test methods were then used to produce clock designs that satisfy different sets of spatial constraints to demonstrate the potential of the method for general mechanical synthesis problems.