An Analogical Theory of Creativity in Design

Sambasiva R. Bhatta1 and Ashok K. Goel2

1 NYNEX Science & Technology, 500 Westchester Ave., White Plains, NY 10604.
2 College of Computing, Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA 30332-0280.


Abstract. Creative design often involves large. complex modifications
to the design topology. Making these modifications typically requires
transfer of design configurations from different designs to the new problem. 
We describe an analogical theory of creative design called model-based 
analogy (MBA). In this theory, case-specific structure-behavior-function 
(SBF) models of past designs enable abstraction of generic
telelogical mechanisms (GTMs) at storage time. The goal of adapting
a specific design to address a new design problem leads to the retrieval
of a relevant GTM and its instantiation in the context of the case-specific
SBF model at transfer time. Thus GTMs learned from past designs mediate 
the transfer of abstract design configurations to a new problem.
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