My research interests are reflected somewhat in my publications .
Automated Reasoning
My foremost research interest is automated reasoning. I am working to devise software architectures and build software systems that enable computers to program themselves. The Intelligent Systems Division's Research and Engineering of Intelligent Systems (REIS) program has been supporting my work in automated reasoning since November 2001.
In the past, I worked on automated reasoning only to the extent it was relevant to projects on other topics in which I was involved. This included building an automatic feature recognition system and building several software systems that write programs in various languages (Lisp, RS274, DMIS, ALPS).
I am currently attempting to go one level deeper and build software systems that write programs that write programs.
Feature-Based Manufacturing
A second strong interest is feature-based manufacturing.
I spent about four years (1986 - 1989) building a feature-based system called the VWS (Vertical WorkStation) system. This dealt with designing and machining metal parts. Using the VWS system, one could routinely design a part and have an automatically manufactured metal part in hand within an hour of finishing the design. The VWS handled a range of 2.5 dimensional parts with any number of features of the types defined in the system. No individual module of the VWS was very sophisticated, but the overall design was very well modularized and the modules were tightly integrated. The VWS software was built in Lisp.
I spent about a man-year over the three-year period from 1988 to 1990 building a feature-based automatic NC-program generator called the Off-Line Programming System (OLPS) which was one level of sophistication beyond the NC generator in the VWS system. OLPS was also built in Lisp. Funding for this project ran out, and it was discontinued.
In 1996 I was able to resume work on feature-based manufacturing and built software for a prototype Feature-Based Control System (FBCS). In the FBCS, NC-programs are generated and run in real time. The FBCS software is in C++. Documentation of the system is in draft form.
Since late 1996 I have worked on an industrial-strength feature-based project named the Feature-Based Inspection and Control System (FBICS). This builds on the FBCS but includes inspection. FBICS includes automatic process plan generation as well as automatic NC code and inspection code generation. Documentation of the FBICS system may be found in the FBICS section of my on-line publications. A 200-page NISTIR describing FBICS in detail has been drafted but is not yet finished.
Mathematics of Manufacturing
A third general interest area of mine is mathematics associated with manufacturing: shape models of parts, tool path representations, etc.
Languages
I enjoy computer languages and other formal languages. I currently write computer programs in Lisp, C, and C++. I write machine control programs in various dialects of RS274 (for machining centers) and DMIS (for coordinate measuring machines). I build information models in EXPRESS. I write process plans in ALPS (as modeled in EXPRESS and instantiated using STEP Part21) with language extensions I build myself in EXPRESS. I have studied several other computer languages and formal languages less extensively.
Other Research Areas
At the request of the NIST divisions I have worked with, I have conducted research in STEP standards development and control architectures and built software systems for interpreting computer programs in the RS274 and DMIS languages.
Preferred Research Activities
I prefer research involving conceiving, designing, building, testing, and refining computer software systems. Over half my time at NIST has been spent doing that.
Last edited April 8, 2002