A framework for a motorcycle design computer-based intelligent tool

Abstract

Motorcycle riders’ road experience, attitude and position have a large impact on safety. Besides these aspects, a motorcycle designer has to consider the aesthetical emotional value of such artefacts. This paper contributes a novel framework architecture supports designers to develop a ridercentred, safer motorcycle design, while at the same time considering human factors and the emotional values of such artefacts. This paper explores the requirements for this framework through a validated mixed method approach, gaining input from interviewed designers, stakeholders as well as surveyed riders. The proposed framework takes a user-centred approach, placing designers and riders at the framework’s core. Riders are an essential aspect as they assist in generating the knowledge which is critical to the operation of the framework. The framework acts as a support to the motorcycle designer, where it couples the intellectual resources of the designer with the knowledge capabilities of the framework to proactively support motorcycle design decision making. The proposed framework is driven by a harmonisation engine, where the aesthetic, ergonomic, persona and market trend domains are harmonised to achieve a balanced motorcycle design solution. The framework architecture will be employed to implement an intelligent computer-based motorcycle design support tool, in future work.