An interface agent system for CAE

With development of CAD/CAE technology and computer hardware, more design e ngineers are using the CAE software. However, the CAE software is not an ea sy tool to use because of its versatility and amount of expertise required to understand and evaluate simulation results. An autonomous interface agen t that supports Finite Element analysis was proposed and implemented in CAE software. The agent's four major functions include giving overview of anal ysis procedure, planning capability, error support and proactive help that considers user's situation and past experiences. The system was usability-t ested by two groups of student testers of two different majors. Results sho wed agent support was indispensable for novice users. It also showed that f irst two functions were effective, that great care must be paid in concludi ng that a user is lost before activating the fourth function and that the w ay an error case instance is presented to the user should be refined.