The Research On Usability Of The CBID System For NCMT

Based on the usability research of ICAID system for Tenth National Five-year Science and Technology Project, this paper farther discusses the usability of CBID (Case-based Industrial Design) system which had been developed by the project of National High Technology Research and Development Program of China. By comparing the usability between ICAID system and CBID system, the feasibility of Case-based Reasoning in product design has been confirmed.How to evaluate the high usability system is a hot issue in the field of computer-aided design and the artificial intelligence. The usability research of CBID system is continuative and deep research about the computer-aided design system. Firstly, based on the problems of the ICAID system usability research discovering and the user requirement analysis, a method of Case-Based Reasoning in product design is introduced, and the main function module and system framework are constructed. Secondly, an experiment for usability evaluation was carried out, and an integrated method of protocol analysis, task analysis and error analysis was adopted for experimental analysis, it can quantify the qualitative descriptive data about the design process to the specific interfaces and module. Thirdly, by the analysis of both the objective design behavior and the subjective appraises to the system, the four dimensions of CBID system can be evaluated which are Assistance,Efficiency,Innovation and Subjective Satisfaction dimension. Lastly, comparing the usability level between ICAID system and CBID system , the feasibility of Case-based Reasoning in product design can be confirmed; moreover, by analyzing the errors and problems found in the process of the experiment, the paper provides also the suggestions of system optimizing and upgrade in the next step.From the point of view of Computer-Aided Design system development, this paper presents some key process of the system development, which has provided a new method for the expert system. The achievement of usability research is helpful to develop a high usability aided design system which is easier to use and more responsive to user demand.