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Design-OS: A Specification-Driven Framework for Engineering System Design with a Control-Systems Design Case

H. Sinan Bank, Daniel R. Herber, Thomas H. Bradley

Abstract

Engineering system design -- whether mechatronic, control, or embedded -- often proceeds in an ad hoc manner, with requirements left implicit and traceability from intent to parameters largely absent. Existing specification-driven and systematic design methods mostly target software, and AI-assisted tools tend to enter the workflow at solution generation rather than at problem framing. Human--AI collaboration in the design of physical systems remains underexplored. This paper presents Design-OS, a lightweight, specification-driven workflow for engineering system design organized in five stages: concept definition, literature survey, conceptual design, requirements definition, and design definition. Specifications serve as the shared contract between human designers and AI agents; each stage produces structured artifacts that maintain traceability and support agent-augmented execution. We position Design-OS relative to requirements-driven design, systematic design frameworks, and AI-assisted design pipelines, and demonstrate it on a control systems design case using two rotary inverted pendulum platforms -- an open-source SimpleFOC reaction wheel and a commercial Quanser Furuta pendulum -- showing how the same specification-driven workflow accommodates fundamentally different implementations. A blank template and the full design-case artifacts are shared in a public repository to support reproducibility and reuse. The workflow makes the design process visible and auditable, and extends specification-driven orchestration of AI from software to physical engineering system design.

Design-OS: A Specification-Driven Framework for Engineering System Design with a Control-Systems Design Case

Abstract

Engineering system design -- whether mechatronic, control, or embedded -- often proceeds in an ad hoc manner, with requirements left implicit and traceability from intent to parameters largely absent. Existing specification-driven and systematic design methods mostly target software, and AI-assisted tools tend to enter the workflow at solution generation rather than at problem framing. Human--AI collaboration in the design of physical systems remains underexplored. This paper presents Design-OS, a lightweight, specification-driven workflow for engineering system design organized in five stages: concept definition, literature survey, conceptual design, requirements definition, and design definition. Specifications serve as the shared contract between human designers and AI agents; each stage produces structured artifacts that maintain traceability and support agent-augmented execution. We position Design-OS relative to requirements-driven design, systematic design frameworks, and AI-assisted design pipelines, and demonstrate it on a control systems design case using two rotary inverted pendulum platforms -- an open-source SimpleFOC reaction wheel and a commercial Quanser Furuta pendulum -- showing how the same specification-driven workflow accommodates fundamentally different implementations. A blank template and the full design-case artifacts are shared in a public repository to support reproducibility and reuse. The workflow makes the design process visible and auditable, and extends specification-driven orchestration of AI from software to physical engineering system design.
Paper Structure (57 sections, 4 equations, 2 figures, 7 tables)

This paper contains 57 sections, 4 equations, 2 figures, 7 tables.

Table of Contents

  1. INTRODUCTION
  2. RELATED WORK
  3. Specification-driven and requirements-driven design.
  4. Systematic design methodology.
  5. AI-assisted design and the specification-driven gap.
  6. Control education and the design case.
  7. METHODOLOGY: DESIGN-OS
  8. Stage 1: Concept Definition.
  9. Stage 2: Literature Survey.
  10. Stage 3: Conceptual Design.
  11. Stage 4: Requirements Definition.
  12. Stage 5: Design Definition.
  13. Traceability across stages.
  14. DESIGN CASE: INVERTED PENDULUM
  15. Stage 1--2: Concept Definition and Literature Survey
  16. ...and 42 more sections

Figures (2)

  • Figure 1: Design-OS workflow (abstract): five stages arranged around the designer (central diamond), each executed by an AI agent (robot icon). User interactions (numbered) between stages enable validation and iteration. Each box shows the stage name, key artifacts, and commands.
  • Figure 2: Two inverted pendulum architectures: Furuta (left) and reaction wheel (right).