2753	 A Heuristic Problem Solving Design System for Equipment or Furniture Layouts	 The Designer Problem Solver DPS demonstrates that the computer can perform simple design tasks. In particular it designs furniture and equipment layouts. This task was chosen because it is simple well defined and characteristic of many design tasks in architecture engineering urban planning and natural resource management. These space planning tasks usually involve manipulating two-dimensional representations of objects to create feasible or optimal solutions for problems involving topological and metric spatial constraints. The paper describes extensive tests performed on the program. DPS is a heuristic problem solver with a planning phase prefixed to it. It uses the planning process to give it a sense of direction diagnostic procedures to locate difficulties and remedial actions to recover from difficulties. It uses a convex polygon representation to accurately describe the objects and the layout. This representation allows topological and metric constraints to be tested and the design to be easily updated. DPS has been applied to problems. While it is slow and limited in scope the ideas behind it are general. It demonstrates the need for selectivity in controlling search and the methods used to achieve it task-specific information planning diagnostic procedures remedial actions and selective alternative generators. artificial intelligence computer-aided design design synthesis diagnostic search heuristics planning problem solving representations search strategies space planning spatial representations
