IEDS: Exploring an Intelli-Embodied Design Space Combining Designer, AR, and GAI to Support Industrial Conceptual Design

Conceptual design is an important stage in industrial product development, influenced by the design space and materials available to designers. Advancements in human-computer interaction (HCI) and artificial intelligence (AI) technologies have broadened these aspects considerably. On the one hand, augmented reality (AR) technologies merge physical and virtual representations to enhance intuitive interaction and embodied cognition. On the other hand, generative artificial intelligence (GAI) serves as a novel design material, boosting creativity and productivity. Inspired by these technological strides, we proposed an Intelli-Embodied Design Space (IEDS), which integrates designers, AR, and GAI to support industrial conceptual design by combining embodied interaction with generative variability. Within IEDS, designers can interact with the physical prototypes intuitively, while GAI refines these into virtual forms that can be embedded in the physical world through AR technology. In this study, we established the theoretical framework and interaction modes of IEDS through literature reviews and expert interviews. Subsequently, we designed and implemented three GAI+AR tools, GAI + Head-mounted Display (HMD), GAI + Handheld Display (HHD), and GAI + Spatial Augmented Reality (SAR), based on three AR approaches in IEDS to practically examine the benefits and challenges of these interaction modes across industrial conceptual design tasks. We discussed IEDS’s influence on industrial conceptual design and released its application guidelines to the HCI community.