@incollection{LivotovCasnerHoussinetal.2018,
  author    = {Pavel Livotov and Didier Casner and R{\´e}my Houssin and Jean Renaud},
  title     = {Problem definition and identification of contradictions in the interdisciplinary areas of mechatronic engineering},
  series = {Advances and Impacts of the Theory of Inventive Problem Solving},
  editor    = {Sebastian Koziołek and Leonid Chechurin and Mikael Collan},
  publisher = {Springer International Publishing},
  isbn      = {978-3-319-96532-1},
  pages     = {231 -- 241},
  year      = {2018},
  abstract  = {The modern TRIZ is today considered as the most organized and comprehensive methodology for knowledge-driven invention and innovation. When applying TRIZ for inventive problem solving, the quality of obtained solutions strongly depends on the level of completeness of the problem analysis and the abilities of designers to identify the main technical and physical contradictions in the inventive situation. These tasks are more complex and hence more time consuming in the case of interdisciplinary systems. Considering a mechatronic product as a system resulting from the integration of different technologies, the problem definition reveals two kinds of contradictions: 1) the mono-disciplinary contradictions within a homogenous sub-system, e.g., only mechanical or only electrical; 2) the interdisciplinary contradictions resulting from the interaction of the mechatronic sub-systems (mechanics, electrics, control and software). This paper presents a TRIZ-based approach for a fast and systematic problem definition and contradiction identification, which could be useful both for engineers and students facing mechatronic problems. It also proposes some useful problem formulation tech-niques such as the System Circle Diagram, the enhancement of System Operator with the Evolution Patterns, the extension of MATChEM-IB operator with Infor-mation field and Human Interactions, as well as the Cause-Effect-Matrix.},
  language  = {en}
}