FAQ

Some of the software/tools include (but not limited to):

• Autodesk
• Adobe CS
• Rhino 3D
• Paperspace
• Amazon Machine Learning
• ARcGIS Pro
• MIRO
• Python (Keras, scikit-learn, etc)
• Hadoop
• MapReduce

Some of the programming languages that you will learn in DAI are Python, Ruby, HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

In DAI, the foundations are in AI application and design innovation, we do have courses that involve coding. Depending on the courses that you are taking, some courses may require you to have a good understanding about the mathematical principles besides the coding skills. On top of just coding the AI part from scratch, there are also online tools that you can use especially in the area of generative designs. There are few tools which we can make use of and we are teaching all that in the DAI programme as well. The focus is actually using a lot of methodologies and tools to solve problems and not just mainly on coding.

The pre-requisites will be addressed in the first-year of Freshmore curriculum. DAI courses do touch on mathematics, programming, and design. Hence, proficiency in these areas is an advantage, but not essential as we will cover them in class.

The foundation of the DAI curriculum is AI application and design innovation. Depending on the courses, you are required to understand mathematical principles to design AI-driven solutions with software and programming tools and techniques. So, both mathematics and programming are part of the DAI curriculum and you should be comfortable in these areas if you use to pursue the DAI programme.

Design is a critical part of SUTD’s curriculum and research. In DAI, students will focus on application of AI-driven design across user interface/user experience, products, systems, and built environments to create human-centric solutions.

Some possible AI-driven design innovation projects which students may be involved in include designing smarter medical systems for accurate early detection of diseases, predicting urban growth patterns to optimize city planning and safer and more intuitive services.

Design thinking, design innovation, human-centric design, UI/UX, product, systems, built environment, and data-driven design will be taught in the DAI programme.

DAI has four design studios where students have diverse exposure to industry sectors and hands-on experience working on real-world data via company-sponsored projects. You will have the opportunity to engage directly with industries to look at problems, ask the right questions, collect data to analyse and come up with design solutions using AI. You will be exposed to not just AI tools and methodologies but other complementary tools as well.

Product Design Studio

In Product Design Studio, students will form teams to respond to a “Product Design Challenge” by developing, testing, and presenting a new product or business idea. Students will be introduced to a stage-based design process and be given opportunities to develop their skills in understanding user needs, ideating solutions and making prototypes through experiential learning.

Example Projects:

• Unmanned vehicle with sensors and AI for collision avoidance in a warehouse.
• An urban farming unit that changes farming conditions based on real-time data.

Service Design Studio

In Service Design Studio, students will form a team to respond to a “Service Design Challenge” by conceptualizing, designing, and implementing a new AI-based application to deliver a service. Students will learn web technologies to deploy cross-platform service solutions to various industry needs. The course is offered as a project-based course and managed in a tripartite collaboration involving SUTD, a Technology Expert company, and industries.

Example Projects:

• A chatbot that listens to a patient’s symptoms and health concerns, then guides the patient to the correct care based on its diagnosis.
• An application that analyses unstructured medical data (radiology images, blood tests, EKGs, genomics, patient medical history) to give doctors better insight into a patient’s real-time needs.

Systems Design Studio

In Systems Design Studio, students will form a team to respond to a “Systems Design Challenge” by exploring the application of AI-enabled tools in large scale complex systems. Students will be introduced to planning, optimizing and management of organizational systems through simulation models.

Example Projects:

• Simulate a system of elevators – What are the best strategies to operate the elevators and minimize average waiting times.
• Simulate a delivery system – Analyse trade-offs between number of drivers; demand; average waiting time; number of orders cancelled; etc.
• Analyse the number of beds in a hospital, number of doctors and nurses, waiting room capacities, pharmaceutical inventories, etc. required during a pandemic.

Spatial Design Studio

Students will be conceptualizing and designing applications for the sustainable well-being and smart augmentation of an existing built environment, ranging from cities to building interiors.

Students will get to learn and apply AI-driven techniques in areas such as geospatial data analytics, building information modelling and ambient intelligent interaction.

Example Projects

• An AI application for designing adaptive spatial segregation and differentiated routing to reduce nosocomial infections in hospitals (e.g. separating infected/symptomatic COVID-19 patients and those without).
• An AI application for real-time capturing, tracking, analysis and verifying of building works in construction sites by coupling digital twins and augmented reality (AR) technologies.

DAI focuses on using AI to “better design” with an emphasis on application-based courses and design studios where students will work on real-world data via company-sponsored projects.

Apart from our focus in Design and AI topics, DAI has 4 design studios where students have to work on real-world challenges via company-sponsored projects. Hence, there is a lot of hands-on experiential learning at DAI.