Published online by Cambridge University Press: 27 July 2021
Data-driven methods from the field of Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning are increasingly applied in mechanical engineering. This refers to the development of digital engineering in recent years, which aims to bring these methods into practice in order to realize cost and time savings. However, a necessary step towards the implementation of such methods is the utilization of existing data. This problem is essential because the mere availability of data does not automatically imply data usability. Therefore, this paper presents a method to automatically recognize symbols from principle sketches, which allows the generation of training data for machine learning algorithms. In this approach, the symbols are created randomly and their illustration varies with each generation. . A deep learning network from the field of computer vision is used to test the generated data set and thus to recognize symbols on principle sketches. This type of drawing is especially interesting because the cost-saving potential is very high due to the application in the early phases of the product development process.