Large Language Models for Model-Based Robot Design

Abstract

Large Language Models (LLMs) can contribute useful engineering knowledge to robot design, but directly generated designs may rely on implicit assumptions and provide no guarantees of feasibility or optimality. These assumptions are critical because different reasonable modeling choices can materially change which designs are predicted to be feasible or optimal. We therefore present a framework that uses LLMs to construct explicit engineering models containing physical relationships, compatibility constraints, and objectives, allowing these modeling choices to be inspected and revised before formal optimization. The model can then be updated with additional engineering, manufacturer, or system-specific information before formal multi-objective optimization provides feasibility and Pareto-optimality guarantees with respect to the finalized model and specified design space. We evaluate the framework on quadcopter and line-following robot component-selection problems. Across 30 direct LLM design trials, none could be verified as feasible under the corresponding finalized model. Comparisons with an independently developed expert model and successive stages of model refinement further showed that changes in modeling assumptions substantially altered the predicted feasible and Pareto-optimal design sets. Together, these results show that using LLMs to construct explicit engineering models makes the underlying design choices available for inspection and revision before those assumptions determine the optimized designs. Explicit modeling therefore provides an interface for combining LLM-generated engineering knowledge, system-specific information, and formal design optimization.