FUN DESIGN. THE GOAL OF THE FUNDAMENTAL DESIGN (FUN DESIGN) PROGRAM IS TO INVESTIGATE NEW FUNDAMENTAL COMPUTATIONAL AND MATHEMATICAL BUILDING BLOCKS TO REPRESENT CONCEPTUAL DESIGNS OF MECHANICAL SYSTEMS AND ENABLE THE GENERATION OF NOVEL CONFIGURATIONS THROUGH THE EXPLORATION OF VARIOUS COMBINATIONS OF THESE DESIGN BUILDING BLOCKS. THE ABILITY TO MATHEMATICALLY REPRESENT THE PRELIMINARY COMPONENTS OF A DESIGN AS A FORMULA ENABLES THE DESIGNER TO DISCOVER NEW AND IMPROVED SPECIES OF DESIGNS BY CHANGING THE BUILD FORMULAS, FOR EXAMPLE, THROUGH PERTURBATION, COMBINING BEST OF BREED FORMULAS, AND BY ELIMINATION.