The Rise of AI & ML: A Comprehensive Review of AI and Machine Learning Applications in Mechanical Engineering

Emerging artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) technologies are generating a paradigm shift in mechanical engineering, resulting in intelligent, data-driven restructuring of established mechanical engineering processes. In this review, we discuss the various ways that AI and ML have been incorporated across key areas in mechanical engineering, specifically predictive maintenance, design optimization, quality assurance, and renewable energy systems. Intelligent engineering technologies utilize the latest advances such as deep learning, reinforcement learning, and hybrid physics-informed models to enable engineers to achieve new levels of accuracy, productivity, and sustainability. This review successfully outlines AI’s inherent capabilities of flexibility, explainability and scalability allowing it to be utilized in a ramification of mechanical systems, whilst noting a few key challenges remain; computational complexity, data quality, ethical issues, and generalization of model. By sharing recent developments in AI/ML and articulating different pathways for future research, this review serves as a reference point for the research and practitioner community adapting to intelligent mechanical engineering.