# Toward Engineering AGI: Benchmarking the Engineering Design Capabilities of LLMs

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.16204 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2509.16204/

## Key facts

- Cited by 20 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- First posted on arXiv 1 Jul 2025.

## Built on by (most cited first, 20 of 20)

- [Beyond Seeing: Evaluating Multimodal LLMs on Tool-Enabled Image Perception, Transformation, and Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.12712/) (2025)
- [TSRBench: A Comprehensive Multi-task Multi-modal Time Series Reasoning Benchmark for Generalist Models](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2601.18744/) (2026)
- [Frontier-Eng: Benchmarking Self-Evolving Agents on Real-World Engineering Tasks with Generative Optimization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.12290/) (2026)
- [EngTrace: A Symbolic Benchmark for Verifiable Process Supervision of Engineering Reasoning](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2511.01650/) (2025)
- [Supervising Ralph Wiggum: Exploring a Metacognitive Co-Regulation Agentic AI Loop for Engineering Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.24768/) (2026)
- [EngiAI: Capability-Based Evaluation of Tool-Connected LLM Agents for Engineering Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.19743/) (2026)
- [Engineering Reasoning and Instruction (ERI) Benchmark: A Large Taxonomy-driven Dataset for Foundation Models and Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2603.02239/) (2026)
- [FORGE: Fine-grained Multimodal Evaluation for Manufacturing Scenarios](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.07413/) (2026)
- [OC-Distill: Ontology-aware Contrastive Learning with Cross-Modal Distillation for ICU Risk Prediction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2604.16878/) (2026)
- [StructureClaw: Traceable LLM Agents and an Executable Benchmark for Structural Engineering Workflows](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.14896/) (2026)
- [PACE-Bench: Benchmarking Physics Adaptation via Code Evolution in Dynamic Environments](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.14441/) (2026)
- [AnalogSAGE: Self-evolving Analog Design Multi-Agents with Stratified Memory and Grounded Experience](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2512.22435/) (2025)
- [Large Language Models and their Awareness of Mechanics and Spatial Geometry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.14615/) (2026)
- [VFEAgent: A Multimodal Agent Framework for End-to-End Automated Finite Element Analysis](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2605.28978/) (2026)
- [VEHBench: A Stage-Local Diagnostic Benchmark for LLM-Assisted Vibration Energy Harvester Design](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.18181/) (2026)
- [Benchmarking and Reasoning Distillation of Large Language Models for Feedback Controller Design in Complex Dynamical Systems](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2608.07004/) (2026)
- [SimuVerity: Benchmarking Agents for Engineering-Grade Simulink Model Generation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.02304/) (2026)
- [NeutronGym: Physics-Graded Neutron Instrument Design for LLM Agents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.03631/) (2026)
- [FDE-Bench: Evaluating End-to-End Delivery from Underspecified Real-World Business Requests](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.14539/) (2026)
- [Towards a Benchmark for Fire Safety Code Interpretation in the Hong Kong AEC Industry](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2610.16127/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Modern engineering, spanning electrical, mechanical, aerospace, civil, and computer disciplines, stands as a cornerstone of human civilization and the foundation of our society. However, engineering design poses a fundamentally different challenge for large language models (LLMs) compared with traditional textbook-style problem solving or factual question answering. Although existing benchmarks have driven progress in areas such as language understanding, code synthesis, and scientific problem solving, real-world engineering design demands the synthesis of domain knowledge, navigation of complex trade-offs, and management of the tedious processes that consume much of practicing engineers' time. Despite these shared challenges across engineering disciplines, no benchmark currently captures the unique demands of engineering design work. In this work, we introduce EngDesign, an Engineering Design benchmark that evaluates LLMs' abilities to perform practical design tasks across nine engineering domains. Unlike existing benchmarks that focus on factual recall or question answering, EngDesign uniquely emphasizes LLMs' ability to synthesize domain knowledge, reason under constraints, and generate functional, objective-oriented engineering designs. Each task in EngDesign represents a real-world engineering design problem, accompanied by a detailed task description specifying design goals, constraints, and performance requirements. EngDesign pioneers a simulation-based evaluation paradigm that moves beyond textbook knowledge to assess genuine engineering design capabilities and shifts evaluation from static answer checking to dynamic, simulation-driven functional verification, marking a crucial step toward realizing the vision of engineering Artificial General Intelligence (AGI).