The Analysis of design and manufacturing tasks using haptic and immersive VR - Some case studies

The use of virtual reality in interactive design and manufacture has been researched extensively but the practical application of this technology in industry is still very much in its infancy. This is surprising as one would have expected that, after some 30 years of research commercial applications of interactive design or manufacturing planning and analysis would be widespread throughout the product design domain. One of the major but less well known advantages of VR technology is that logging the user gives a great deal of rich data which can be used to automatically generate designs or manufacturing instructions, analyse design and manufacturing tasks, map engineering processes and, tentatively, acquire expert knowledge. The authors feel that the benefits of VR in these areas have not been fully disseminated to the wider industrial community and - with the advent of cheaper PC-based VR solutions - perhaps a wider appreciation of the capabilities of this type of technology may encourage companies to adopt VR solutions for some of their product design processes. With this in mind, this paper will describe in detail applications of haptics in assembly demonstrating how user task logging can lead to the analysis of design and manufacturing tasks at a level of detail not previously possible as well as giving usable engineering outputs. The haptic 3D VR study involves the use of a Phantom and 3D system to analyse and compare this technology against real-world user performance. This work demonstrates that the detailed logging of tasks in a virtual environment gives considerable potential for understanding how virtual tasks can be mapped onto their real world equivalent as well as showing how haptic process plans can be generated in a similar manner to the conduit design and assembly planning HMD VR tool reported in PART A. The paper concludes with a view as to how the authors feel that the use of VR systems in product design and manufacturing should evolve in order to enable the industrial adoption of this technology in the future

Haptic-GeoZui3D: Exploring the Use of Haptics in AUV Path Planning

We have developed a desktop virtual reality system that we call Haptic-GeoZui3D, which brings together 3D user interaction and visualization to provide a compelling environment for AUV path planning. A key component in our system is the PHANTOM haptic device (SensAble Technologies, Inc.), which affords a sense of touch and force feedback – haptics – to provide cues and constraints to guide the user’s interaction. This paper describes our system, and how we use haptics to significantly augment our ability to lay out a vehicle path. We show how our system works well for quickly defining simple waypoint-towaypoint (e.g. transit) path segments, and illustrate how it could be used in specifying more complex, highly segmented (e.g. lawnmower survey) paths

Interactive form creation: exploring the creation and manipulation of free form through the use of interactive multiple input interface

Most current CAD systems support only the two most common input devices: a mouse and a keyboard that impose a limit to the degree of interaction that a user can have with the system. However, it is not uncommon for users to work together on the same computer during a collaborative task. Beside that, people tend to use both hands to manipulate 3D objects; one hand is used to orient the object while the other hand is used to perform some operation on the object. The same things could be applied to computer modelling in the conceptual phase of the design process. A designer can rotate and position an object with one hand, and manipulate the shape [deform it] with the other hand. Accordingly, the 3D object can be easily and intuitively changed through interactive manipulation of both hands.The research investigates the manipulation and creation of free form geometries through the use of interactive interfaces with multiple input devices. First the creation of the 3D model will be discussed; several different types of models will be illustrated. Furthermore, different tools that allow the user to control the 3D model interactively will be presented. Three experiments were conducted using different interactive interfaces; two bi-manual techniques were compared with the conventional one-handed approach. Finally it will be demonstrated that the use of new and multiple input devices can offer many opportunities for form creation. The problem is that few, if any, systems make it easy for the user or the programmer to use new input devices

Three-dimensional phenomena in microbubble acoustic streaming

Ultrasound-driven oscillating micro-bubbles have been used as active actuators in microfluidic devices to perform manifold tasks such as mixing, sorting and manipulation of microparticles. A common configuration consists on side-bubbles, created by trapping air pockets in blind channels perpendicular to the main channel direction. This configuration consists of acoustically excited bubbles with a semi-cylindrical shape that generate significant streaming flow. Due to the geometry of the channels, such flows have been generally considered as quasi two-dimensional. Similar assumptions are often made in many other microfluidic systems based on \emph{flat} micro-channels. However, in this paper we show that microparticle trajectories actually present a much richer behavior, with particularly strong out-of-plane dynamics in regions close to the microbubble interface. Using Astigmatism Particle Tracking Velocimetry, we reveal that the apparent planar streamlines are actually projections of a \emph{streamsurface} with a pseudo-toroidal shape. We therefore show that acoustic streaming cannot generally be assumed as a two-dimensional phenomenon in confined systems. The results have crucial consequences for most of the applications involving acoustic streaming as particle trapping, sorting and mixing.Comment: 5 pages, 4 high quality figures. Accepted for Publication in Phys. Rev. Applied, March 201

Computational Simulation and 3D Virtual Reality Engineering Tools for Dynamical Modeling and Imaging of Composite Nanomaterials

An adventure at engineering design and modeling is possible with a Virtual Reality Environment (VRE) that uses multiple computer-generated media to let a user experience situations that are temporally and spatially prohibiting. In this paper, an approach to developing some advanced architecture and modeling tools is presented to allow multiple frameworks work together while being shielded from the application program. This architecture is being developed in a framework of workbench interactive tools for next generation nanoparticle-reinforced damping/dynamic systems. Through the use of system, an engineer/programmer can respectively concentrate on tailoring an engineering design concept of novel system and the application software design while using existing databases/software outputs.Comment: Submitted on behalf of TIMA Editions (http://irevues.inist.fr/tima-editions

Toward a Semiotic Framework for Using Technology in Mathematics Education: The Case of Learning 3D Geometry

This paper proposes and examines a semiotic framework to inform the use of technology in mathematics education. Semiotics asserts that all cognition is irreducibly triadic, of the nature of a sign, fallible, and thoroughly immersed in a continuing process of interpretation (Halton, 1992). Mathematical meaning-making or meaningful knowledge construction is a continuing process of interpretation within multiple semiotic resources including typological, topological, and social-actional resources. Based on this semiotic framework, an application named VRMath has been developed to facilitate the learning of 3D geometry. VRMath utilises innovative virtual reality (VR) technology and integrates many semiotic resources to form a virtual reality learning environment (VRLE) as well as a mathematical microworld (Edwards, 1995) for learning 3D geometry. The semiotic framework and VRMath are both now being evaluated and will be re-examined continuously

Exploring individual user differences in the 2D/3D interaction with medical image data

User-centered design is often performed without regard to individual user differences. In this paper, we report results of an empirical study aimed to evaluate whether computer experience and demographic user characteristics would have an effect on the way people interact with the visualized medical data in a 3D virtual environment using 2D and 3D input devices. We analyzed the interaction through performance data, questionnaires and observations. The results suggest that differences in gender, age and game experience have an effect on people’s behavior and task performance, as well as on subjective\ud user preferences