Enhancing development trajectories of synthetic environments

This research presents a framework that supports all stakeholders in the development of a Synthetic Environment. Guidance and support are provided throughout the entire process of development. Multiple disciplines are involved in this process, and the communication and collaboration between them is facilitated in such a way that mutual understanding is enhanced. Moreover, the rationale of decisions made throughout the development can be documented and accessed in such a way that all stakeholders can review and comprehend these decisions in relation to the prior and underlying decision-making processes

Rationalizing virtual reality based on manufacturing paradigms

Comparing the evolvement of the manufacturing industry of the last century to the way virtual reality is used nowadays some remarkable similarities come to light. Current virtual reality equipment requires a high level of craftsmanship to achieve the maximum results, and often equipment is specially build for a dedicated process or project. While the technical revolution in the manufacturing industry led to a turnaround in which more generic production equipment were used in a structured configuration. The goal is to prevent the pitfalls already encountered in the last century in process planning, and convert the advantages of a reconfigurable manufacturing system to the way virtual reality is used

Shifting value stream patterns along the product lifecycle with digital twins

The concept of digital twins promises high potentials for product design, manufacturing, user experience and recycling. Thus, digital twins have received increasing interest in academia and industry. However, the actual benefits of digital twins remain in many cases unclear. This article aims to summarize selected recent developments in this field and demonstrate use cases from different phases of the product lifecycle. For that purpose, examples from the design, manufacturing, use and recycling phase are presented. In a subsequent discussion, ideas for new value stream patterns using digital twins are envisioned and research questions are derive