Automated design analysis, assembly planning and motion study analysis using immersive virtual reality

Previous research work at Heriot-Watt University using immersive virtual reality (VR) for cable harness design showed that VR provided substantial productivity gains over traditional computer-aided design (CAD) systems. This follow-on work was aimed at understanding the degree to which aspects of this technology were contributed to these benefits and to determine if engineering design and planning processes could be analysed in detail by nonintrusively monitoring and logging engineering tasks. This involved using a CAD-equivalent VR system for cable harness routing design, harness assembly and installation planning that can be functionally evaluated using a set of creative design-tasks to measure the system and users' performance. A novel design task categorisation scheme was created and formalised which broke down the cable harness design process and associated activities. The system was also used to demonstrate the automatic generation of usable bulkhead connector, cable harness assembly and cable harness installation plans from non-intrusive user logging. Finally, the data generated from the user-logging allowed the automated activity categorisation of the user actions, automated generation of process flow diagrams and chronocyclegraphs

GEOMETRIC MODELING OF SHEET DEFORMATION WITHIN A VIRTUAL ENVIRONMENT

International audienceIn this paper we present a real-time, computationally inexpensive environment for on-screen,accurate simulations of thermoplastic sheet materials on a conventional Personal Computer. A pseudoimmersivevirtual environment is constructed to handle the implementation of a real-time aestheticallyaccurate deformation algorithm called MaSSE: Mass-Spring Simulation Engine. The motion of the sheetis controlled by gravity and by using a mouse-pointing device to manipulate the sheet within theenvironment. An application for the environment is centered on, although not restricted to, mechanicalengineering-based real-time simulations of heat-sensitive sheet materials

A indução gravitacional

This paper discusses a possible explanation for the origin of the fictitious forces which appear in non-inertial frames of reference, not only when these frames have translational acceleration, but also when they are rotating.http://dx.doi.org/10.5007/2175-7941.2010v27n3p584O presente artigo discute uma possível explicação para a origem das forças fictícias que aparecem em referenciais não-inerciais, tanto no caso em que eles se encontram em translação acelerada como no caso em que eles estejam em rotação