Case Studies on the Use of Virtual Reality for an Integrated Design and Manufacturing System

Abstract

Abstract Companies are being forced to create products at a highly accelerated rate and have turned to new design techniques such as virtual prototyping. One of the newest virtual prototyping tools is the use of virtual reality for design and manufacturing analysis. Many groups have developed systems that use virtual reality techniques such as virtual fly-throughs, simulations and three-dimensional visualization. Additionally, there is an increased amount of research in the area of human-integrated techniques or human-in-the-loop analysis using virtual reality. In the field of design and manufacturing, most work has either been in simulation or in the field of human interaction without the use of virtual reality. Although these provide valuable information, a system that couples human-interaction with virtual reality can provide more information than that provided by current computer-aided design and manufacturing software. One concern, however, is the accuracy of these systems and whether the data that is obtained from these systems can be utilized. This paper presents studies performed in a virtual environment for a design and manufacturing system.