During the analysis and design of manufacturing systems, companies are challenged by existing restrictions and the running production. To deal with these key issues, different virtual factory approaches and tools have been widely implemented in recent years. By employing modern approaches and tools, a manufacturing system can be adapted effectively. Virtual reality (VR), one of the most important approaches, has recently been applied to the scientific and the industrial fields. Recent studies of VR applications are mainly focusing on the design of products, but not manufacturing systems. This paper presents VR as an innovative and collaborative design platform for manufacturing systems, which enables a holistic use of virtual factory tools. Based on this platform, three applications were implemented, which are addressed at different levels of a manufacturing system. Furthermore, a noise simulation and a virtual machining tool were visualised in a cave automatic virtual environment (CAVE).
Abstract-To take up the challenge of global distributed companies, Manufacturing Engineering has to be accomplished in a worldwide collaborative way. Design and development of production processes and their execution are nowadays spread all over the world. To ensure quality standards and to create synergies between spatially distributed entities, distance collaboration tools must be provided to allow cooperation even over large distances. The Virtual Reality (VR) is thereby offering beneficial capabilities to exchange current planning stages, identify problems and solve them cooperatively. This paper introduces a new approach for distance collaboration, which enables users to work in a joint virtual space, nearly as if they were working together in the same place. Therefore two full-immersive CAVE-like systems are interconnected using the VirCA (Virtual Collaboration Arena) platform. The paper describes the requirements of Mechanical Engineers towards distance collaboration tools and the technical challenges solved with the enhanced VirCA framework. This working prototype is one premier application in the field of VRenhanced spatially distributed collaboration. A typical use case scenario is provided to highlight the interaction and cooperation capabilities offered by VirCA NET.
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