With the introduction of new devices, industries are turning to virtual reality to innovate their product development processes. However, before the technology’s possibilities can be fully harnessed, certain constraints must be overcome. This study identifies the benefits and challenges of virtual-reality-based usability testing and design reviews in industry through a patents and articles review. We searched Derwent Innovation, Scopus, and Web of Science and identified 7 patent filings and 20 articles. We discovered an increase in patent filings since 2016 and strong development in the technology space, offering opportunities to enter an area while it is still young. The most frequently researched field is the automotive industry and the most used device is the HTC VIVE head-mounted display, which is frequently paired with motion capture systems and Unity 3D game engines. Virtual reality benefits design reviews and usability testing by providing the visualization of new angles that stimulate novel insights, increasing team engagement, offering more intuitive interactions for non-CAD specialists, saving redesign cost and time, and increasing participants’ safety. The challenges faced by virtual-reality-based prototypes are a lack of realism due to unnatural tactile and visual interactions, latency and registration issues, communication difficulties between teams, and unpleasant symptoms. While these constraints prevent virtual reality from replacing conventional design reviews and usability testing in the near future, it is already a valuable contribution to the industrial product development process.
The late detection of ergonomic component assembly issues during manufacturing processes has an influence on operator well-being and productivity, as well as having a high cost of correction. Although virtual reality may enhance digital human modeling, there is a knowledge gap on the combination of these technologies to assess ergonomics. This study aims to analyze the application of virtual reality and digital human modeling for physical ergonomics assessment during product development in the industry, through a review of patents and the literature. We searched the Derwent Innovation Index, Scopus, and Web of Science databases and found 250 patents and 18 articles. We observed an exponential increase in patents, concentrated among major technological players, and a wide range of technologies being invented. A significant number of studies focuses on the automotive and aviation industries. Despite a relative consensus in the literature on the benefits of integrating virtual reality and digital human modeling to assess physical ergonomics in the early stages of product development, the technologies are seldom combined in the same analysis; moreover, most cases continue to focus on analyzing pre-designed production processes, when resources are completely deployed. These outcomes may provide a reference for practitioners and researchers to develop novel solutions for the early detection of physical ergonomics issues in the industry.
A contextualização das tecnologias educacionais é importante para entender as implicações desses recursos nos processos de aprendizagem e desenvolvimento humano. Dentre essas tecnologias, os jogos podem ser recursos importantes para o desenvolvimento cognitivo, oferecendo oportunidades para o meio educacional. Assim, este trabalho tem como objetivo realizar uma revisão da literatura sobre a utilização dos jogos digitais no desenvolvimento de habilidades cognitivas, especificamente nas habilidades espaciais. A pesquisa foi realizada utilizando a ferramenta de busca da Thomson Reuters, que buscou artigos em revistas internacionais indexadas, publicados entre os anos de 2010 e 2015. Os resultados apresentam um cenário da relação jogos digitais e desenvolvimento de habilidades espaciais. Além disso, a revisão aborda elementos que poderão conduzir novos estudos e trazer novas propostas de tecnologia educacional.
Palavras-chave: Jogos digitais. Habilidades espaciais. Tecnologia educacional.
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