The generation and practical use of plans for manual assembly using immersive virtual reality

Abstract

The preparation of assembly plans for manufactured goods is a major bottleneck in the time it takes to bring many new products to market. Computer aided assembly planning (CAAP) systems have been the subject of considerable research in recent years without achieving significant up-take in manufacturing industry. This paper proposes an alternative approach based on the adoption of immersive virtual reality, which is used here to produce practical downstream manufacturing information. The product is assembled from computer aided design (CAD) models of its components by experienced assembly operators working in a virtual environment. The operators' actions are monitored and assembly sequence plans are automatically generated by the system. In the research described in this paper, the plans produced for an advanced electromechanical product were then used by a second group of participants to demonstrate the functionality of the system in an industrial environment. The development of virtual reality-based assembly planning carries with it the opportunity not only to shorten the product innovation cycle but also to capitalize on the experience of assembly operators and bring this to bear much earlier in the design process.

Virtual reality for assembly methods prototyping: a review

“…This knowledge, based on prior experience, is difficult to capture and formalize and could be rather extensive [15]. Ritchie et al [1] proposed the use of immersive virtual reality for assembly sequence planning. System functionality was demonstrated using an advanced electromechanical product in an industrial environment.…”

“…Virtual reality (VR) technology has the potential to support integration of natural human motions into the computer aided assembly planning environment (CAAP) [1]. This would allow evaluations of an assembler's ability to manipulate and assemble parts and result in reduced time and cost for product design.…”

Using Augmented Reality to Cognitively Facilitate Product Assembly Process

“…An initial trial of using VR technology in guiding assembly task instead of the assembly drawing was conducted before it won a praise and a further interest in research perspective. Nowadays, this technology has been commonly used in product assembly area (Ritchie et al, 1999). Through it, product designers are able to create the virtual prototypes of product accessories, modules and parts in VEs, where the virtually trial assembly tasks are enabled for the purpose of facilitating assemblers through the evaluation of varying task difficulties from computer.…”

Evaluation of Bimanual Stretched-String Single Object Manipulation for Virtual Assembly With Haptics

“…Stereovision and direct spatial interaction in virtual environments; enables realistic interaction unlike typical CAD modeling softwares. Ritche et al [5] proposed use of virtual reality for manual assembly planning. Virtual assembly simulation tries to capture any assembly related issues during very early stage of the design which could be used for design improvement as well as assembly methods planning.…”