The goal of this project was to combine our virtual reality system Virtual
Design II
with Robcad/Man from Teamomatix with an online communication link.
There are many benefits of such a marriage:
1. The features of both systems can be combined. In particular, the VR System
can use the functionality of the CAD system.
2. VR provides a better user interface for many design and evaluation tasks
involving humans.
3. The VR system is fully integrated into the IT infrastructure
of the company.
Duration
August 1998 - February 1999
Partners
BMW, Teamomatix
Team
Alexander Rettig, Wolfram Kresse, Dirk Reiners, myself. I also managed the project.
Functionality
Online analysis of the human posture
This was one of the main reasons for the online coupling of our VR system and
Robcad/Man. The goal was to transmit the posture of the user ( tracked by the
VR system ) to Robcad/Man, analyse it there, and transmit the result back to
the VR system, which would display the status of the current posture.
Creation of human tasks
Creating human tasks in Robcad/Man can be very cumbersome.
With this project, a designer can now to just do the tasks with
his hand, arm, and body. Whenever he wants to record an action,
he just speaks the appopriate command.
walk to new postition
grasp a part
reach somewhere while still grasping the part
reach somewhere else
put (realease) the part
Assembly paths and kinematics
The user can record an assembly path simply by gasping a part and
moving it. That path can then be transmitted to Robcad/Man and processed
further there. Conversely, a kinematic in Robcad/Man can be played back
online in the virtual environment while the user is still free to navigate.