Interacting with real time simulations - virtual reality in industry applications

Abstract

Modern manufacturing machines are highly multidisciplinary, and with demands on short time-to-market, product development based on traditional prototype testing has become impractical. By using virtual models, it is possible to test large numbers of variants and optimise the product with the aid of a minimum of physical prototypes. Due to the immense development of software and hardware for simulation and visualisation it should today be possible also for small and medium sized enterprises to use methods that just few years ago were too expensive and complicated. There is however still a great need for building knowledge and competence. This work is an early step in a project aiming at a virtual water jet cutting machine to be used by the industrial partner for optimisation during the development process. The possibility of performing real-time simulations of this machine in a virtual environment, using a normal PC and commercial software, will be investigated. Initially strongly simplified models of the system components are used and the focus is on the overall system model and the interaction between the operator and the virtual machine. It is shown that realtime interaction is possible with this system and with the obtained flexibility of the overall virtual model it should be easy to include more realistic component models for improved accuracy in future work. Preliminary results indicate however that to include, for example, flexibility within the mechanic structure, component modelling will be delicate. These models must describe relevant characteristics accurately enough while still being computationally effective enough for real-time interaction and systems optimisation to be possible. This will probably be a challenge in the continuation of the project, even with an expected continued strong development of computer capacity.