A new interactive design approach for concept selection based on expert opinion

Effective identification of the optimal design in the early stages of product development is critical in order to obtain the best chances of eventual customer satisfaction. Currently, the advancements in prototyping techniques offer unique chances to evaluate the features of different design candidates by means of product experts acting as assessors and/or customers enrolled as testers. In this paper, the candidate identification using virtual and physical prototypes is described and a practical fuzzy approach toward the evaluation of the optimal design is presented. The proposed methodology is tested on a full case study, namely the choice of optimal design for the traditional Neapolitan coffeemaker, inspired by the prototypes of the Italian designer Riccardo Dalisi. Several concepts are developed in a virtual environment and four alternatives among them are realized using Additive Manufacturing. By allowing experts to interact with virtual and physical prototypes, they were able to express their opinion on a custom fuzzy evaluation scale (i.e. they were freely choosing more or less coarse linguistic scales as well as the related shapes of fuzzy sets to adequately represent the level of fuzziness of their judgments). Once the opinions are collected, the set of best candidate(s) is easily identified and useful suggestion can be obtained for further developing the product.     

Haptic-based interactive path planning for a virtual robot arm

In this paper, based on the structural similarity between the PHANToM haptic device and a six-DOF (Degrees of Freedom) articulated robot arm, a six-DOF virtual robot arm driven by the PHANToM device is modeled. In order to enable the virtual robot arm to haptically interact with virtual prototypes in a virtual assembly (VA) environment, a workspace mapping method based on robot kinematics analysis is proposed. The haptic-based virtual robot arm is used in interactive modeling in free path planning and constraint-based assembly path planning operations in the VA system. In both planning processes, the user can interactively edit an assembly path with the guiding forces as feedback. Lastly, A few experiments have been conducted to verify the effectiveness of the proposed methods. The haptic-based virtual robot arm presented in this paper provides a new human-computer interaction method for a VA system.     

CAD data workflow toward the thermal simulation and visualization in virtual reality

This paper presents a CAD transfer method to visualize thermal simulation results in a virtual environment in order to optimize building design determined by energy efficiency. As the goal is to present a more immersive thermal simulation and to project the calculation results in projective displays particularly in cave automatic virtual environment, the main idea of the method is to provide a workflow so that the thermal result can be visualized and simulated in the virtual environment (VE). The paper shows the experiment results conducted in an immersion room by some respondents. An evaluation of the method has demonstrated that it is possible to conduct a specific data workflow in order to represent building performance data and particularly thermal simulation results in virtual reality (VR). With this method, the data flow that starts from the design process is completely and accurately channeled to the VR system. CAD data in 3D mock-up models composed of basic geometry are usually designed and transferred to other tools particularly if intended for VR. However, CAD data needed for the VE is not simple, it needs to be structured in a workflow method. Challenges in data exchange and interoperability among design, simulation and VR tools used have become an important issue to investigate how the workflow works.     

A comparative evaluation of human interaction for design and assembly of 3D CAD models in desktop and immersive environments

Computer aided design (CAD) systems have become today the basic tools used to design and develop products in the industry. In current CAD software most of the editing commands are issued with the aid of widgets and alphanumeric data input devices, while research community is proposing the use of virtual reality environments for CAD modelling. This paper presents an experimental study which compares the performance and usability of a multimodal immersive VR (virtual reality)-CAD system with a traditional CAD system. A comparative analysis was done for the modelling and the assembling process of 3D models. The results obtained from this investigation have shown that, in spite of the variety of interface devices in the virtual environment which provide a natural interaction to the user, the modelling time is about the same compared with a traditional desktop interface. The assembling time, however, is shown to be much smaller for multimodal system. Furthermore, the multimodal interface poses a higher physical stress factor, the hand movement distance being on average 1.6–2.3 times greater than the desktop interface for modelling process and assembling process, respectively. A post-experiment questionnaire shows that the multimodal system produce a great satisfaction for users in modelling and assembly processes.     

Mixed reality system for evaluating designability and operability of information appliances

In the product development process, designability and operability are evaluated using physical mock-ups which require high costs and a long time to build. In this paper, virtual mock-ups (3D digital models) are used instead of physical mock-ups to solve these problems of cost and time. Given that designers want to touch and operate the designed product in the evaluation process, to cover the disadvantage of virtual mock-ups which do not allow this, this paper proposes a system for evaluating designability and operability of products under development using mixed reality technology. With the proposed method, a physical mock-up covered with a designed virtual mock-up can be touched and operated to evaluate the design being developed in the mixed space of virtual and real ones from the viewpoint of designability and operability.     

Virtual concepts and experiments to improve quality of train interiors

The paper aims at providing a methodological contribution to the concept design of train interior in order to improve the quality perceived by users in compliance with railway standards. Indeed, the combined use of advanced CAD tools, experimental statistical methods and Virtual Reality tools allows developing, selecting and experimentally evaluating new concepts. The design cycle starts both from designers’ proposal and the identification of user’s needs; then, it makes use of datum-based CAD models in order to generate virtual concepts that satisfy railway standards; the cycle proceeds with the immersive evaluation of virtual prototypes, performed by potential and expert users in Virtual Reality. The identification of the optimal concept closes the design process. This procedure can be iterated in order to improve the quality of train interiors, evaluated thanks to the user’s involvement in the design cycle. In this work a case study on seat design of a regional train is presented, developed at the Virtual Reality laboratory, named VRTest, of the Regional Centre for the qualification of transportation systems set up by Campania Regional Authority.     

Improving design validation of playground equipment in virtual reality

The ISO 9001: 2000 requires the phase of design validation in order to demonstrate that the design output are able to satisfy specified or forecasted user requirements; for this reason, generally, physical prototype are realized in order to evaluate real product performances and their correlation with simulated ones. In this paper, the use of virtual inspection probes to validate playground equipment design is studied, pointing out limits and defining the optimal test strategies. Through the use of Robust Design techniques the authors show that the combined use of real time shadows and positional sound feedback allows to reduce the percentage of wrong inspections in the validation phase of playground equipment design. The authors develop an inspection probe simulation tool in virtual immersive environment. In particular, this tool ensures the collision detection through visual and sound feedback and increases the realism of the immersive environment. Finally, an experimental session, using a physical prototype of playground equipment, is carried out in order to compare these results with the ones coming out from the VR experiments. For a standard entrapment test, the authors assess the dependences of false and missed alarm by the diameter of the openings to evaluate and establish an acceptability threshold for the usability of the virtual probes.     

A novel augmented reality-based interface for robot path planning

Intuitive and efficient interfaces for robot task planning have been a challenging issue in robotics as it is essential for the prevalence of robots supporting humans in key areas of activities. This paper presents a novel augmented reality (AR) based interface for interactive robot path and end-effector (EE) orientation planning. A number of human-virtual robot interaction methods have been formulated and implemented with respect to the various types of robotic operations needed in different applications. A Euclidean distance-based method is developed to assist the users in the modification of the waypoints so as to update the planned paths and/or orientation profiles within the proposed AR environment. The virtual cues augmented in the real environment can support and enhance human-virtual robot interaction at different stages of the robot tasks planning process. Two case studies are presented to demonstrate the successful implementation of the proposed AR-based interface in planning robot pick-and-place tasks and path following tasks.     

A new product design method based on virtual reality, gaming and scenarios

Through the years, many methods and tools have been developed that support designers in creating good products. Current trends, for example, are to use virtual reality (VR) simulation, gaming principles, and scenario based techniques during product design processes. Each of these methods and tools contributes to the potential effectiveness and efficiency of product design processes. However, in current practice, they are often applied in an ad-hoc manner. This paper presents a new product design method that integrates elements of a number of important trends in contemporary product design processes. Using VR simulation, gaming principles and scenarios, the new product design method gives non-designers (e.g. users, production engineers, marketing managers, maintenance workers) a proactive role in the design process. Within a dedicated design environment, all stakeholders are allowed to create their own designs and immediately test these in a wide variety of use scenarios. By letting stakeholders realistically interact with their personal creations, designers can quickly and reliably pinpoint their needs and preferences. At the same time, good designs are generated. The new product design method was applied to the design of a lane change support system; a system that supports the driver of a vehicle in performing lane change maneuvers. Using the design environment that was established for this case, the designer was able to get a consistent image of everyone's preferences as well as to draw a reliable conclusion about what would be a good design.     

Requirements for an enactive tool to support skilled designers in aesthetic surfaces definition

In common industrial practice the definition of shapes of styling products is performed by product designers by handcrafting scale models made of clay while exploiting their manual skills. Several Computer-Aided Styling tools have been introduced in years with the aim of allowing the creation of product shapes in digital. But the low interest of developers to provide designers with a natural interface that would allow them to continue to use their learned manual skills, has led them to continue to work on clay materials and produce expensive physical prototypes. Enactive Interfaces have been demonstrated to be effective to support the exploitation of human skills including the manual skill of industrial designers. The paper describes an Enactive Interface that has been conceived to support designers in the evaluation of aesthetic shapes, which consists of a combination of an active manual and visual exploration of the shape. The Enactive Interface is the combination of visuo-haptic technologies and has been implemented on the basis of observations of the shape evaluation activity performed by manually skilled designers. In the paper we describe the testing sessions performed to capture the designers’ manual skill, the working principles of the enactive interface and finally the results of the subsequent testing activities specifically carried out to evaluate the effectiveness of the interface.     

A multi-disciplinary distributed simulation environment for mechatronic system design enabling hardware-in-the-loop simulation based on HLA

This paper proposes a high-level architecture-based multi-disciplinary distributed simulation environment for designing mechatronic systems. In the system, commercial off-the-shelf simulators can communicate each other via real-time-infrastructure to realize software-in-the-loop simulation. Moreover, hardware prototypes can also participate in a part of the distributed simulation environment which enable us hardware-in-the-loop simulation. Effectiveness was verified by applying the environment to mechatronic system design of an automotive power-window and an omni-directional electric wheel chair.     

Virtual and Augmented Reality in Cardiovascular Care: State-of-the-Art and Future Perspectives

Applications of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) assist both health care providers and patients in cardiovascular education, complementing traditional learning methods. Interventionalists have successfully used VR to plan difficult procedures and AR to facilitate complex interventions. VR/AR has already been used to treat patients, during interventions in rehabilitation programs and in immobilized intensive care patients. There are numerous additional potential applications in the catheterization laboratory. By using AR, interventionalists could combine visual fluoroscopy information projected and registered on the patient body with data derived from preprocedural imaging and live fusion of different imaging modalities such as fluoroscopy with echocardiography. Persistent technical challenges to overcome include the integration of different imaging modalities into VR/AR and the harmonization of data flow and interfaces. Cybersickness might exclude some patients and users from the potential benefits of VR/AR. Critical ethical considerations arise in the application of VR/AR in vulnerable patients. In addition, digital applications must not distract physicians from the patient. It is our duty as physicians to participate in the development of these innovations to ensure a virtual health reality benefit for our patients in a real-world setting. The purpose of this review is to summarize the current and future role of VR and AR in different fields within cardiology, its challenges, and perspectives.     

An integrated methodology for the functional design of dental prosthesis

In this work it is proposed an integrated methodology for the functional design and simulation of removable complete dentures. This methodology develops in four phases: virtual and physical prototyping, contact forces and areas analysis and functional optimization of teeth and arches geometry. A virtual environment for the modeling of the prosthesis (NM-Tooth) was developed: it includes a database of 3D CAD models of artificial teeth and allows to simulate the fabrication techniques used in dentistry. In particular, it is possible to create a full denture virtual model by a semi-automatic procedure, where a preliminary occlusal configuration is set up. By using rapid-prototyping techniques, a physical model of the prosthesis is manufactured which is utilized for the experimental, in vitro, analysis. The analysis phase includes the study of the occlusion forces in relation to the identification of contact areas; a multi-axial force measuring system allows the detection of forces acting on the physical model. Simultaneously, with a reverse engineering procedure, the relevant contact areas in the virtual model are related with the load configuration. According to the experimental output, it is possible to modify the preliminary geometry both of the arches and of the individual tooth. This integrated methodology is an original instrument to study the dental prosthesis and acquire information for its functional improvement.     

Augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) applied in dentistry

The OSCE is a reliable evaluation method to estimate the preclinical examination of dental students. The most ideal assessment for OSCE is used the augmented reality simulator to evaluate. This literature review investigated a recently developed in virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) starting of the dental history to the progress of the dental skill. As result of the lacking of technology, it needs to depend on other device increasing the success rate and decreasing the risk of the surgery. The development of tracking unit changed the surgical and educational way. Clinical surgery is based on mature education. VR and AR simultaneously affected the skill of the training lesson and navigation system. Widely, the VR and AR not only applied in the dental training lesson and surgery, but also improved all field in our life.     

A virtual container terminal simulator for the design of terminal operation

Port container terminal operation requires a skill workforce who participates in performing a number major operation including container loading/unloading, task planning, scheduling of terminal resources, operating of crane systems, etc. in a highly coordinated manner. To facilitate the optimal design of terminal operation for both management and operators, and to provide a flexible environment for operator training and skill evaluation, a real-time distributed virtual environment that simulates container terminal operation is developed. The system includes an imseCAVE, which is a low cost fully immersive virtual reality system developed at the University of Hong Kong, together with several network computers that are linked to the imseCAVE for remote control and monitoring of terminal operations, and providing user interfaces that simulate the planning systems for terminal operations. The simulator recreates a vivid terminal operating environment that is found useful for both teaching and research in logistics and other related fields.     

A taxonomy for the design and evaluation of Networked Virtual Environments: its application to collaborative design

Networked Virtual Environments (NVEs) are virtual environments that are distributed across two or more physical locations and connected over a network, thereby forming one virtual shared workspace. In the past decade, research in the field of networked virtual environments has become active, quickly growing out of infancy into a diversity of applications. As is common in any new field, this growing assortment of applications lacks an overall classification, making the design of NVEs cumbersome and the comparison of existing environments difficult at best. The goal of this paper is to provide a means of classification through the development of a taxonomy of NVEs. First, an extensive literature review is conducted investigating the characteristics of virtual environments in general, as well as issues specific to networked virtual environments. This search leads to the development of a taxonomy for describing NVEs, which is used to compare current NVE systems and applications and find weak areas in which future work might be most beneficial. Finally, the taxonomy is used for the development of networked virtual environments for collaborative mechanical engineering design.     

Research on UX evaluation method of design concept under multi-modal experience scenario in the earlier design stages

User experience evaluation of design concept is of great significance to ensure predetermined design goals and to obtain feedback. Due to the fuzzy and dispersed design information in existing concept design views, complete experience information about the concept cannot be passed on to users during the process of concept evaluation in the earlier design stages. Against this background, firstly, an evaluation framework of design concept based on multi-modal and user-perceptible experience scenario was constructed, and the multi-modal expression mechanism and multi-sensory synergy arrangement principle of the design concept were also established. And then, specific generation method was given to have scattered concept views converted into the multi-modal and user-perceptible experience scenario. Finally, through a combination of semantic difference method, a multi-modal and scenario-based UX evaluation method of design concept in the earlier design stages was proposed in this paper, also a supporting prototype system was developed. The application of this method in the evaluation of ”high quality interior environment” concept showed that the multi-modal experience environment can effectively integrate the multi-views of design concept and improve the user’s perception depth of the design concept.     

Novel Surfactant-Induced MWCNTs/PDMS-Based Nanocomposites for Tactile Sensing Applications

The paper presents the use of surfactant-induced MWCNTs/PDMS-based nanocomposites for tactile sensing applications. The significance of nanocomposites-based sensors has constantly been growing due to their enhanced electromechanical characteristics. As a result of the simplified customization for their target applications, research is ongoing to determine the quality and quantity of the precursor materials that are involved in the fabrication of nanocomposites. Although a significant amount of work has been done to develop a wide range of nanocomposite-based prototypes, they still require optimization when mixed with polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) matrices. Multi-Walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs) are one of the pioneering materials used in multifunctional sensing applications due to their high yield, excellent electrical conductivity and mechanical properties, and high structural integrity. Among the other carbon allotropes used to form nanocomposites, MWCNTs have been widely studied due to their enhanced bonding with the polymer matrix, highly densified sampling, and even surfacing throughout the composites. This paper highlights the development, characterization and implementation of surfactant-added MWCNTs/PDMS-based nanocomposites. The prototypes consisted of an optimized amount of sodium dodecyl sulfonate (SDS) and MWCNTs mixed as nanofillers in the PDMS matrix. The results have been promising in terms of their mechanical behaviour as they responded well to a maximum strain of 40%. Stable and repeatable output was obtained with a response time of 1 millisecond. The Young’s Modulus of the sensors was 2.06 MPa. The utilization of the prototypes for low-pressure tactile sensing applications is also shown here.     

Human arm simulation for interactive constrained environment design

During the conceptual and prototype design stage of an industrial product, it is crucial to take assembly/disassembly and maintenance operations in advance. A well-designed system should enable relatively easy access of operating manipulators in the constrained environment and reduce musculoskeletal disorder risks for those manual handling operations. Trajectory planning comes up as an important issue for those assembly and maintenance operations under a constrained environment, since it determines the accessibility and the other ergonomics issues, such as muscle effort and its related fatigue. In this paper, a customer-oriented interactive approach is proposed to partially solve ergonomic related issues encountered during the design stage under a constrained system for the operator’s convenience. Based on a single objective optimization method, trajectory planning for different operators could be generated automatically. Meanwhile, a motion capture based method assists the operator to guide the trajectory planning interactively when either a local minimum is encountered within the single objective optimization or the operator prefers guiding the virtual human manually. Besides that, a physical engine is integrated into this approach to provide physically realistic simulation in real time manner, so that collision free path and related dynamic information could be computed to determine further muscle fatigue and accessibility of a product design.