Blogpost #7: VR in Engineering

Designing complex structures requires attention to detail as architects and engineers makes a design for a project. Checking for design flaws on a sheet of paper is not the most effective way as it doesn't simulate the real-world. Today, engineers are using CAD (Computer-Aided Design) to create a virtual model of their design. They can test it's structural integrity and a number of other things. But what if you could go inside your model to personally check for faults?

Virtual reality has spread even in with the architects and engineers. Creating a VR CAD environment is probably one of the best applications in this industry. In fact, this has already been done by IC.IDO.

This article that I have read by John Hayes entitled "Immersive Virtual Reality" talks about his trip to an IC.IDO demo facility in Paris, France. There are only less than 100 of these environments in the world and most of them are in use for the automobile industry. The demo that was shown to Hayes was a BMW car on a assembly line. The demo took place in a dark room with a wall dedicated for projecting images of the 3D model. The image being projected was 3D and they are wearing 3D glasses for the virtual reality experience. It also has a heavily modified Wii Remote to interact with the virtual world.

One of the things that impress Hayes was the part where they disassembled the car much like in CAD. 

"Because there is a full 3D CAD model powering the demo, we were able to section the car in any direction to further investigate collision points.  The demo had some analysis built in, showing strain points on hoses and even on the virtual factory workers who have to reach to perform certain tasks."

The VR environment can also track your head movement. So when Hayes tried to go to the underside of the car, the VR environment knows he his crouching and applied the appropriate response in the virtual world.

In another side of the world, Ford is using an almost similar application of VR. Ford is using Oculus Rift and Autodesk (CAD) to have a more practical design perspective of their cars. Elizabeth Baron, virtual reality and advanced visualization technical specialist of Ford, said:

"What we’re looking for is the perceived quality of vehicles, as a customer would see them. We want to be able to see the cars and our designs, and experience them before we have actually produced them."

It could actually save them more money by eliminating as much design flaws as possible. Recalling already sold automobiles is a very costly error for an automobile company. Not to mention providing compensations to owners of faulty cars.

The debate on whether VR could be practically applied on all (or most) industries is probably reaching it's conclusion. As the grey areas or uncertainties starts to fade, it's clear that VR is not a fad and will be used by industry professionals.







References:

Engineering.com - "Immersive Virtual Reality"
http://www.engineering.com/DesignerEdge/DesignerEdgeArticles/ArticleID/5015/Immersive-Virtual-Reality.aspx

Forbes - "Ford, Where Virtual Reality Is Already Manufacturing Reality"
http://www.forbes.com/sites/leoking/2014/05/03/ford-where-virtual-reality-is-already-manufacturing-reality/