A review of virtual reality and haptics for product assembly: from rigid parts to soft cables

Purpose - The use of virtual reality for product assembly has been studied for more than 20 years; however its practical application in industry is still very much in its infancy. Haptics is a new and important interaction method for virtual reality, and currently constitutes a strong and growing research area; however despite this, its application in industry still remains virtually unknown. This paper seeks to address this issue. Design/methodology/approach - This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the topics of virtual reality and haptics for product assembly, from rigid parts to soft cables, and investigates some new ideas and recent advances in the area. The survey work has been divided into two parts: addressing rigid parts and soft cables. The main focus of part two, the present work, concentrates on virtual reality and haptics for soft cable design and assembly. Findings - In the first instance, the main research groups and typical systems are investigated, followed by extensive exploration of the major research issues. The latter can be reviewed from three perspectives: geometry modelling, physical modelling and haptics interaction. Finally, the barriers that prevent successful application of virtual assembly are also discussed, and the future research directions are summarized. Originality/value - This paper presents a comprehensive survey of the topics of virtual reality and haptics for product assembly, from rigid parts to soft cables, and investigates some new ideas and recent advances in the area.