Virtual assembly planning

The technique of virtual reality facilitates three-dimensional interactions with objects, as for example changes of positions and orientations of objects as well as connection of parts. This forms the ideal basis for spatial assembly planning of products. Fraunhofer-Institute for Industrial Engineering (IAO) has been developing a planning system that uses this feature to carry out assembly planning operations. The virtual assembly planning system makes it possible to interactively assemblee and disassemble components and modules in a virtual surrounding. The first prototype of the system received the "BYTE - Best of Systems" award at the Systems 96 Computer Fair in Munich. It applies VirtualANTHROPOS-a virtual model of a person-for executing assembly operations. It is connected by interface to a CAD system and can present CAD objects in a virtual production environment. Based on the user interactions with the virtual objects, a precedence graph is generated and the time of assembly and cost is determined. This article reports on the advantages of Concurrent Engineering and the development of right first time methods such as virtual assembly planning and virtual ergonomic prototyping. (C) 2000 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.