A List of Responders
Virtual Manufacturing Background Project
banerjee@uic.eduraj@alpha.ie.wisc.edu Assistant Prof. Dept. of Mech. Eng. UIC
The activities are categorized as follows:
1. The University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) Electronic Visualization
Laboratory (EVL) has produced a room-sized virtual reality system called
the "CAVE" [1,2]. It is a projection-based system that achieves immersion
through the use of large screen stereo displays and user tracking. EVL is
currently starting the design and implementation of the "ImmersaDesk," a
drafting-table format and sized device that uses the same libraries but is
more fitting with a normal office setting. We are designing and
implementating the first fully operational prototype for use in NIST's
Intelligent Systems Division.
2. It is envisioned that use of a sophisticated immersion environment such
as the ImmersaDesk and CAVE would lay the foundation for the development of
next generation tools in manufacturing information management and
intelligent decision support for operator interfaces. We are working with
NIST in developing standards for immersive operator display interfaces.
As a first step, we are interfacing the ImmersaDesk to a Gear
Factory Simulation and Control System developed by NIST through one of its
contractors, to achieve roughly half the level of graphics real-time
functionality that is currently possible at NIST in non-stereo display on a
Silicon Graphics Onyx screen. This involves selection of an appropriate
format for storage of Immersion Displays, and software coding for
conversion of the Gear Factory Information to this format. Some software
tuning for NIST's VTX graphics subsystem is needed since UIC's software
assumes Reality Engine-2 capability. Stereo is being achieved with a
120Hz refresh, twice the normal rate of 60Hz for non-stereo, therefore
halving the graphics output.
3. Among many ongoing research projects, an exploratory virtual
groupware architecture using ImmersaDesk is being developed, in which
multiple designers communicate using the same software. The standard
implementation of the ImmersaDesk is being enhanced for multiple users to
interact with the system. Currently the groupware is being applied to a
factory layout design problem. As a first step towards streamlining the
process of turn-taking, we assume a person designated as a "moderator", who
has the responsibility of transferring control from one member of the group
to another. Each member of the group is assumed to have a wand using which
the user interacts with the layout software running on an ImmersaDesk.
Switching from one member of the group to another is accomplished by
keyboard and mouse input by the moderator.
References
1. Cruz-Neira, C., D.J. Sandin, T.A. DeFanti, "Surround-Screen
Projection-Based Virtual Reality: The Design and Implementation of the
CAVE," Computer Graphics (Proc. of SIGGRAPH '93), ACM SIGGRAPH, August
1993, pp. 135-142.
2. Cruz-Neira, C., D.J. Sandin, T.A. DeFanti, R.V. Kenyon and J.C. Hart,
"The CAVE: Audio Visual Experience Automatic Virtual Environment," ACM
Communications, vol. 35, no. 6, June 1992, pp. 65-72.
3. The URL for CAVE related information is
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/EVL/docs/html/CAVE.html
4. Information on EVL can be obtained at
http://www.ncsa.uiuc.edu/evl/html/homePage.html
A List of Responders
Virtual Manufacturing Background Project
Virtual Manufacturing Home Page