Text 10. In the recent years, it has become common knowledge that virtual reality tools (VR) are finding increasing favour

In the recent years, it has become common knowledge that virtual reality tools (VR) are finding increasing favour, reducing product development periods and making the design process ever more efficient.

In the past, in the world of design engineering the point at which products came to life was generally during a physical prototype review. Only then will a product move, rotate, or provide an opportunity for a human to interact with it as would a user once it had been commercially manufactured. Following on the heels of software advances which have brought engineering three-dimensional (3D) solid modelling, visualisation and animation, the ability to simulate a product’s functionality and bring it to life is now available.

John Deere, a leading producer of agricultural equipment, industrial equipment and power systems, believes that VR allows its engineers to evaluate the ergonomicoptions of a piece of equipment before it becomes steel.

For design engineers, simulation can include kinematics, stress analysis, dynamics, motion analysis and, most recently, functional simulation. Functional simulation is defined as being the mechanical simulation of a product’s behaviour, and is a part of the wider field of engineering simulation - the reproduction of the conditions of a situation by means of a model, for study, testing or training, etc.

The importance of simulating this functionality presumes that an understanding of the working relationship between all parts, components, human operators and the terrain in which the machine is expected to operate is crucial. The majority of engineers would concur with this statement, and appreciate the ability to conduct in-depth real-time design for assembly, manufacturing and maintainability - something afforded by functional simulation software.

Visualization provides solutions to many of the design challenges encountered throughout the product life-cycle, from the evaluation of basic ergonomic issues. These digital virtual prototyping tools have been joined by animation devices that create motion or behaviours a product is designed and destined to have. And these parameters can be captured for unlimited replay.

Animation is a technology that makes a product come alive for the duration of the sequence and according to the imagination of the programmer. This makes the product come alive according to the wishes of the user at the time of interaction with the model.

Functional simulation addresses current down-stream problems (such as the necessity of the construction of a physical prototype and important discovery and correction of design flaws) much earlier in the design process, sharply reducing the cost and time required to correct them, while enabling engineers to evaluate a greater number of ideas and concepts.