UB Virtual Reality Laboratory

Summary
VR-Fact! is an interactive virtual factory development software developed as a part of a research to explore the applications of Virtual Environments (VE) in the area of manufacturing automation. VR-Fact! creates digital mock-up of real factory shopfloor. Designers can drag and place modular machines in the factory to study issues such as plant layout, cluster formation and part flow analysis. For the design of this shop floor the user can interactively choose the machines which are required to manufacture a set of parts. Furthermore, the VR walk through environment provides a unique tool for studying physical aspects of machine placements. Mathematical algorithms are used for generating independent manufacturing cells. This approach simultaneously identifies part families and machine groups and is particularly useful for large and sparse matrices.

Advantages
The biggest advantage of using VR-Fact! for the factory design is that it supports the user in planing space or logistical issues by interactively moving and relocating the machines after the simulation has been carried out. With integration to all levels of product development and production cycle, the virtual factory provides unique environment for achieving the above goals.

Hardware
The VR-Fact! software was developed on a Silicon Graphics ONYX 2 computer and can be visualized using stereo head mounted display and Crystal Eye stereo glasses. This model also has supporting software for viewing on a Fakespace Boom3C. The software can also be implemented on Pentium based PCs.

VR-Fact Features
MPEG Videos: 1 |2 |3 |4 |5 | 6
New Pictures: 1 |2 |3 |4 |5

Interactive Design of a Virtual Factory using Cellular Manufacturing System | Go here

MPEG Videos of 1999 Intl. Conference on Robotics & Automation | Go here

Project Director
Dr. T. Kesavadas | kesh@eng.buffalo.edu

Graduate Research Assistants
Marc Ernzer | ernzer@eng.buffalo.edu
Lionel Lefort | lefort@eng.buffalo.edu
Senthil Narayansamy | senthil@eng.buffalo.edu
Abhishek Sudhir | asudhir@eng.buffalo.edu
Charanjeev Singh | csingh@eng.buffalo.edu
Yuri Menezes | yuri@eng.buffalo.edu
Ameet Shedge | shedge@eng.buffalo.edu

Sponsors
NSF
American Axle
API-Delevan

Publications
[1] Deviprasad, T and Kesavadas, T., Virtual Prototyping of Assembly Components, ASME Journal of Manufacturing Systems (Accepted).

[2] Kesavadas, T. and Subramaniam, H., Experimental Study of Virtual Tools with Attributes, IIE Transactions (Accepted).

[3] Kesavadas, T., and Ernzer, M., Design Of An Interactive Virtual Factory Using Cell Formation Methodologies, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Material Handling Division, Mhd. v 5 1999. pp 201-208.

[4] Deviprasad, T. and Kesavadas, T., VPAVE: An interactive tool for validating assembly components in virtual environment using finite element simulation, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Material Handling Division, Mhd. v 5 1999. pp 107-116.

[5] Kesavadas, T. and Subramaniam, H., Experimental Study Of Virtual Tools With Attributes, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, Material Handling Division, Mhd. v 5 1999. pp 11-17.

[6] Kesavadas, T. and Subramanium, H., Flexible Virtual Tools For Programming Robotic Finishing Operations, The Industrial Robot. v 25 n 4 1998. p 268-275.

[7] Kesavadas, T., Khor, C., Subramaniam, H., Taluk, D., Programming Of A Virtual Robot Assisted By A Neural Network For Manufacturing Applications, ASME Intelligent Engineering Systems Through Artificial Neural Networks. v 7 1997. pp 879-884.(Book Chapter)

[8] Sudhir, A. and Kesavadas, T., Computational Steering of Manufacturing Steering using Virtual Reality, IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, San Francisco, April 2000.