A framework for interactive assembly task simulationin virtual environment

Abstract

With the development of the virtual reality technology, users can perform interactive assembly tasks by direct manipulation in virtual environment. However, most of the current studies mainly focus on the function of virtual assembly system without fully considering the interaction efficiency and user experience. As a result, users usually feel depressed in performing complex assembly tasks. A novel framework for interactive assembly task simulation is proposed to address this problem in this paper. The framework is implemented from three aspects: (1) the interaction information related to the assembly operations is integrated into virtual environment; (2) the user’s intentions are captured according to the gestures and movements of users and the integrated interaction information of components assembled; and (3) the interaction behaviors of components intelligently and automatically are simulated in accordance with the user’s intentions. According to the analysis of the assembly process, dynamic and static interaction behaviors are designed. The object’s dynamic behavior containing a series of standard actions is used to assist users in performing interaction tasks. The user completes an assembly task by establishing the connection relationship between objects, which can be implemented based on the object’s static interaction behavior. A virtual assembly task is constructed to evaluate the performance of the method, and the results of usability test confirm that the method proposed in this paper can improve the efficiency of human-computer interaction and user experience in a virtual assembly environment.