Holistic animation and functional solution for digital manikins in context of virtual assembly simulations

Abstract

Assembly simulations in virtual reality were used increasingly in recent years. Even though a multitude of solutions exists in the commercial market, research is focusing on improving soft factors like usability and financial accessibility. Therefore, this paper proposes a holistic solution for animation and integration of functionality of a digital manikin in Unity. The solution is using Unity's integrated inverse kinematics system and physics engine. The result is a fully animated human manikin based on the tracking data of a head-mounted display and its two controllers, which is extrapolating motion data for untracked body parts. Furthermore, the solution enables the user to manipulate objects and explore the virtual environment. The solution is validated in comparison to established motion capture methods using joint error analysis.