Collaborative Virtual Assembly Research Articles

Assembly oriented control algorithm of collaborative disassembly and assembly operation in collaborative virtual maintenance process

Maintenance data and information processing is an essential and important problem in collaborative virtual maintenance of complex equipments. Significant research has been done in this paper to provide an efficient approach to performing the data and information processing of collaborative virtual disassembly and assembly operations. Assembly oriented mathematical model of collaborative virtual maintenance operation process is presented with the behavior representation and information description of each component in an assembly based on single object oriented modeling of collaborative maintenance operation as well as assembly oriented modeling of disassembly and assembly operations. Assembly oriented control algorithms of disassembly and assembly operations in collaborative virtual maintenance process are also designed to perform the required data and information processing. With the object information template based on Extensible Markup Language, proposed mathematical models and control algorithms are utilized in a technical experiment system with high reliability and efficiency. Experimental implementation has been done to find appropriate and efficient mathematical models and control algorithms can support effectively the data and information processing of collaborative virtual disassembly and assembly operations of complex products. Methodologies developed in this paper extend the previous work on mathematical modeling and information processing complexity, and improve the reliability and efficiency of required data and information processing in collaborative virtual maintenance process.

A real-time simulation grid for collaborative virtual assembly of complex products

Simulation of collaborative virtual assembly (CVA) processes is a helpful tool for product development. However, existing collaborative virtual assembly environments (CVAE) have many disadvantages with regard to computing capability, data security, stability, and scalability, and moreover it is difficult to create enterprise applications in these environments. To support large-scale CVAEs offering high fidelity and satisfactory interactive performance among various distributed clients, highly effective system architectures are needed. In this paper, a collaborative virtual assembly scheme based on grid technology is proposed. This scheme consists of two parts: one is a grid-based virtual assembly server (GVAS) which can support parallel computing, the other a set of light clients which can support real-time interaction. The complex and demanding computations required for simulation of virtual assembly (VA) operations, such as model rendering, image processing (fusion), and collision detection, are handled by the GVAS using network resources. Users at the light clients input operation commands that are transferred to the GVAS and receive the results of these operations (images or video streams) from the GVAS. Product data are managed independently by the GVAS using the concept of RBAC (role-based access control), which is secure enough for this application. The key related technologies are discussed, and a prototype system is developed based on the web services and VA components identified in the paper. A case study involving a car-assembly workstation simulation has been used to verify the scheme.

A systematic approach for 3D VRML model-based assembly in Web-based product design

Collaborative virtual assembly design is often considered complicated and hardly achievable, for it requires high real-time performance, platform independence, and model synchronization. In order to satisfy all these requirements, a VRML-based virtual assembly solution is proposed. This paper first presents a synchronous moving-searching algorithm for retrieving information from the basic assembly model (BAM) and target assembly model (TAM) in order to give Internet-based collaborative assembly capabilities to these VRML files. Then, a set of assembly approaches for VRML models are systematically addressed to implement the assembly according to constraints of link relations. The advantages of the algorithm and assembly approaches are their high computational efficiency and ease of implementation, which enriches works of Anton and Gorazd (2003) and Qin et al. (2004) with respect to accessibility and maneuverability of VRML model-based assembly design. Moreover, the realization method of collaborative assembly over the Internet is introduced. Finally, some actual examples of collaborative virtual assemblies systems are provided to illustrate the application of these approaches.