Virtual Product Prototyping Research Articles

A Method for Modeling the Individual Convenient Zone of a Human

When designing products to fit a specific user, it is essential to know the user’s upper limb range and strength capabilities at each point of the range space. This is particularly relevant when those capabilities are atypical, e.g., in cases of nonstandard body dimensions, disability, or old age. In this paper, we describe a new method to measure and model the strength capabilities at each point of any person’s upper limb range and then present this information in the form of an Individual Convenient Zone (ICZ) model, which is helpful in virtual product prototyping (CAD) for a specific user. The proposed new method includes creating a database of multiple, detailed, spatial-force characteristics, quickly identifying and modeling the ICZ of any human, and analyzing the ergonomics of a product using a digital human model in combination with the ICZ model. The paper also describes an example of how the proposed methodology can be used to customize kitchen furniture design to the ICZ of a specific senior. The expected result of incorporating ICZ into the design is a better fit between the designed product and the user’s needs, supporting user-centered design methodology. Using ICZ enables the involvement of end-users in product design (participatory design). This is particularly important when designing for people with mobility impairments who are more sensitive to nonergonomic solutions. The ICZ modeling method described in this article may have broader applications beyond kitchen furniture design; it could be used to design workspaces and other similar areas where humans reside and perform manipulation activities.

Effects of Roughness and Texture on Surface Material Perception in Virtual Environments: The Psychophysics Approach

Effects of Roughness and Texture on Surface Material Perception in Virtual Environments: The Psychophysics Approach

Antecedents of Knowledge Sourcing and Reuse from a Knowledge Repository in the Virtual Product Prototyping: The Role of Knowledge and System Quality Dimensions

Knowledge has been identified as one of the most critical resources for achieving innovation and competitive advantage. Knowledge management systems (KMS) are, therefore, being adopted by companies to enhance knowledge management (KM) processes and innovation. Because most of new products projects are not “clean-sheet” efforts, rather incremental redesigns of existing products, R&D people often retrieve and reuse existing knowledge to solve recurring problems in the prototyping of new products. Thus, knowledge sourcing and reuse are particularly important in this product development process. In the present research we investigated the antecedents of knowledge sourcing and knowledge reuse from an electronic repository. Predictions were tested in the context of the virtual vehicle prototyping process with data from 121 respondents of a large European Automotive supplier of R&D. Results provide support that knowledge accuracy, knowledge format, and knowledge completeness are strong predictors of knowledge reuse. While system integration, flexibility, and response time are considered strong determinants of knowledge sourcing in KMS. The study develops and tests a new model for measuring KMS success in the context of virtual product prototyping. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Retraction: “Knowledge Sourcing and Knowledge Reuse in the Virtual Product Prototyping: An Exploratory Study in a Large Automotive Supplier of R&D” by Raffaele Filieri & Salma Alguezaui

The aforementioned article, published online on 7 April 2015 in Wiley Online Library (wileyonlinelibrary.com), has been retracted by agreement between the authors, the journal Editor in Chief, Anthony Wensley, and John Wiley & Sons Ltd. The retraction has been agreed because of its unintended duplicate publication in this journal.

Retracted: Knowledge Sourcing and Knowledge Reuse in the Virtual Product Prototyping: An Exploratory Study in a Large Automotive Supplier of R&D

The capacity of organizations to share knowledge is seen as a source of competitive advantage in many industries. Knowledge sourcing and knowledge reuse have been indicated as important enablers of organizational efficiency and innovation performance. Although firms may own valuable knowledge, the presence of barriers to knowledge sourcing and reuse may hinder the exploitation of such knowledge. The present study explores the barriers to knowledge sourcing and reuse and their implications within the virtual product prototyping stage of new products development. The study is based on 24 interviews with R&D employees of a large supplier of R&D in the automotive sector. Results demonstrate that the low operational quality of a repository may hinder knowledge sourcing; therefore, people prefer to source knowledge from other colleagues. Additionally, the inefficiencies in knowledge sourcing from a repository, the low quality of the codified knowledge, and its complexity affect the reuse of existing knowledge. This study reveals that knowledge sourcing and knowledge reuse are important knowledge management processes in the product prototyping and that inefficiencies in these two processes may negatively affect the time performance in the new product prototyping process. Copyright © 2015 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Knowledge sourcing and knowledge reuse in the virtual product prototyping: an exploratory study in a large automotive supplier of R&D

AbstractThe capacity of organizations to share knowledge is seen as a source of competitive advantage in many industries. Knowledge sourcing and knowledge reuse have been indicated as important enablers of organizational efficiency and innovation performance. Although firms may own valuable knowledge, the presence of barriers to knowledge sourcing and reuse may hinder the exploitation of such knowledge. The present study explores the barriers to knowledge sourcing and reuse from electronic repository and their implications within the virtual product prototyping stage of new products development. The study is based on 24 interviews with research and development (R&D) employees of a large supplier of R&D in the automotive sector. Results demonstrate that the poor operational quality of a repository hinders knowledge sourcing; thereby, people prefer sourcing knowledge from other colleagues rather than from the repository. Moreover, the inefficiencies in knowledge sourcing from a repository, the poor quality of the codified knowledge and its complexity affect the reuse of existing knowledge. This study reveals that knowledge sourcing and knowledge reuse can affect the time performance in the virtual product prototype development process.

Methodology for Controlling Contact Forces in Interactive Grasping Simulation

The paper proposes a new methodology to interactively simulate grasping of virtual product prototypes with the goal to evaluate the contact forces between the grasping hand and product as well as the load on the human arm. Interaction between product concepts and the users happens in a virtual environment, in which the user controls a virtual hand interactively. The contact between the virtual hand and the grasped product is simulated and visual feedback is provided to the user. Controlling the virtual hand interactively in real time holds many challenges. One of the challenges is mapping the motion of the user to contact forces, which then results in stable grasping of objects. In this paper we present a new methodology to convert and map the measured position of the real hand into contact forces so that the contact between the virtual hand and the object remains stable. Our approach applies a multi-objective optimization that takes into account the posture and anthropometric properties of grasping hand, as well as the penetration of the hand in the grasped virtual object in order to find the optimal arrangement of contact forces. The paper reports on the principle of our grasping control methodology as well as presents some test cases to show the advantages and disadvantages of the proposed approach.

Affective evaluation of user impressions using virtual product prototyping

AbstractThis study aims to develop an effective and efficient method of analyzing user impressions of a product using virtual prototyping. A method to analyze the relationship between user impressions and design elements of a product using virtual prototyping was proposed, and then the method was applied to the case study of automobile interior design. Thirty‐two participants in the experiment evaluated 32 different virtual prototypes of automobile interiors generated from the combination of 17 design elements. The results of the case study showed that user impressions can be well explained by design elements. Physically large design elements, such as the shapes of frontal area, center fascia, door trim, and steering wheel, were critical areas of automobile interior design. The proposed method is expected to be an effective and efficient alternative for industrial practitioners to analyze user impressions of design alternatives at the early stage of the design process. © 2010 Wiley Periodicals, Inc.

Evaluation of Product Preference Using Virtual Prototyping: Case Study of an Automobile Interior

The objective of this study was to develop a product evaluation method applicable to virtual prototypes and to apply the method to automobile interior design. Considering that virtual reality-based product prototypes could represent design alternatives comparable to physical prototypes, prototypes developed in virtual reality environments were employed as design alternatives. After a procedure to evaluate virtual prototypes was developed specifically for a virtual reality environment, the procedure was applied to the problem of automobile interior design. 34 subjects evaluated 32 different virtual prototypes generated from the combination of design element variations. Four categories of subjective impression were used to evaluate the 32 virtual prototypes: luxuriousness, comfort, harmoniousness, and controllability. ANOVA and multiple linear regression analysis were performed to specify design elements critical to customer preference and to interpret the relationship between design elements and subjective impressions. As the result, the shapes of frontal area including crash pad and center fascia, door trim and steering wheel were selected as important variables related to subjective impressions. The proposed evaluation method for virtual prototypes could be utilized as an alternative way of identifying the relationship between subjective impressions and design elements.