Virtual Assembly Simulations - Computergraphics and Virtual Reality

Haptic Methods and Technologies for Virtual Assembly Simulations

A Workshop of the IEEE World Haptics 2017

Virtual assembly simulation has changed the product development process dramatically during the last years. It helps reducing time and costs during the product design development, e.g. by avoiding costly physical prototypes and mock-ups while additionally building the basis for product maintenance processes. While the majority of existing solutions provide pure visual feedback to the user, the haptic modality is only rarely represented in such applications, although it obviously helps to improve the immersion and realism of the simulation in general. In particular, in the case of poorly visible parts or completely occluded objects, haptic feedback becomes essential.

A typical virtual assembly system with support for haptics rests on five pillars:

Virtual Reality The underlying VR technology that manages the objects in the scene graph, handles the real-time rendering and defines interfaces for the hard and software.
Haptic Algorithm The haptic rendering algorithms that are responsible to compute forces and torques according the physical laws of motion. Here, collision detection and handling are the main challenges.
Haptic Device The hardware haptic device that provides the force feedback to the user.
Haptic Control The haptic controller that controls the haptic device and takes care of stability despite of computational time delay.
Human Factors The system should be designed in a way that optimizes usability and overall system performance at the same time.

The goal of this workshop is to address all relevant aspects required for haptic assembly simulations and to give a comprehensive introduction and a broad overview to all of these five research domains. We will unite experts in all of these fields to (i) discuss together the state-of-the-art in current virtual assembly simulation, (ii) summarize the latest research findings and technological key innovations, (iii) interchange knowledge of related research pillars, and (iv) identify future trends and the major challenges for a scientific and technological breakthrough. We attach great importance to not restrict ourselves to an academic audience but also invite experts from the industrial field that are day-to-day either developing or using virtual assembly simulations.

Program


	Ralf Rabätje, CTO of vr-on GmbH "New Challenges in VR using Game Engines?" Download Slides
	Rene Weller, University of Bremen "Volumetric Collision Detection and Response for Haptic Rendering" Download Slides
	Jerome Perret, CEO of Haption S.A. "Haptic virtual assembly testing: what are the requirements for the physics engine?" Download Slides
	Thomas Hulin, DLR "Control in Haptics: Towards Optimal Haptic Feedback" Download Slides
	Bernhard Weber, DLR "Force feedback in virtual assembly scenarios: A human factors evaluation" Download Slides

Here you find additionally the slides from the introduction.

Audience

We aim to bring together academic researchers and people with an industrial background in this workshop. We are confident that this mixed audience will lead to mutually fruitful discussions and it could be the basis for further collaborations. We address not only experts in the fields but all people who are interested in the topic. Just a very basic knowledge about VR and virtual assembly could be helpful.

Our Speakers

Left to right: Rene Weller, Bernhard Weber, Ralf Rabätje, Thomas Hulin, Jerome Perret.


	Ralf Rabätje, CTO of vr-on GmbH Dr. Rabätje started to study Computer Science in Braunschweig in 1990. He continued with a PhD thesis dealing with VR based assembly simulation in Hannover and the Volkswagen Group Research. From 2006-2011 he led the research team in Volkswagen Group Research, which was dedicated to VR and AR. In 2011 he joined the tracking company ART as a managing director. In 2014 he went to the Dassault Group and led a development team, which did develop VR and AR applications. In 2016 he founded vr-on GmbH together with Mathias Wochnig. There he acts as a CTO.
	Rene Weller, University of Bremen Dr. Weller studied computer science at the University of Bonn. In 2012, he received his PhD from the University of Bremen where he is also currently employed at the Computer Graphics and Virtual Reality Group. His PhD thesis was awarded with the Eurohaptics PhD award. He worked in several research projects, including AVILUS and SFB/TR 8 Spatial Cognition and he has published numerous papers at international conferences such as Siggraph Asia and Eurographics. His research interests are collision detection, haptics, natural interaction in VR and sphere packings.
	Jerome Perret, CEO of Haption S.A. Jerome Perret (49) holds an engineering degree in aerospace and a PhD in Robotics and Artificial Intelligence. He co-founded the company Haption SA in France in 2001, and created the German subsidiary Haption GmbH in 2013. He's an active Executive Committee member of the EuroVR association and of the EuroHaptics Society.
	Thomas Hulin, DLR Thomas Hulin received his Dipl.-Ing. degree in Electrical Engineering and Information Technology in 2003 from the Technical University of Munich, Germany. In 2017, he defended his PhD thesis at the Leibniz University Hannover, Germany. Since 2003, he is with the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, German Aerospace Center (DLR), Wessling, Germany. His research interests include control, devices and algorithms for haptic rendering, physical human-robot interaction, and virtual reality applications. He was involved in the development of the vibrotactile device VibroTac, the bimanual haptic device HUG, the robot visualization tool SoRo-Viewer, and DLR’s haptic rendering algorithm. Thomas Hulin is coauthor of more than 40 papers and is a recipient of several innovation, technology transfer, and conference awards.
	Bernhard Weber, DLR Bernhard Weber received his PhD degree from the University of Wuerzburg, Germany, in 2008. He is with the DLR since 2008, first at the Human Factors Department of the Institute of Flight Guidance, in Brunswick and since 2010 as human factors expert at the Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics. His main research interests are human-robot-interaction and evaluation of human-machine-interfaces for surgical, space robotic and virtual reality applications. At the moment, he is leading the project “Kontur-2” investigating force feedback teleoperation from the International Space Station (ISS).

The workshop is organized by Thomas Hulin and Rene Weller and will be held during the IEEE World Haptics 2017 on June 6th, 2017.