DOMINANT TECHNOLOGIES IN “INDUSTRY 4.0”

CONFIGURING CUSTOMIZED PRODUCTS IN VR USING HMD

  • 1 Faculty of German Engineering and Management Education, Technical University Sofia, Bulgaria
  • 2 Department of Informatics, New Bulgarian University, Bulgaria

Abstract

Until recently the Virtual Reality (VR) and its related technologies, e.g. Augmented Reality, Mixed Reality etc., were often thought of separately. However, in the Industry 4.0 model all they are observed as key elements and enablers. It is expected that the combination of VR related technologies with the advancements of Industry 4.0 will disrupt the traditional manufacturing, the existing business models and value creation chain and will reshape dramatically the industrial environment. According to White Paper of IDC considering the Digital Transformation in the Manufacturing industry published in 2016 a third of the industrial enterprises worldwide aims to use VR in their production and engineering environment in the upcoming five years aiming at applying VR for retail showcasing, customized products development, on-site assembly, engineering design, training, etc. Within this context, the so-called Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) represent a significant interest as promising end user devices that enable the wide penetration of VR into the engineering routines such as design activities, product configuration and validation. We make a brief overview of the common HMDs, their features and limitations. Further, a generic process for configuring the customizable product features using of HMD and its programming implementation are presented following by discussion of the results from the usability testing of the proposed interaction paradigm.

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