Jivka Ovtcharova

Teaching Methodology for Virtual Reality Practical Course in Engineering Education

Abstract Virtual reality is widely used in the industry and is becoming more and more affordable for end users. At the same time higher education students want to be well-prepared for their professional life and expect more courses with practical application of theoretical knowledge acquired during their studies. Moreover, they benefit greatly when having the possibility to improve their soft skills. This paper presents the teaching methodology for a practical course in virtual reality for graduate and undergraduate students. The course design focuses on learning about virtual reality by simulating interdisciplinary industrial projects and it aims at developing skills such as methodical approach to practical engineering problems, teamwork, working in interdisciplinary groups and time management. In addition the paper discusses the importance of the course design, task specification and work group composition for a successful realization of the course and refers to some project examples from the past three years.

Ontology-driven Requirements Elicitation in Product Configuration Systems

Producing timely and customer-oriented products is a key factor for manufacturers‘ success in competing in the recent global economic era. Customer needs are becoming more complex as a result of rapid changes in social, technical, and economic conditions. Manufacturers must provide more flexibility and individual customizations of the products. This is not an easy task due to the different perspectives between manufacturer and customer during the pre-contract phase. Product configuration systems are generally used to improve the quotation process. However, it is still difficult to provide customer satisfying products because customers often cannot clearly articulate their requirements. This paper introduces an approach that assists the customer in articulating their requirements and supports the manufacturer to capture the customer needs completely. We propose an intelligent product configuration system that harmonizes both customer and manufacturer perspectives, based on an ontology-based integrated knowledge model. We utilize ontology-based methods and techniques to develop a recommender system in the product configuration system to improve the requirements elicitation and to avoid requirement inconsistencies.

Modelling web services for PLM distributed system

The dominating trend in Product Life Cycle Management (PLM) systems is to create distributed web-driven architectures with web services that would allow the related enterprises to operate as a single entity. The paper describes a modelling environment of web services to support easy prototyping of PLM systems. The application perspectives of two research problems are proposed: incorporating bottom-up ontology in the information web services for uniformity of product data access, and synchronisation modelling of control web services. The modelling approach was practically implemented in a PLM system under development.

Comparison Framework for PLM Maturity Models

Throughout the recent years research about maturity models as well as their application possibilities has vastly increased in all sorts of organizations and institutions. The range of the topics they address has expanded as much as the way they can be structured and applied. One area, where the use of maturity models can have a great impact, is product lifecycle management (PLM). PLM is becoming more and more essential for companies as a way of staying competitive on any market due to enhanced understanding of complex processes and increased efficiency in the use of information throughout all stages of the lifecycle. In this regard, maturity models can be beneficial as methods to assess the organizations’ product lifecycle processes, illustrate improvement opportunities and even customize a roadmap to exploit them. However, considering the complex application options of maturity models, it can be difficult to choose an appropriate model for a certain purpose. This paper will provide a comparison framework for maturity models in the PLM area. The collected attributes as well as their categorized comparison shall provide guidance in choosing the correct maturity model depending on the user requirements.

Abstract Layers in PASS – A Concept Draft

In this paper we present a first draft for a concept of using abstract layers to extend the modeling capabilities of the subject-oriented graphical process-modeling language PASS. The concept is nonintrusive to existing PASS specification. It is argued how the Abstract Layered PASS (ALP) concept can be used to manage and integrate challenges and requirements found in subject-oriented and general process management research. Also a holistic discussion of similar or related approaches within and outside S-BPM is given.

Towards Higher Configuration Management Maturity

Configuration Management (CM) as a discipline assuring the consistency between product information with the reality all along the product lifecycle has recently been more appreciated by most industries. Although the extensive benefits of this discipline such as direct impact on increasing return on investment, lowering lifecycle costs and leadtime, are realized by most organizations, there is no specific maturity model in the field for evaluating different aspects of organizations’ CM activities. Therefore, a Configuration Management Maturity Assessment framework is developed in this paper using state-of-the-art, standards and other maturity models. In order to evaluate the overall CM maturity of various industry sectors using the developed maturity model, the maturity appraisal material in the frame of a web-survey has been sent to a wide range of CM related employees in different industrial sectors. The extensive results coming out of this analysis has shown the overall competency level of various industries as well as potentials for improvement.

Methodology for immersive emotional assessment of virtual product design by customers

This paper presents a novel, integrated methodology for customer-centered emotional assessment of future products during the early conceptual design stages. This methodology integrates the technologies of Virtual Reality and emotion recognition in the simultaneous, interconnected processes of product development and market research. Its goal is to provide relevant emotional customer feedback during the interactive experience of only virtually existing conceptual product designs at early development stages. In this way, the company can identify which product designs would be suitable for future products. The novelty aspect of the methodology lies in the structured integration of experts from various disciplines with specific roles. It enables the often neglected holistic approach to the task. Each participant can identify best solutions to problems from their area of expertise and contribute to solving interface problems in a synergetic manner. The presented validation study proved the coherence of the methodology and showed clear preferences for concrete technological solutions regarding the state of the art and the future potentials.

The impact of motion in virtual environments on memorization performance

Virtual environments are more and more used for educational and training purposes. In order to design virtual environments for these applications in particular, it is very important to get a deep understanding of the relevant design features supporting the users process of learning and comprehension. Relevance and implementation of these features as well as the benefits of virtual learning environments over traditional educational approaches in general are rarely explored. Focusing on modes of interaction in this work, we examined the effect of different motion types on the knowledge acquisition of users in various virtual environments. For our study we chose a simple memorization task as approximation of low cognitive knowledge acquirement. We hypothesized motion types and immersion levels influence memorization performance in virtual environments. The memorization task was conducted in two virtual environments with different levels of immersion: A high-immersive Cave Automatic Virtual Environment (CAVE) and a low-immersive desktop virtual environment. Two motion types in virtual environments were explored: Physical and virtual walking. In the CAVE physical walking was implemented by using motion capturing and virtual walking was realized using a joystick-like input device. The results indicate neither motion types nor immersion levels in virtual environments affect memorization performance significantly.

Innovation braucht Resourceful Humans Aufbruch in eine neue Arbeitskultur durch Virtual Engineering

Der Trend zu mehr sozialem Wohlbefinden im Einklang mit der Wohlstandssteigerung und die verstarkte Rolle der sozialen Vernetzung birgt deutlich die Anzeichen einer tiefgreifenden gesellschaftlichen Veranderung. Dabei handelt es sich nicht mehr nur darum, die Weltwirtschaft fur die grosen Herausforderungen zu starken. Menschen mit der Fahigkeit des vernetzten Denkens und Handelns und mit dem Blick fur das grose Ganze sind gefragt. Bisher wird der Mensch mit seinem Potential, trotz aller Beteuerungen, jedoch noch als „Human Ressource“ aber nicht wirklich als „Resourceful Human“ (in Anlehnung an Fischer, 2012) betrachtet. Der Ubergang zum „Mensch im Mittelpunkt der Betrachtung“ setzt eine zukunftsfahige Innnovationskultur voraus, die ein grundlegend verandertes Verstandnis der menschlichen Moglichkeiten und Bedurfnisse im Umgang mit Technologien, Arbeitssystemen und naturlichen Ressourcen aber auch den Menschen selbst benotigt. Weiterhin sind neue Modellierungs- und Interaktionsparadigmen, Technologielosungen sowie Arbeitskulturen gefragt, die den Wechsel der Blickrichtung zu Innovation durch „Resourceful Humans“ ermoglichen und somit masgeblich zur effektiven und effizienten Teamarbeit in unternehmensubergreifenden und interkulturellen Unternehmenspartnerschaften beitragen.

Skill-Based Asset Management: A PLM-Approach for Reconfigurable Production Systems

To handle complexity in a modern reconfigurable production system from a strategic and tactical planning perspective as well as to enable operational decision making a skill-based asset management system is introduced. It provides a novel approach of managing assets in the context of the asset lifecycle based on their provided skills. It aims at the vertical integration of higher level management systems with production execution level systems of small and medium sized manufacturing enterprises, using a common skill-based abstraction. Thus the skill-based asset management system can effectively provide digital factory functionality to companies while integrating into their existing IT systems.