R.G.J. Damgrave

Multi-user Collaborative Design Tools for Use in Product Development

This chapter describes the advantages of using multi-user collaborative design tools within product development, and what it takes to simultaneously work with multiple users on one virtual tool. Initially, it is explained why collaboration is essential during product development and how current virtual tools fail at facilitating and stimulating it. An introduction is given to multi-touch interfaces that offer the opportunity to create multi-user collaborative design tools, followed by an explanation of the most important challenges in creating multi-user virtual design tools.

Distance collaboration support environment

This paper explains a new distance collaboration support environment for use in product development processes. This environment makes it possible to organize a meeting with up to eight stakeholders in two locations, where there is minimal distraction by the distance. Not only audio and video are shared, but also physical products placed on a table and hand movements are visible for each participant. This allows for pointing with a finger at objects which are only present at one location. All these technological possibilities are integrated in one physical setting to minimize start-up times and to ensure that all remote locations are comparable. Consequently, so participants know exactly what participants at the remote location see.

The Virtual Reality Lab as a Synthetic Environment: from strategic approach to practical implement

The Virtual Reality laboratory (VR-Lab) at the University of Twente facilitates multi-stakeholder decision making processes. Using Synthetic Environments (SE) to facilitate collaboration and to visualize consequences and dependencies of choices, the lab stimulates optimal use of available expertise. The VR-lab embodies a flexible set of VR tools, software and working methods; therefore adequate facilitation of preparation and configuration of use is essential. For this purpose, a roadmap facilitates the attuning of the intents of (potential) user and the capabilities of the provider of the SE. This publication outlines the use of the VR-lab as a Synthetic Environment, as well as the preparations that a required to make that usage purposeful and efficient.

Selecting Virtual Reality Tools in relation with their use context

The market of virtual reality techniques, tools and solutions is increasing fast, and more people are getting access to those items. Nevertheless, an integral approach for making a well-founded selection and/or combination is lacking. This publication outlines initial explorations and implementations that will lead to an adaptive platform that enables the effective and efficient integration of virtual reality tools and techniques in product development processes.

Enhancing the effectiveness of design tools in synthetic environments

The use of Virtual Reality (VR) tools during product development processes is already widely accepted in many industries for over multiple decades. Especially in large enterprises, these VR tools are incorporated in custom-made Synthetic Environments (SE), to provide support in dedicated product development phases. Often these SEs are rigid and expensive and operate in a narrow bandwidth of use. For companies unfamiliar with a SE, e.g. a SME, it is often unclear what the use of a SE can mean for them. Not only the result of use is hard to predict, also the consequences of implementation are vague. More predictable, future-proof, robust, affordable and acceptable SEs are desired. More footing on the effectiveness of a SE during product development process is needed to improve the results of use. This research describes the development and use of a supporting architecture, which facilitates the collection of requirements and preconditions for a SE, from the perspective of each involved stakeholder. The architecture provides multiple views with different levels of aggregation on the same future targeted SE. To architecture gives insight to make a prediction on the effectiveness of a (new) SE in a specific product development phase. The relations and interdependencies between different elements of the SE are in this more imperative than the description of individual tools. The use of the architecture will provide a better understanding of the consequences of changes and use of a SE, resulting in a more robust SE with a managed flexibility. The likelihood for use will increase, while the threshold for use will lower, and the appreciation of the SE will improve.