Rafael Radkowski

A cooperative virtual prototyping system for mechatronic solution elements based assembly

In order to catch up with the steps of rapidly changing markets, the product development period of modern mechatronic products has to be as short as possible. However, mechatronic engineering is based on the interaction of mechanical engineering, electronic engineering, and computer science. Therefore, inefficient communication between the engineers who come from different domains becomes a manifest obstruction for accelerating the design of mechatronic products. Nevertheless, innovations in the field of virtual prototyping offer some potential solutions to this problem. In this paper, we present a cooperative virtual prototyping system, which utilizes the concept of solution elements and virtual reality techniques to facilitate assembling and analyzing virtual mechatronic prototypes in a multi-disciplinary workgroup.

Augmented Reality-Based Manual Assembly Support With Visual Features for Different Degrees of Difficulty

This research investigates different visual features for augmented reality (AR)–based assembly instructions. Since the beginning of AR research, one of its most popular application areas has been manual assembly assistance. A typical AR assembly application indicates the necessary manual assembly operations by generating visual representations of parts that are spatially registered with, and superimposed on, a video representation of the physical product to be assembled. Research in this area indicates the advantages of this type of assembly instruction presentation. This research investigates different types of visual features for different assembly operations. The hypothesis is that in order to gain an advantage from AR, the visual features used to explain a particular assembly operation must correspond to its relative difficulty level. The final goal is to associate different types of visual features to different levels of task complexity. A user study has been conducted in order to compare different visual features at different operation complexity levels. The results support the hypothesis.

AR-bowling: immersive and realistic game play in real environments using augmented reality

The game and entertainment industry plays an enormous role within the development and extensive usage of new technologies. They are one major technology driver concerning the development of powerful graphics hardware, innovative interaction devices and efficient game engines.Actual game developments show the trend to include the player with his whole body - the time of sitting in darkened rooms in front of a computer monitor is outdated. Therefore, special hard-and software components have been developed and new user interfaces have been designed allowing an unprecedented game play.The subsequent consequential step is to play games everywhere (independent from time and place), to include the game player completely in the game (high level of immersion) and to integrate the game seamlessly into reality (blurring the edges of reality and virtuality). Therefore, new and innovative technologies must be used. One of these technology is Augmented Reality.In this paper, we describe the use of Augmented Reality to enable an immersive and realistic game play in real environments. As game we chose bowling. To support the bowling game with AR-technology a dedicated concept has been developed. The level of game realism is enhanced by an integrated real-time kinematics multi-body system simulation. A first prototypical realization, which is used for user testings, confirms the previously identified potentials of AR-technology within game entertainment.

FPGA-in-the-loop-simulations for dynamically reconfigurable applications

This contribution presents a hardware-in-the-loop (HiL) design environment for FPGA-based systems. The presented tool-flow supports a two-stage verification process: A cycle-accurate HiL simulation using well-known simulation tools such as MATLAB/Simulink or Modelsim, and a real-time test using the target environment of the Design Under Test (DUT). The first stage allows an early verification of the DUT using a simulated environment, while the focus of the second stage is on monitoring internal states and I/Os of the DUT in operation, and on adjusting design parameters. All hardware and software interfaces required for both stages are generated individually and automatically by our tool-flow. The demo shows the benefits of using the presented HiL framework for applications targeting dynamic hardware reconfiguration. As an example, a two-controller system for an inverted pendulum is presented, where either a real system or an FPGA-based model combined with an augmented reality 3D animation can be used.

Cooperative design support within automobile advance development using augmented reality technology

Today prototypes are used in the automobile industry in the design phases of new cars. In many cases, there is no complete prototype of the car. Only some components like the platform can be used. Further components like the car body or the interior design are only available as 3D models in the computer. Here the technology of augmented reality can be used for the completion of these rudimentary prototypes. This work describes the field of applications of AR-technology within the design phases of new cars. The developed applications complete real automobile prototypes by virtual components to show design variants or to support design reviews. Therefore a group of users can select virtual car components out of a virtual component menu and place them on a real car in a cooperative way. The interaction with the AR-scene is done by hand gestures. The evaluation of the applications was done at Volkswagen AG.

Software-Agent Supported Virtual Experimental Environment for Virtual Prototypes of Mechatronic Systems

This paper presents a virtual experimental environment for testing virtual prototypes of intelligent mechatronic systems. A virtual prototype is a computer internal model of a real product. Virtual environments are used to verify the functionality of these virtual prototypes during the product development process. But normally, the virtual environments are composed manually. Engineers model the set of virtual prototypes and the relations between them manually. Furthermore, a lack of formal test methods exists for testing virtual prototypes of mechatronic systems. This paper presents software agents, which detect relations between virtual prototypes in a virtual environment, automatically. The concept of the agent-supported virtual environment is presented as well as the data needed by the agents for identifying relations between the virtual prototypes. The concept has been tested. One of the examples is described.Copyright

Natural Feature Tracking Augmented Reality for On-Site Assembly Assistance Systems

We introduce a natural feature tracking approach that facilitates the tracking of rigid objects for an on-site assembly assistance system. The tracking system must track multiple circuit boards without added fiducial markers, and they are manipulated by the user. We use a common SIFT feature matching detector enhanced with a probability search. This search estimates how likely a set of query descriptors belongs to a particular object. The method was realized and tested. The results show that the probability search enhanced the identification of different circuit boards.

Serious games for the therapy of the posttraumatic stress disorder of children and adolescents

The posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental-health problem that can emerge after a delayed reaction of a person to a traumatic incident. A common therapy is the so-called exposure therapy. However, children and adolescent cannot be treated with a common therapy. In this paper we describe a serious game for the therapy of a PTSD by children and adolescent. Objective of this paper is to introduce a concept for the game development and a method to balance the game. It is based on a so-called impulse hierarchy. The game prototype respectively the utilized concept and methods have been tested with healthy test persons. The results are a strong indication for the effective of the developed game concept and the usefulness of the key principles.

Object Tracking With a Range Camera for Augmented Reality Assembly Assistance

This paper introduces a 3D object tracking method for an augmented reality (AR) assembly assistance application. The tracking method relies on point clouds; it uses 3D feature descriptors and point cloud matching with the iterative closest points (ICP) algorithm. The feature descriptors identify an object in a point cloud; ICP align a reference object with this point cloud. The challenge is to achieve high fidelity while maintaining camera frame rates. The point cloud and reference object sampling density are one of the key factors to meet this challenge. In this research, three-point sampling methods and two-point cloud search algorithms were compared to assess their fidelity when tracking typical products of mechanical engineering. The results indicate that a uniform sampling maintains the best fidelity at camera frame rates.

Enhanced Natural Visual Perception for Augmented Reality-Workstations by Simulation of Perspective

A novel method is presented for enhancing the natural visual perception afforded by augmented reality (AR) workstations. The approach incorporates a method for simulating perspective viewing using a monitor-based AR workstation that acts as a window to the physical workspace in front of it. Although similar AR workstations are often used in industry, they do not provide natural visual perception. By incorporating user head tracking and a spherical mirror, the method proposed enhances visual perception by simulating the depth cue of perspective viewing. The method interactively adjusts the viewing parameters to provide accurate perspective viewing of both the video stream (representing the physical environment) as well as the virtual objects superimposed within it. Hence, the user gains the impression of 3D viewing of the entire AR scene when moving ones head in front of the monitor. This paper describes the hardware setup and the method for perspective simulation within an AR software application. Finally, an experimental evaluation of the accuracy of the system is described to demonstrate the feasibility of the approach.