Design

This Wired Gadget Lab post reports the University of South Australia's Wearable Computer Lab is building the 100-sq.meter AR visualization center to improve AR quality and serve as a 'magic box' for related visual technologies. From the article: "Augmented Reality projects have most recently focused on war games, but a new lab at the Mawson Institute for Advanced Manufacturing will bring this tech closer to home. More specifically, it should jump to the car showrooms of America within years, ultimately leading AR systems to become compelling presentation programs.

This ForConstructionPros.com article reports virtual reality is today a key tool for New Holland Construction's Product Development engineers when designing new machines and components. From the article: "New Holland Construction benefits from the use of two Virtual Reality Centers: one in Burr Ridge, Ill, and a second one, which recently opened in its manufacturing plant in Turin, Italy.

This Autocar article reports Jaguar Land Rover has finally opened its Virtual Reality Centre (we discussed about it previously in this post). From the article: "Jaguar Land Rover has opened its new ‘Virtual Reality Centre’ at the Design and Engineering Centre in Gaydon. The company has invested £2 million in the new technology to speed up product development.

The design facility will use advanced virtual reality software and the world’s highest-resolution projectors to allow engineers and designers wearing 3-D glasses to interact with life-size models of vehicles and components.

JLR hopes that the system will reduce the need for expensive physical prototypes as they claim it is capable of simulating vehicle exteriors and interiors at an almost photo-realistic resolution.

This oneighturbo.com article reports the German Chancellor and the Volkswagen Chairman opened the Volkswagen Virtual Reality Centre in Brazil. From the article: "German Chancellor Angela Merkel was given a warm welcome in the Brazilian city of São Bernardo do Campo by Prof. Dr. Martin Winterkorn, Chairman of the Board of Management of Volkswagen Aktiengesellschaft, during her tour of South America. In the presence of other representatives from industry and politics, the two dignatories officially opened the Virtual Reality Centre, an innovation in vehicle development and the first of its kind in South America, at the VW site near São Paulo.

This ScienceDaily article reports researchers from four Fraunhofer Institutes are adding new functionalities to their Functional DMU (Digital Mock-Up) project. From the article: "From cars and mobile phones to computers and furniture, most of today's products are created virtually on a computer before they are actually produced. In the context of the Functional DMU (Digital Mock-Up) project, researchers from four Fraunhofer Institutes are adding new functionalities to digital product development.

This thenorthwestern.com article takes a look at Kimberly-Clark's Innovation Design Studio in Greenville: a state-of-the-art center equipped with advanced virtual reality technology that allows the consumer products firm to test merchandising layouts and chart a shopper's product choices all without the time and expense of constructing physical mockups or conducting ponderous in-store surveys. From the article: "Kimberly-Clark Corp. is working virtual miracles for its clients and partners these days.

This Roland Piquepaille's Technology Trends article takes a look at the Fraunhofer Institute multi-touch table which allows to inspect virtual factories. From the article: "We've seen lots of multi-touch tables recently, but many of them were designed for gamers. The one developed at the Fraunhofer Institute in Germany is designed for engineers. This Multi-Touch table screen allows to inspect virtual factories. As 'many industrial processes involve reactions in places that are difficult to see directly,' this touch screen permits to watch these processes in progress. It can be operated intuitively using a combination of fingers and it recognizes swiping movements. With the current model, the image size is about 150 x 90 cm.

A VR Geek Blog reports PSA Peugeot Citroen released a new video of their VR Center. Update: another article about it. From the PSA Peugeot Citroen website: "Using 3D technology, the design engineers of PSA Peugeot Citroën can design vehicles just as they would in the real world. As part of the design process, they can take the customer's place behind the wheel, or get behind the controls of a workstation, just like a plant operator."

This Windsor Star article reports Ford Motor Company are using VR to make "bad" assembly line jobs easier and increase quality. From the article: "The same computer simulations that create movie special effects and video games are being used by the Ford Motor Company to make "bad" assembly line jobs easier and increase quality.

Only three years after Ford became the first of the Detroit automakers to employ virtual ergonomics, physically damaging jobs in its plants are gradually disappearing, the company says. And while formerly painful assembly lines tasks are being weeded out, costs are down and quality has soared.

This motortorque.com article reports Jaguar and Land Rover revealed plans for a new industry-leading design facility that will draw on a four-walled CAVE with eight Sony SRX-S105 high resolution projectors to significantly speed up product development cycles. From the article: "Some £2m ($4m) is to be invested in a state-of-the-art ´Virtual Reality Centre´ which will allow engineers and designers to see in life-size three-dimension, models of vehicles and components. It will reduce the need for physical prototypes, saving both time and money in the process.