SBIR Phase I: Direct 3D Manipulation for Computer Aided Design

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目旨在展示用于计算机辅助设计（CAD）的3D手势用户输入系统的可行性，该系统使工程设计公司能够更快地探索和产生新的设计。这项技术使用商品深度感应相机，并应用计算机视觉算法来提供无标记的手指精确的手部跟踪，允许用户简单地伸出手来直接操纵虚拟3D物体。为了确认可行性，该项目的目标包括数据收集，计算机视觉算法的研究，3D输入可用性问题的研究，以及彻底的技术和可用性评估。更具体地说，将收集手的形状和姿势的3D扫描数据集。接下来，将详细研究多视图配准和数据库驱动的手部姿态估计算法，用于快速校准和跟踪用户的手部。这项技术的成功与否，关键取决于它能否提供卓越的用户体验，有关3D输入的可用性问题将被仔细分析。最后，将进行详细的技术和可用性评估，并根据结果进行商业可行性评估。该项目在工程设计领域具有更广泛的影响/商业潜力。在当今的市场中，工程公司的竞争能力取决于其快速设计新产品和评估新工程解决方案的能力。大多数工程设计公司使用计算机辅助设计软件来加速这一过程。然而，CAD工程师的生产力仍然受到用户界面和用户输入设备的限制。这是因为许多CAD任务都涉及到3D操作，而使用2D鼠标执行3D操作既困难又乏味。一个典型的CAD用户每天花4到8个小时在CAD软件上。超过一百万的CAD用户符合这一特征。拟议中的技术使这些用户能够在他们的办公桌上直接用徒手在3D中操作虚拟CAD对象，从而提高了工作效率——这是一项前所未有的技术壮举。其结果是，包括制造业、建筑业和建筑行业在内的许多行业的产品和工程设计速度更快，这些行业2011年在CAD软件上花费了60亿美元。这项研究将通过为生产力应用创造一种与计算机交互的全新方式来推进科学和技术的理解。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a 3D gestural user input system for computer aided design (CAD) that enables engineering design firms to more rapidly explore and produce new designs. This technology uses commodity depth-sensing cameras and applies computer vision algorithms to deliver markerless finger-precise hand-tracking, allowing users to simply reach out with their hands to directly manipulate virtual 3D objects. In order to confirm feasibility, the objectives of the project include data gathering, investigation of computer vision algorithms, investigation of 3D input usability issues, and a thorough technical and usability evaluation. More specifically, a data set of 3D scans of hand shapes and hand poses will be collected. Next, a detailed investigation will be performed of multi-view registration and database-driven hand pose estimation algorithms for rapid calibration and tracking of a user's hands. The success of the proposed technology will crucially depend on its delivery of a superior user experience, and the usability issues regarding 3D input will be carefully analyzed. Finally, a detailed technical and usability evaluation will be performed, and the commercial viability will be based on the results.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is in the area of engineering design. In today's market place, the competitive capacity of an engineering firm is determined by its ability to rapidly design new products and evaluate new engineering solutions. Most engineering design firms use computer aided design software to accelerate this process. However, the productivity of CAD engineers is still bottlenecked by the user interface and the user input devices available to them. This is because many CAD tasks involve 3D manipulation, which is difficult and tedious to perform with a 2D mouse. A typical CAD user spends four to eight hours a day in CAD software. Over a million CAD users fit this profile. The proposed technology makes these users more productive by enabling them to directly manipulate virtual CAD objects with their bare hands in 3D, at their desks---a technical feat that has never before been achieved. The result is faster product and engineering design in a variety of industries including manufacturing, construction and architecture which spent $6B on CAD software in 2011. This research will advance scientific and technological understanding by creating a fundamentally new way to interact with computers for productivity applications.