A Knowledge-Integrated Virtual Reality Machining Laboratory for Innovative Undergraduate Education

在涉及机械加工的本科制造课程的教学中，一个常见的问题是难以安排适当的机械加工实验，原因可能有：实验室设施的限制，技术人员的支持不足，班级规模大，运行昂贵实验的资金有限，以及安全考虑。缺乏对机械加工的物理理解破坏了本课程的学习效果。该项目的目标是开发一个集成了计算机图形动画、工艺知识和预测加工模型的虚拟现实（VR）加工实验室。具体目标是帮助学生获得重要的“动手”加工经验，增强他们对加工原理的物理理解，最大限度地提高他们的潜在学习能力。在这样的虚拟环境中，所有学生都有“一对一”的机会“亲自”操作各种机床（包括常规机床和数控机床），并通过选择不同的工艺参数观察和研究在线模拟的动态加工性能。该项目的意义在于，它具有显著的成本效益，知识集成的交互式学习环境，各种加工操作的灵活性以及基于c语言的易于移植的软件等优点，可以作为未来加工实验室的国家模型。研究结果对其他院校建立类似的教学体系具有一定的借鉴意义，并对当前制造类课程的教学实践产生重大影响。通过连续四个学期的ME322 Manufacturing Processes课程（每学期开设）来评估VR系统在不同开发阶段的有效性。作为未来加工实验室的国家模型，拟议项目的结果将通过会议、出版物和万维网进行宣传。

A common problem in teaching undergraduate manufacturing courses involving machining is the difficulty to arrange appropriate machining experiments for a number of possible reasons such as: limitations on laboratory facilities, insufficient support of technicians, large size of class, limited funds for running the costly experiments, and safety considerations. Lack of physical understanding about the machining undermines the learning effectiveness in this course. The goal of the proposed project is to develop a virtual reality (VR) machining laboratory integrated with computer graphics animation, process knowledge and predictive machining models. The specific objectives are to help students in obtaining important hands-on" machining experience, enhance their physical understanding of machining principles, and promote their latent learning capability to the maximal possible extent. In such a virtual environment, all the students have a ' one-to-one" opportunity to "physically" operate various kinds of machines (both conventional and CNC) on their own and observe and study the on-line simulated dynamic machining performance by choosing different process parameters. The significance of the proposed project is that it can be used as a national model for future machining laboratories with the advantages of significant cost-effectiveness, knowledge-integrated interactive learning environment, great flexibility for various machining operations and, C-based software for easy portability. The results should be very attractive to other colleges for setting up a similar system and should have a significant impact on current teaching practices of manufacturing courses. The effectiveness of the VR system at different development stages will be evaluated through four consecutive teaching semesters of the course ME322 Manufacturing Processes (offered every semester). As a national model for future machining laboratories, the results of the proposed project will be publicize d through conferences, publications and the World Wide Web.