Virtual Prototyping for Human-Centric Design

这项拨款为与以人为中心的机械CAD设计交互时的接触感和力的模拟提供资金。以人为中心的CAD设计是指那些最终目的是供人类使用的设计，例如汽车的内饰设计。表面的位置和感觉，以及控制的可访问性和可操作性，将通过来自触觉界面Sarcos dextroous Arm Master的力反馈来原型化。使用Sarcos Master可以让用户自然地伸手和抓握，并感受到接触的外部力量和抓握的内部力量。直接利用设计的底层复杂几何形状（修剪的NURBS表面），将开发表面对表面的几何计算来模拟手臂在到达和控制手抓取时的碰撞。全局最小距离计算将确定潜在接触区域，然后快速局部表面跟踪计算将模拟详细的几何相互作用。摩擦、纹理和柔软度的真实表面模型将基于真实表面的测量而开发。诸如开关之类的控制装置的机械动作也将被类似地建模。虚拟原型的目标是用计算模型取代物理模型，从而大大降低成本并加快设计中的迭代。当设计的目的是供人类使用时，同样需要在不构建物理原型的情况下为人类与设计的交互创建原型。到目前为止，只有立体视觉显示可以用来检查设计，但一个完整的评估应该允许设计师到达、触摸、抓住和操纵设计中的虚拟对象，就像用自己的手臂对抗真实的对象一样。确定在杂乱的汽车内部到达和操作控制的容易程度将导致更符合人体工程学的设计。

This grant provides funding for the simulation of the sense of contact and force when interacting with human-centric mechanical CAD designs. Human-centric CAD designs are those whose ultimate purpose is to be used by humans, for example, a car's interior design. The location and feel of surfaces, and the accessibility and manipulability of controls, will be prototyped through force feedback from a haptic interface, the Sarcos Dextrous Arm Master. The use of the Sarcos Master allows a user to reach and grasp naturally, and to feel both external forces of contact and internal forces of grasping. Utilizing directly the underlying complex geometries of the design (trimmed NURBS surfaces), surface-to-surface geometrical computations will be developed to model the bumping of the arm when reaching and the grasping by the hand of controls. A global minimum distance calculation will identify areas of potential contact, and then fast local surface tracing computations will model detailed geometrical interaction. Realistic surface models for friction, texture, and softness will be developed based on measurements of real surfaces. The mechanical action of controls such as switches will be similarly modeled.The goal of virtual prototyping is to replace physical mockups with computational mockups, thereby greatly decreasing costs and speeding up iterations in the design. When a design's purpose is to be used by a human, it is similarly desirable to prototype a human's interaction with the design without building a physical prototype. To date only stereoscopic visual displays have been available to examine a design, but a complete evaluation should allow designers to reach, touch, grasp, and manipulate virtual objects in the design, as if using their own arms against real objects. The determination of how easy it is to reach and manipulate controls in a cluttered car interior will lead to more ergonomically satisfactory designs.