Towards Zero Prototyping of Factory Layouts and Operations Using Novel Gaming and Immersive Technologies

目的：本研究旨在将离散事件仿真(DES)与游戏界面技术的最新创新相结合，将新颖的沉浸式虚拟现实(VR)和现场事件反馈功能融入DES中。由此产生的技术将解决阻碍在设计新建工厂和管理现有工厂运营方面更有效地使用建模和模拟的障碍。研究成果将通过将Lanner的DES工具WITESS与Oculus Rift(VR护目镜)和Microsoft Kinect(集成3D传感设备)相集成来展示，从而将沉浸式VR(沉浸式证人或IW)和现场事件反馈功能(Live Witness或LW)整合到WITNESS中。什么是沉浸式证人(IW)？IW是最新的消费设备VR技术(Oculus Rift)与Lanner的DES工具见证人的集成。目前，见证者主要依靠标准(非沉浸式)显示技术。VR在20世纪90年代是一个非常流行的话题，但由于预期和技术限制之间的差距，人们的兴趣迅速消退。最近的发展大大缩小了差距，为在制造模拟中充分发挥VR潜力的新尝试打开了机会。IW如何带来价值？DES和VR的结合为过程模拟开辟了一个新的维度。文献中提到的好处包括决策者更多的参与，从而改进了模型并更好地理解了过程，增加了对模型的信心，更快、更容易地检测错误和评估模型行为，促进了想法的产生，以及与客户和其他利益相关者更好的沟通。Oculus以传统设备的一小部分成本提供了前所未有的沉浸在VR世界中。此外，人机界面(Leap Motion、Sixense STEM、Myo、Kinect)的新发展为用户与虚拟世界的互动开辟了潜在的有用方式。什么是Live证人(LW)？LW是一种新的方法，通过使用集成的3D传感消费设备(Microsoft Kinect)来同步DES模拟和真实世界，该设备可以在车间提供廉价、健壮和隐蔽的传感器系统来查看给定场景、观察过程并生成适当的信号来更新DES模型。LW如何带来价值？使用DES的缺点是处理来自不同数据源的输入数据以确保有效的模拟结果的工作量和成本。已经尝试从现有的信通技术系统收集数据；处理遗留数据仍然是一个巨大的挑战。LW通过使用廉价生成的数据流绕过了这个问题。DES模型的成功将意味着DES模型可以在任何时候准确地表示真实世界的过程。为什么IW和LW被一起提出来创建沉浸式/实时证人(I/LW)？3D传感和VR是互补的技术；前者帮助构建真实世界的准确虚拟镜子，而后者将产生的虚拟世界可视化。例如，Kinect提供了一种快速生成反映现实的虚拟世界的方法，可以使用Oculus查看和编辑虚拟世界。该项目提供了两种技术可以相辅相成的环境。与单独开发两个组成部分相比，同时开发信息和通信网络的拟议方法还将降低风险，同时创造更多价值。克兰菲尔德大学将领导I/LW的集成开发。技术选择：基于Oculus Rift和Microsoft Kinect等消费设备的人机界面技术有许多最近的发展。在制造业中，这些技术有可能为DES提供前所未有的沉浸感、细节和实时精度，从而使虚拟工厂始终准确地反映真实工厂。这是一个没有直接竞争对手的新项目。

Aim: The research aims to integrate Discrete Event Simulation (DES) with recent innovations in gaming interface technologies to incorporate novel immersive Virtual Reality (VR) and live event feedback capabilities into DES. The resulting technology will address the barriers that prevent more effective use of modelling and simulation in designing newbuilt factories and managing the operations of existing factories. The research results will be demonstrated by integrating Lanner's DES tool WITNESS with Oculus Rift, a VR goggle, and Microsoft Kinect, an integrated 3D sensing device, hence incorporating immersive VR (Immersive WITNESSS or IW) and live event feedback capabilities (Live WITNESS or LW) into WITNESS.What is Immersive WITNESS (IW)? IW is the integration of the latest consumer device VR technology (Oculus Rift) with Lanner's DES tool WITNESS. At the moment, WITNESS mainly relies on standard (non-immersive) display technologies.VR was a very popular topic in the 1990s, but interest waned away rapidly due to a gap between expectations and technological limitations. Recent developments have closed the gap considerably, opening up an opportunity for a fresh attempt to achieve the full potential of VR in manufacturing simulations.How does IW bring value? The coupling of DES and VR opens up a new dimension for process simulation. Among the benefits cited in literature are increased involvement from decision makers resulting in an improved model and better understanding of the processes, increased confidence in the model, quicker and easier detection of errors and evaluation of model behaviour, facilitation of the generation of ideas, and better communication with clients and other stakeholders.Oculus provides unprecedented immersion in a VR world at a fraction of the cost of traditional devices. Furthermore, new developments in human-computer interfaces (Leap Motion, Sixense STEM, Myo, Kinect) have opened up potentially usefulways for users to interact with the virtual world.What is Live WITNESS (LW)? LW is a novel means to synchronise DES simulation with real-world through the use of an integrated 3D-sensing consumer device (Microsoft Kinect) that can provide a cheap, robust and unobtrusive sensor system on the shop-floor to view a given scene, observe a process and generate appropriate signals to update the DES model.How does LW bring value? The drawback of using DES is the effort and cost of processing the input data from various data sources to ensure valid simulation results. Attempts have been made for gathering data from existing ICT systems; dealingwith legacy data remains a great challenge. LW side-steps this problem by using a cheaply generated data stream. Success will mean that DES models can accurately represent real-world processes at all times.Why are IW and LW being proposed together to create Immersive/Live WITNESS (I/LW)? 3D sensing and VR are complementary technologies; the former helps in constructing an accurate virtual mirror of the real world and the lattervisualises the resulting virtual world. For example, Kinect provides a way to rapidly generate virtual world that mirrors reality, which can be viewed and edited using Oculus. This project provides a setting where both technologies can complement each other. The proposed approach of developing IW and LW at the same time will also reduce risks whilst creating more value than if each component were developed separately. Cranfield University will lead the integrated development of I/LW.Choice of technologies: There have been many recent developments in human-computer interface technologies rooted inconsumer devices, such as Oculus Rift and Microsoft Kinect. In manufacturing, these technologies have the potential to deliver an unprecedented level of immersiveness, detail and real-time accuracy to DES such that the virtual factory alwaysaccurately mirrors the real factory. This is a new project with no direct competitors.