Knowledge acquistion and management on virtual reality based design

企业使用PLM系统、并行工程、质量功能展开和六西格玛等工具/理念来处理产品设计问题。计算机图形学的使用，特别是交互式计算机图形学，在当今的产品设计和制造工作中也发挥了重要作用。网络化的虚拟现实系统使分散在不同地理位置的合作者能够在共同的项目上工作。在物理原型可用之前，可以使用低成本可扩展的VR系统来模拟各种设计方案。今天，从理论上讲，三维(3D)交互模拟能够取代物理原型。此外，联网的计算机可以为远程协作提供现实的会议条件。这两个主题都得到了研究人员的充分研究。然而，目前还不清楚如何将这项技术有效地应用于现实生活中。在协同设计评审和产品评估问题中，VR应用的主要焦点一直是文本和图形形式的信息可视化。另一方面，计算机控制的可视化和通信系统比它们目前的使用具有更大的潜力。设计智能评估工具来观察和分析用户与虚拟场景之间或用户之间以及用户与虚拟场景之间的交互在文献中是一个相对较新的课题。目前的研究重点是开发嵌入到基于虚拟现实的产品设计/测试和协同会议系统中的监督支持系统。特别是用户行为评估，协同虚拟现实的管理，最后是工程变更管理主题。

Tools/philosophies such as PLM systems, Concurrent Engineering, Quality Function Deployment and Six Sigma are used by companies to deal with their product design problems. Use of computer graphics, particularly the interactive computer graphics, also found a significant role in today's product design and manufacturing efforts. Networked VR systems enable geographically dispersed collaborators to work on common projects. Low-cost scalable VR systems are available to simulate various design proposals before the physical prototypes are available. Today, theoretically it is known that the 3-dimensional (3D) interactive simulations are capable of replacing physical prototypes. Also, networked computers can provide realistic meeting conditions for long-distance collaborations. Both topics have been well studied by researchers. However, it is still not clear how this technology could be used effectively in real-life applications. The main focus of VR usage in collaborative design reviews and product assessment problems have been the visualization of information in both textual and graphical forms. Computer controlled visualization and communication systems on the other hand have greater potentials then their current usages. Design of intelligent assessment tools that observe and analyze the interaction between user and virtual scene or among users and their interactions with the virtual scene is relatively new topic in the literature. The present research program focuses on the development of Supervisory Support Systems to be embedded in VR based product design/testing and collaborative meeting systems. Particularly, User behaviour assessment, Management of collaborative VR and finally the Engineering change management topics will be investigated.