Mixed Reality for Mechanical Design and Assembly Planning

Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DFMA) is a crucial design stage within the heavy vehicle manufacturing process that involves optimising the order and feasibility of the parts assembly process to reduce manufacturing complexity and overall cost. Existing work has focused on conducting DFMA within virtual environments to reduce manufacturing costs, but users are less able to relate and compare physical characteristics of a virtual component with real physical objects. Therefore, a Mixed Reality (MR) application is developed for engineers to visualise and manipulate assembly parts virtually, conduct and plan out an assembly within its intended physical environment. Two pilot evaluations were conducted with both engineering professionals and non-engineers to assess effectiveness of the software for assembly planning. Usability results suggest that the application is overall usable (M=56.1, SD=7.89), and participants felt a sense of involvement in the activity (M=13.1, SD=3.3). Engineering professionals see the application as a useful and cost-effective tool for optimising their mechanical assembly designs.