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Identifying subassemblies and understanding their functions during a design review in immersive and non-immersive virtual environments

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Abstract

Design review (DR) is a product development (PD) activity used to inspect the technical characteristics of a design solution. Immersive virtual reality (IVR) technology enables the presentation of spatial information and interaction with 3D CAD models inside an immersive virtual environment (IVE). Such capabilities have shown the potential to mitigate the cognitive load needed for the visual perception of spatial information and, consequently, enhance design understanding and DR performance. Thus, an increasing number of studies have explored the effect of IVR technology on DR activities in different domains. However, determining when the implementation of IVR technology rather than a conventional user interface for DRs in mechanical engineering PD projects will be beneficial remains unclear. Hence, a conceptual DR experimental study was conducted to investigate the differences in the ability of engineering students to identify mechanisms and understand their functions when a design solution for a technical system is presented in an IVE by IVR technology and in a non-immersive virtual environment (nIVE) by a conventional user interface (monitor display, keyboard, and mouse). Data were collected by performing DR tasks and having participants complete a prior experience questionnaire, presence questionnaire, and mental rotations test. Findings of the study indicate that IVR does not support an enhanced ability of engineering students to identify mechanisms and understand their functions compared with a conventional user interface.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Faculty of Mechanical Engineering and Naval Architecture, University of Zagreb, Ivana Lučića 5, 10 000, Zagreb, Croatia

    Fanika Lukačević, Stanko Škec & Mario Štorga

  2. DTU Management, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark

    Stanko Škec

  3. Department of Business Administration, Technology and Social Sciences, Luleå University of Technology, Luleå, Sweden

    Peter Törlind & Mario Štorga

Authors
  1. Fanika Lukačević
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  2. Stanko Škec
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  3. Peter Törlind
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  4. Mario Štorga
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Correspondence to Stanko Škec.

Additional information

This paper reports work funded by the Croatian Science Foundation project IP-2018-01-7269: Team Adaptability for Innovation-Oriented Product Development (http://www.taide.org).

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Lukačević, F., Škec, S., Törlind, P. et al. Identifying subassemblies and understanding their functions during a design review in immersive and non-immersive virtual environments. Front. Eng. Manag. 8, 412–428 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s42524-020-0099-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42524-020-0099-z

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