TechViz - Blog - AR / VR for engineering

The energy sector is in the midst of a tremendous shift as it embraces the use of virtual reality software (VR) and augmented reality (AR) technology on a global scale.

Using this technology has improved processes for engineers, resulting in better decisions, higher efficiency, and reduced costs. Traditionally, product designs have been rendered in 3D on a computer. After approval, a prototype is created to determine whether the physical rendering fits together well, is ergonomically sound, etc. With advances in virtual reality and augmented reality, a new product can be viewed in the early stages of the design process. Companies can focus on correcting errors at this stage before moving on to production.

Virtual reality (VR) has come a long way since it was invented by Ivan Sutherland in the late '60s. This industry, which has a market size of over $15 billion, has now expanded beyond consumer use to make waves in everything from research and education to manufacturing and even aerospace applications. In particular, it's transforming manufacturing by streamlining the industrial design process.

Have you seen 2020’s Hype Cycle for Emerging technologies from Gartner?

Notice anything? Take some time to look at all the emerging technologies. Isn’t there something missing? Where is Virtual Reality? In a world where social distances and virtual collaboration has become essential to many industries, how come a technology like VR vanish from the Gartner Hype Cycle?

Hand tracking in VR is a very appealing feature. No need to learn the placement and functions of the buttons on the controllers anymore. How convenient and enjoyable would it be to just move your real and virtual hand in sync through your HMD? Just a move of your hand and voilà! Which means real-time hand tracking in VR has a lot of potential for casual and professional VR., especially because it replaces the controller and makes the VR experience even more immersive.

As manufacturing grew more complex, the need to find and fix errors before production has become crucial, hence the need for design reviews. But let’s be realistic a moment: if it happens with the 3D model of an airplane or a manufacturing plant, good luck finding it! This is where Virtual Reality (VR) intervenes (and especially VR collaboration). VR design review enables you to be immersed in your 3D data, see your product at full-scale and simulate its operation.

A few years ago, there was a lot of hype around Virtual Reality. 2016 was supposed to be the big breakthrough year, then 2017, then 2018… There were talk about VR being the next entertainment/work platform, just like Radio, TV, Computers, Phone were. But it never actually materialized. Hyperbolic growth numbers did not happen as promised. Many VR companies have come and gone and a lot of projects, including from Silicon Valley big names, have been scaled down. Companies promising massive customer deployment have pivoted into niche professional use cases.

The automotive industry is a fast-paced sector which continuously adopts technologies that powers their digital transformation. Virtual Reality (VR) is one of the most fitting technology to provide the automotive sector with new methods and tools to design better vehicles, test different configurations, check driving ergonomics, refine manufacturing processes, etc.

There are several VR headsets types on the market, but the ones that are the most suited for vr engineering are PC-powered headsets because they rely on a powerfull system. Depending on your use case and the scale of your project, you can tailor your system to your needs in terms of processing power, screen resolution, storage, and so on.

Industry 4.0 and digital revolution brought many innovations, new methodologies and tools to the manufacturing industry. Virtual Reality technologies enable businesses to design products and better their production process by simulating 3D prototypes in a virtual environment. Besides saving time and resources, this new approach also enables to optimize the manufacturing lines and improve the workplace ergonomics.

Virtual Reality is not as young as you thought it was, but don’t worry, it is common to think of VR devices as a new technology just arriving in our society as it became accessible to a larger number of people only recently. Since its first apparition, this cutting-edge technology constantly evolved, giving rise to a constant race for progress…nevertheless, it all started way sooner than you think.