Title: Assessment and comparison of immersive virtual assembly training system

Authors: Mustufa Haider Abidi; Abdulaziz M. El-Tamimi; Abdulrahman M. Al-Ahmari; Emad S. Abouel Nasr

Addresses: Advance Manufacturing Institute, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box - 800, Riyadh-11421, Saudi Arabia ' Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia ' Advance Manufacturing Institute, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia; Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia ' Industrial Engineering Department, College of Engineering, King Saud University, P.O. Box 800, Riyadh 11421, Saudi Arabia; Mechanical Engineering Department, Faculty of Engineering, Helwan University, Cairo, Egypt

Abstract: This paper presents the assessment and comparison of a virtual assembly training system for the first Saudi Arabian car prototype fender assembly. An assessment study was conducted to compare three training scenarios: Traditional Engineering, Computer Aided Design Environment, and Immersive Virtual Reality (IVR). Fifteen students from King Saud University were randomly assigned to the different training conditions. After that transfer of training to the actual assembly was evaluated. Performance measures used to assess transfer of training include time to complete task and number of frustration points during task. Furthermore, experiments were conducted to evaluate the effect of number of trainings in IVR environment on user's performance while performing the virtual assembly. The results of study suggest that the participants of IVR training condition performed better than the other two conditions. Also, it was seen that the participants with more number of training within IVR performed better while doing virtual assembly.

Keywords: virtual assembly; IVR; immersive virtual reality; CAD; computer aided design; assembly training systems; Saudi Arabia; prototype fender assembly; prototype bumper assembly; automotive bumpers; automotive fenders; performance measurement.

DOI: 10.1504/IJRAPIDM.2013.055973

International Journal of Rapid Manufacturing, 2013 Vol.3 No.4, pp.266 - 283

Published online: 30 Sep 2014 *

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