Simulation of Manufacturing Processes via Virtual Reality

Abstract

In a world in continuous evolution, the different industrial actors need to be reactive to remain competitive and to conquer new market trends. To achieve this, they are constrained to improve their way of industrial management, both at the strategic level, to adapt to technological advances and follow market trends. In this chapter, we introduce a new simulation method that makes it easy to understand the results of a given simulation. This is of crucial importance because the design stage of a manufacturing system usually implies not specialist actors. The objective of the chapter is to present the main advantages of using the virtual reality (VR) to the manufacturing processes simulation. To this end, a state of the art will compose the first part of the chapter. In the second part, we address the issue of the contribution of the VR to the industrial simulation.

The Role of Virtual Reality Simulation in Manufacturing in Industry 4.0

“…In manufacturing, VRSIM involves creating virtual environments that replicate and simulate manufacturing scenarios, systems, and processes [24,31,32]. The DES-based VRSIM scenarios often include factory layout and planning, digital assembly modeling and simulation, and developing and testing virtual product prototypes [8,[31][32][33][34]. Further, the VR-based simulation technique is a potent tool for verifying the design of manufacturing systems [13,35].…”