Using Augmented Reality Technology to Construct a Wood Furniture Sampling Platform for Designers and Sample Makers to Narrow the Gap between Judgment and Prototype

Abstract

sThe production and design of wood furniture manufacturing includes manufacturing furniture parts and their assembly with appropriate finishing operations; the process requires repeated communication and discussions, as well as furniture sampling and trials, which are indispensable. However, in the sampling process, due to the different understandings of the designer and the sample maker in regard to the size of 2D drawings and the modeling of 3D furniture, the sampling results often differ greatly from the designer's original concept; such errors appear mostly in the prototyping of wooden furniture. In this study, we focus on the wooden chair to explore whether augmented reality (AR) can contribute to the comparison between the virtual and physical shapes in the furniture prototyping process. We hope that by employing AR, the gap between the prototype and the finished furniture will be narrowed. By researching actual furniture prototyping with three furniture designers and two sample makers, this study has defined three furniture prototyping methods in the industry. Based on the basic principles, we recruited 38 designers to participate in the comparison experiments employing the above three different furniture prototypes. The results confirmed that applying the AR technology can effectively narrow the gap between judgment and prototype.