Judging the ‘passability’ of dynamic gaps in a virtual rugby environment

Affordances have recently been proposed as a guiding principle in perception–action research in sport (Fajen, Riley, & Turvey, 2009). In the present study, perception of the ’passability’ affordance of a gap between two approaching defenders in rugby is explored. A simplified rugby gap closure scenario was created using immersive, interactive virtual reality technology where 14 novice participants (attacker) judged the passability of the gap between two virtual defenders via a perceptual judgment (button press) task. The scenario was modeled according to tau theory (Lee, 1976) and a psychophysical function was fitted to the response data. Results revealed that a tau-based informational quantity could account for 82% of the variance in the data. Findings suggest that the passability affordance in this case, is defined by this variable and participants were able to use it in order to inform prospective judgments as to passability. These findings contribute to our understanding of affordances and how they may be defined in this particular sporting scenario; however, some limitations regarding methodology, such as decoupling perception and action are also acknowledged.

Towards a virtual testing environment for composite aerostructures

The emergence of an all-composite passenger airframe marks a major advance in the development of aerostructures. Underpinning this milestone is over four decades of intensive research in this area. Nonetheless, the first-generation of composite aerostructures is very conservative. This paper will discuss the need for the development of a virtual testing capability to enable better exploitation of the material's full potential in future designs. Recent progress, by the author, in this area is presented followed by a discussion of current limitations and opportunities for further research.

The Development of an Immersive Virtual Reality Environment for Manufacturing and Improving Organizational Learning

This paper examines the applicability of an immersive virtual reality (VR) system to the process of organizational learning in a manufacturing context. The work focuses on the extent to which realism has to be represented in a simulated product build scenario in order to give the user an effective learning experience for an assembly task. Current technologies allow the visualization and manipulation of objects in VR systems but physical behaviors such as contact between objects and the effects of gravity are not commonly represented in off the shelf simulation solutions and the computational power required to facilitate these functions remains a challenge. This work demonstrates how physical behaviors can be coded and represented through the development of more effective mechanisms for the computer aided design (CAD) and VR interface.

A Structured Approach to Simulate Manufacturing System In Virtual Environment

Nowadays, the realization of the Virtual Factory (VF) is the strategic goal of many manufacturing enterprises for the coming years. The industrial scenario is characterized by the dynamics of innovations increment and the product life cycle became shorter. Furthermore products and the corresponding manufacturing processes get more and more complex. Therefore, companies need new methods for the planning of manufacturing systems.
To date, the efforts have focused on the creation of an integrated environment to design and manage the manufacturing process of a new product. The future goal is to integrate Virtual Reality (VR) tools into the Product Lifecycle Management of the manufacturing industries.
In order to realize this goal the authors have conducted a study to perform VF simulation steps for a supplier of Industrial Automation Systems and have provided a structured approach focusing on interaction between simulation software and VR hardware tools in order to simulate both robotic and
manual work cells.
The first results of the study in progress have been carried out in the VR Laboratory of the Competence Regional Centre for the qualification of the Transportation Systems that has been founded by Campania Region.