Updating VR for Manufacturing

The HTC Vive Business Edition equipped with IC.IDO 11 (Image courtesy of ESI Group.)

ESI Group, a French developer of virtual prototyping software, recently announced the latest upgrade to its “industrial grade” virtual reality solution: IC.IDO. Compatible with the HTC Vive Business Edition, IC.IDO is designed to give users a virtual experience of any machine for easy accessibility months before the parts are readily available.

According to ESI, the updated IC.IDO 11 will have performance improvements and will now include functionalities for in-process engineering reviews and assembly tooling validation. This is in addition to its uses for prototyping, design, planning, verification and validation. The update also comes with a session sharing feature where a number of co-workers can join the same VR session and can collaborate with each other, regardless on their presence or position anywhere in the world.

While previous designs incorporated the use of 3D glasses and a screen to simulate augmented reality, the newer software is fully compatible with VR Head Mounted Displays (HMDs).

Assembly process review conducted using ESI IC.IDO 11 (Image courtesy of ESI Group.)

According to ESI, managers and engineers in manufacturing, tooling, ergonomics, assembly and the process industries can all benefit from IC.IDO 11. With the technology to map and interact with 3D CAD designs on a 2D screen, IC.IDO 11 aims to deliver natural hand-and-arm motion and agile problem solving in real-time simulations of assembly designs.

Major manufacturing processes at companies such as Ford, Boeing, Bombardier, Hitachi, Volkswagen and more have started incorporating IC.IDO 11 into their research and development methods.

Michael Wolf, virtual reality supervisor at Ford, has stated that ESI’s solutions have contributed to speeding up the company's development process by using VR to verify design alternatives.

Natural hand and arm interactions in VR via ESI IC.IDO 11 (Image courtesy of ESI Group.)

Philippe James, VP of continuous improvement and risks at Safran Nacelles, a designer of aircraft engine nacelles, said, “IC.IDO is profoundly changing the way Safran Nacelles engineers work: Virtual Reality reduces the need for physical prototypes and costly retooling, while promoting live team discussion to deploy optimum designs much faster than when working in silos.”

“ESI’s adoption of Vive Business Edition, with their industry leading IC.IDO, is testimony to how quickly virtual reality immersive display technology is being adopted by leading engineering and manufacturing companies,” said Herve Fontaine, VP of virtual reality enterprise and business development at HTC Vive.

For more information, visit the ESI Group website.