Object in virtual manufacturing

Object  in virtual manufacturing

"It's mentally easier to divide humans and objects than understand them as a comprehensive and interdependent system: people are alive, objects are inert, people can think, objects just lie there."

Object as itself is quite hard to be strictly defined. We can use very basic definition for object as 'something perceptible by one or more of the senses, especially by vision or touch a material thing', from philosophy 'something intelligible or perceptible by the mind'. The recent years, definition of object staring to be more complicated and complex. With the changing of concept for the reality, from ' the totality of all things possessing actuality, existence, or essence' to something which is not touchable and not actually existing but can be nested in existing situation of the real-world, object can be a result of virtual world technologic activity.

Engineering design is a human activity used in industry, which main aim is to produce an object. With the developing technology, virtual engineer started to replace traditional engineering and to play core role in manufacturing process. The new way of engineering established when computer system has been applied to create a product using advanced information and computer technologies.   

Engineering objects are created by using methods of virtual technologies, which the base is computer with its intelligence, data management, simulations ability  but also human-computer interaction. The dynamically nature of real world areas, where the engineering objects are used, such as business, economy, technology, influence also on them, making them changing and developing with the technology of the virtual world.

We can define virtual world in engineer as  a 'interrelated descriptions of engineering objects parts, assemblies, kinematics, analysis results, manufacturing processes, production equipment, manufacturing tools, instruments, etc.' The structure of virtual world consists of relationships between entities and their attributes.  It can communicate with other virtual worlds or other computer system interfaces  (by WWW), operated by human control, which creates interactive communication (human-computer interaction). The aim is computer controlled manufacturing of a computer numerical controlled machine tool.

Modeling and Problem Solving Techniques for Engineers; L. Horvath, I. Rudas;2004

"The virtual world is featured by products and process centered modeling in contrast to the task orientation of earlier modeling".

According to Bruce Sterling, we can assume products as 'widely distributed, commercially available objects, anonymously and uniformly manufactured in massive quantities, using a planned division of labor, rapid, non-artisanal, assembly-line techniques, operating over continental economies of scale, and supported by highly reliable transportation, finance and information systems.'  

Product models are able to present any product related information but they are constrained and organized according to the requests of their applications. This means that product models can range from very simple modeled objects to the representation of very complex and interrelated structures of various engineering objects. Creating advanced model, with all needed specifications we can use it as a virtual prototype, which is not anymore a material simulation but it is contained in virtual world.

The evolving human mind with its imagination and creativity provoke the changes in market, finance or production conditions, which bring a transformation of the product through integrated virtual engineering activities. This process has an influence also in product's prototype. The prototyping procedure from the physical system starting to applied virtual prototyping system and decrease the request for physical prototyping of engineer tasks, because of the growing development of virtual engineer, which can successfully replace them, cutting costs and increasing the complexity of simulation.

The recent industrial engineering systems create products in an automatic but human operated and controlled way. We can distinguish two manufacturing concept: virtual manufacturing and virtual controlled manufacturing. Virtual manufacturing is a manufacturing process which doesn't need any physical attributes, while virtual controlled manufacturing is controlled by the real-world manufacturing equipment, which use the information of the virtual world. Human relate their intent and concept with the computer system, which further translates them into virtual form, analyzes, translates into control program and controls manufacturing equipment. The result of the procedure is virtual prototype which can create a physical prototype of modeled object using computer controlled production equipment.  

Modeling and Problem Solving Techniques for Engineers; L. Horvath, I. Rudas;2004

Going further, Bruce Sterling creates a future manufactured object which he calls SPIME.

SPIME is assisted by informational support which is so extensive that can be regarded as a material substance of immaterial system. They can create an location and environmental  recognition, self-logging and self-documenting, spreading data about itself and its environment in great quantities. They are designed on screens, fabricated by digital means and can tracked through space and time. SPIMES are uniquely identifiable and can be deposited back into the production stream for future SPIMES, involving us in their production.

Human can query the data-stream for finding out very complex information, from a location of the object, interaction with environment or its final destination by the generation of enormous number of data and relations between the information.  The SPIMES universe is an universe composed of information and data which can developed and transformed by itself.

SPIMES are still speculative, imaginary concept but the present technology can be considered as primitive forms of SPIMES and will be inherent part of future virtual world.

"Tomorrow composts today."

Bibliography:

Modeling and Problem Solving Techniques for Engineers; L. Horvath, I. Rudas; 2004          http://www.google.it/books?hl=pl&lr=&id=YSAceOk4F2wC&oi=fnd&pg=PP2&dq=re...

Shaping Things; B. Sterling; 2005

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/object

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/reality

http://mitpress.mit.edu/books/shaping-things

http://boingboing.net/2005/10/26/bruce-sterlings-desi.html