Session: 04-02 Emerging Technologies: Novel AM Design

Paper Number: 94406

94406 - Exploring Augmented Reality for Teaching Design for Additive Manufacturing 

Additive Manufacturing (AM) has a great potential of disrupting product design and supply-chain in many industries by means of its unique capabilities when compared to traditional manufacturing. Regarding the product design, the potential benefits comprise functional integration, reduced assembly efforts, reduced weight, and increased performance. A wide range of designers would like to take advantage of AM to improve their designs, but they need assistance in learning to take advantage of these new capabilities and breaking out of their conventional manufacturing mindset in the early-phases of the design process. Design for Additive Manufacturing (DfAM) cards are a print-based tool for imparting design knowledge and design principles. They focus on transferring early design phase relevant AM-process independent knowledge and capabilities to both novice and experienced designers.

Against this background, this study explores how Augmented Reality (AR) can be used to enhance the learning experience of Design Heuristics for Additive Manufacturing (DHAM) presented in the DfAM cards.

Hereby, we propose a modification of DfAM cards to include AR markers into the existing design and hence provide a comprehensive visualization along with the information about heuristics and examples on the DfAM cards. To implement this, we use marker-based AR detection for 3D representation of the AM model on the DfAM cards. The marker can be scanned using an application (.apk file) on an android/iOS device to reveal the 3D model which helps the learner to understand the possible real-world structure of final product before it is being printed. The cross-platform game engine Unity is used for developing the AR application for this research project. Finally, we validate the feasibility of the idea and usability of the application with feedback from AM designer and researchers. The developed application can be extended on hands-free platform where 3D models can be visualized using Microsoft HoloLens.

Presenting Author: Gustavo Melo Chair for Digital Additive Production DAP, RWTH Aachen University

Presenting Author Biography: AM Researcher & PhD Candidate, M.Eng. - Gustavo Melo is a Metallurgical Engineer and holds additionally a master's degree in mechanical engineering and a postgraduate diploma in Business Management. By means of German Chancellor Fellowship from Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, he has worked in H2020 projects between EU-Brazil (CEBRABIC) and EU-China (ERICENA) and gathered experience in international collaboration for science, technology and innovation. Since 2018, he has worked at DAP RWTH Aachen leading projects in the field of Additive Manufacturing and Corporate Education with international partners (Japan, USA and Brazil). He is also a team member of the projects “Industrialization of Digital Engineering and Additive Manufacturing (IDEA)” and "Industrialization and Digitization of Additive Manufacturing for Automotive Series Processes" funded by the federal ministry of education and research (BMBF) which aims enabling Additive Manufacturing for series production by means of digitization of complete process chain. Within this context, Gustavo Melo has investigated the use of Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality along the process chain of Additive Manufacturing.

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