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Virtual reality is an emerging technology with the potential for many engineering applications including machinery simulation. In this paper the writers describe the hardware and software components of a virtual reality system that simulates machinery. They detail the flow of information that occurs in this system and discuss the functioning of an existing system at the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) located at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Finally, they describe potential uses of virtual reality in product design, manufacturing, training and marketing.

ROPS-TEST is a newly developed, interactive, graphics program that may be used to simulate testing of roll bars. Cross-sections that it currently supports include solid rectangular, rectangular tubing, and circular tubing. ROPS-TEST can be used to simulate testing for crush, rear and side loading. Output from ROPS-TEST includes load-deflection and strain energy-deflection plots. ROPS-TEST does not replace actual testing of prototype roll bars. Rather it serves as a design tool to select the best design options for a particular application prior to actual testing of the prototype roll bars.

Commercial software is now available for the dynamic simulation of industrial equipment using microcomputers. Applications in this paper include simulation of a backhoe work cycle, backhoe trench leveling and machine rollover. Key features of the software include interactive plots of response in color graphics, multiple frame displays of machine motion and on-the-fly changes of design parameters. In addition animation gives an added dimension of understanding to the machine motion under study.

Engineers from design, test and analysis teamed together to develop a suspension for the John Deere 862 Scraper. The design engineer coordinated developmental activities of the team. The engineering analyst helped evaluate initial design alternatives using an interactive program to predict ride performance. The test engineers instrumented a scraper to measure ride performance under a variety of conditions and suggested practical changes to the mechanical and hydraulic components of the suspension to improve its performance. The team approach proved to be a cost effective, timely approach to the design of off-highway vehicle suspensions.

Virtual reality technology permits engineers to assess visibility of virtual machines interactively in a virtual environment. Use of a virtual prototyping system allows one to investigate, in three dimensions, the effect of design changes on the visibility of critical machine components, such as the working tool. Although there have been successful applications of virtual prototyping systems to visibility assessment, there still exist system limitations that need to be overcome.

In order to test and design vehicle systems it is often necessary to develop prototypes. A vehicle's steering system requires a qualitative analysis since it is difficult to quantify and measure subjective quantities such as the “feel” of a steering system. The virtual prototype system (VPS) provides an effective and flexible way of developing and testing the prototypes for qualitative testing. By creating a computer model of a vehicle's steering system using a dynamic simulation package and linking it to a virtual reality vehicle, a designer can drive the virtual prototype vehicle as if he or she were operating an actual vehicle.