Conclusions and Future Work

This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of an ICT application to aid in the exploration of product disassembly sequences through the use of interactive graph visualizations. This application presents three primary modes of use. First, a user is able to explore the virtual geometry within the ICT environment. Interacting with the virtual geometry provides natural human-centric information and can help inform early ergonomic decisions. Second, a user may utilize a graph visualization to better understand existing disassembly sequences. The graph adds a visual structure to help guide exploration. In the third and final mode, a highlighted path is offered to present the user with an opportunity to learn specific sequences and compare it to previously experienced sequences. A user study, involving 15 participants and a hydraulic pump assembly, was conducted. Results from the study suggest that the coupling of natural human-centric 3D interaction with abstract data visualization holds strong potential for aiding early design decision making.

From the study several promising areas for future work emerged. It would be of interest to explore further methods to increase the interplay between geometric models and the graph visualization. As this research focused on component removals, future work may concentrate on the inclusion of fasteners, snap-fits, and other common disassembly operations.

Acknowledgments This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under grants # CMMI-1068926 and CMMI–1100177. Any opinions, findings, and

conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.

Note: Leif Berg’s contribution to this paper was in the design and development of the VR application and execution of user study. The primary coauthor, Sara Behdad, applied normative algorithms in calculating the optimal disassembly path for Task 3 of the user study. All of the coauthors were involved in the design of the investigation and interpretation of the results.

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