A Collaborative VirtualWorkspace for Factory Configuration and Evaluation

Abstract

The convergence of information technologies (IT) has enabled the Digital Enterprise in which engineering, production planning, manufacturing and sales processes are supported by IT-based collaboration, simulation and enactment. As a result, borders between reality and its virtual representations become increasingly blurred. Advanced tools need to support flexibility, specialization and collaborative evolution of the design where the exchange of knowledge between domain experts helps to improve informed decision making. In this paper, we present a collaborative, synchronized web-based framework to create 3D scenarios for product design, simulation and training assisted by animated avatars.

Keywords

• Collaborative computing architectures and networks
• Computer supported collaborative work
• Web-based collaboration
• Visualization techniques for collaborative networks and applications
• Service-oriented architectures for collaborative networking and applications