New tools for 3D HMI development in Java

In this paper a new approach to 3D HMI suited to Java platform is presented. The technique described is based on Java3D package (rendering package) and a VRML (Virtual Reality Modeling Language) Java loader which creates a bridge between the CAD system and the rendering engine. The new approach is step-by-step demonstrated on a real Furuta pendulum HMI. Moreover, it is shown that after adding a simulation core containing the pendulum model one gets an interactive virtual reality laboratory which can be simply embedded into a web page as the Java applet. Such applet can be even stored at some embedded control device with built in web server. The authors believe that the presented technique will be applicable in both academic and industrial sphere.