Haptics for Product Design and Manufacturing Simulation

Product design and manufacturing simulation is a promising research and application area for haptics. By benefiting from its natural human-computer interaction and realistic force/torque feedback, haptics can change the traditional design and manufacturing approaches which are mainly based on physical mock-ups or CAD (Computer Aided Design) modes. This paper provides a detailed and comprehensive survey of haptics for product design and manufacturing simulation in the past 10 years, mainly from 2004-2014, including haptics for product design and shape modelling, haptics for machining simulation, and haptics for virtual assembly and maintenance simulation. The new haptic devices and rendering algorithms involved in this area are introduced, the major research efforts and the typical systems are discussed, and the new ideas and research progresses are investigated. Then, conclusions and future trends are summarized.