BA 296-3 and ME290P
Fall 1996

Managing the New Product Development Process: Design Theory and Methodology

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 25th, 4-5 3110 ETCHEVERRY HALL

Title: Haptics and CAD: "Reach IN and Touch Something"

Speaker:        Blake Hannaford
                Dept. of Electrical Engineering
                University of Washington
                Seattle WA 98195-2500
                http://rcs.ee.washington.edu/BRL

Product designers now have powerful visualization tools in their CAD workstations. Solid-shaded real-time computer graphics have enabled a huge gain in productivity at the interface between design and production.

However in one area of design - design of objects which involve human contact for operation, maintenance, or aesthetic appreciation - industry still relies extensively on expensive and slow physical prototyping.

Haptic interfaces are devices which mediate simulated physical interactions between humans and computer models. This talk will introduce the basic ideas of haptic interaction devices, the computational issues involved in "hapticizing" virtual environments, some of the prototype systems we have built, and describe the rapidly changing business environment which suggests the emergence of a new computer hardware catagory and a new industry.

Last updated: 23 August 1996 by Andy Dong