The team is on track for the completion of our project, Digital Visualisation [AR] for CNC Milling Machine. Through this project, the team has gained an abundance of knowledge, mostly self-taught. We have managed to meet the requirements of our stakeholders. One of which we needed to fulfill was to create an AR experience that helps beginners to operate the CNC Milling Machine.
In the duration of this project, we have discovered that AR serves as an effective method for teaching. With this technology applied in schools, we hope to enhance learning experiences of students and eventually give them the knowledge to allow them to be able to operate the machine independently. We came up with the name DEVIANT for our experience. We began our project by exploring the different softwares available and progressed towards creating an AR experience that was simple to use and intuitive. We have discovered that different software serves different purposes and we were given the opportunity to optimise each software to the fullest of its abilities.
The team went through relatively slow progress in the midst of this project as we faced a few obstacles that we eventually managed to overcome by conducting multiple experiments to justify the logic behind the finalised decision. Two experiments were conducted:
Comparing various devices and
Comparing the detection rate of two different files.
From the above experiments, we deduce that using an iPad and .fbx file, exported from Autodesk 3Ds Max, delivers the best results.
To maintain an organised and clean environment in the workshop, a workstation is created. The workstation is crafted in a way whereby the students are able to maintain cleanliness in the workshop as well as learn the name of the tools whilst using them.
Taking up this project gave us many opportunities. We participated in recognised events, such as Singapore Polytechnic Engineering Show 2019 (SPES), and we were given the chance to showcase our project to companies such as Yamazaki Mazak Singapore Pte Ltd and Advanced Remanufacturing and Technology Center (ARTC). We have gained such great experience that we would have not encountered within a classroom setting.
However, much work and improvements have to be made to the existing version of DEVIANT as some vital aspects do not meet the users’ needs.
The limitations of using a tablet to view the AR experience instead of the 3D glasses, such as the Microsoft HoloLens, restrict the users’ hands.
The alignment of the GUI does not fit in other devices apart from the iPad.
Images imported from Vuforia Studio would result in the display overlapping.
Above all, this project has shaped the team to become better people, engineers, and designers too. This project allowed us to explore what is beyond our field of study in electrical and electronic engineering and gave us a platform to display our potential to the fullest.
With this i bid aideu,
All the best & See you soon!
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