VirCA NET: A case study for collaboration in shared virtual space

To take up the challenge of global distributed companies, Manufacturing Engineering has to be accomplished in a worldwide collaborative way. Design and development of production processes and their execution are nowadays spread all over the world. To ensure quality standards and to create synergies between spatially distributed entities, distance collaboration tools must be provided to allow cooperation even over large distances. The Virtual Reality (VR) is thereby offering beneficial capabilities to exchange current planning stages, identify problems and solve them cooperatively. This paper introduces a new approach for distance collaboration, which enables users to work in a joint virtual space, nearly as if they were working together in the same place. Therefore two full-immersive CAVE-like systems are interconnected using the VirCA (Virtual Collaboration Arena) platform. The paper describes the requirements of Mechanical Engineers towards distance collaboration tools and the technical challenges solved with the enhanced VirCA framework. This working prototype is one premier application in the field of VR-enhanced spatially distributed collaboration. A typical use case scenario is provided to highlight the interaction and cooperation capabilities offered by VirCA NET.