Augmented assembly technologies based on 3D bare-hand interaction

Augmented reality has been applied to develop augmented assembly systems. However, most reported studies used pre-defined assembly information; AR is predominantly used to display information and interactions between users and the augmented environment are limited. This paper presents 3D bare-hand interaction in an augmented assembly environment to manipulate and assemble virtual components. A hybrid method based on constraint analysis is presented, which interprets users' manual assembly intents robustly without the need for auxiliary CAD information. Algorithms for assembly constraint recognition, assembly tool operations and assembly sequence evaluation have been formulated. An augmented assembly system has been developed in this research. (C) 2011 CIRP.