Virtual and Augmented Reality in the next generation of engineering design tools

Modern engineering design increasingly requires combination of both the digital and physical worlds, with even simple projects regularly involving the creation of physical prototypes and digital design models, physical testing, digital simulation, and physical manufacture. This variation vastly increases the need for physical / digital integration, and seamless transfer between the two. Here a major challenge exists; in most cases, interaction with the digital world remains locked behind a 2D screen. This constraint limits our ability to bridge the gap between the digital and physical, impacting not only the ways that design tools work, but also the ways that engineers are able to design. The requirements imposed by a 2D interface create broad impact on engineering design processes, understanding, development time, and cost. With cutting-edge Virtual and Augmented Reality technologies and interface methods currently in-development and entering the market, significant scope exists to build a better bridge between the digital and physical, for a radical re-imagining of the way in which engineers' design. This doctoral research aims to study such ground-breaking technologies, and how they may steer, support, and improve designer understanding and design process. This work will lead towards cutting-edge technologies, systems, and understanding which answer not only how best to interface with and enhance existing engineering design processes, but also how direct 3D interaction may allow new, radical design systems with step-change benefit.