Illustrating Mechanisms

Image of planetary gears

Dr Niloy Mitra has developed techniques to illustrate the operation of complex mechanical assemblies.

Starting with a 3D CAD model of an assembly, his system infers the motions of individual parts and the interactions between parts based on their geometry and a few user specified constraints. This information is then used to generate visualisations that incorporate motion arrows, frame sequences and animation to convey the causal chain of motions and mechanical interactions between parts. The work is inspired by recent findings in cognitive psychology.

Dr Mitra's paper, which describes the work, has been invited for publication in the prestigious journal "Communications of ACM" in the "Research Highlight" section.