SBIR Phase I: Direct 3D Manipulation for Computer Aided Design

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to demonstrate the feasibility of a 3D gestural user input system for computer aided design (CAD) that enables engineering design firms to more rapidly explore and produce new designs. This technology uses commodity depth-sensing cameras and applies computer vision algorithms to deliver markerless finger-precise hand-tracking, allowing users to simply reach out with their hands to directly manipulate virtual 3D objects. In order to confirm feasibility, the objectives of the project include data gathering, investigation of computer vision algorithms, investigation of 3D input usability issues, and a thorough technical and usability evaluation. More specifically, a data set of 3D scans of hand shapes and hand poses will be collected. Next, a detailed investigation will be performed of multi-view registration and database-driven hand pose estimation algorithms for rapid calibration and tracking of a user's hands. The success of the proposed technology will crucially depend on its delivery of a superior user experience, and the usability issues regarding 3D input will be carefully analyzed. Finally, a detailed technical and usability evaluation will be performed, and the commercial viability will be based on the results. The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is in the area of engineering design. In today's market place, the competitive capacity of an engineering firm is determined by its ability to rapidly design new products and evaluate new engineering solutions. Most engineering design firms use computer aided design software to accelerate this process. However, the productivity of CAD engineers is still bottlenecked by the user interface and the user input devices available to them. This is because many CAD tasks involve 3D manipulation, which is difficult and tedious to perform with a 2D mouse. A typical CAD user spends four to eight hours a day in CAD software. Over a million CAD users fit this profile. The proposed technology makes these users more productive by enabling them to directly manipulate virtual CAD objects with their bare hands in 3D, at their desks---a technical feat that has never before been achieved. The result is faster product and engineering design in a variety of industries including manufacturing, construction and architecture which spent $6B on CAD software in 2011. This research will advance scientific and technological understanding by creating a fundamentally new way to interact with computers for productivity applications.