Following discussions we've changed the project name to:
A Day in the Life of a 3D Warehouse.
See the new blog here.
Monday, 23 May 2011
Thursday, 21 April 2011
CILT call for papers (Toxic warehouse accepted)
Our abstract for the Logistics Research network conference accepted!
LRN Annual Conference and PhD Workshop 2011
'Smarter Logistics: Innovation for Efficiency, Performance and Austerity'
| Date: | Wednesday 7th - Friday 9th September 2011 |
| Venue: | University of Southampton http://www.lrn2011.org.uk/ |
Clipper Logistics come on board!
Clipper Logistics are partnering CILT in developing this project by providing specilist technical knowledge to develop the scenarios and access to film (strictly controlled and agreed) sections of their warehousing operation.
I am going on a pre-filming visit on the 6th May..more to share later...
Debbie
Thursday, 24 March 2011
Warehouse Enlargement Completed
Up To 40% More Storage Space
The installation of extra layers of shelving has given some problems stacking stock safely on the top levels but staff are confident there are no breaches in safety.
Wednesday, 2 February 2011
Getting Started
 |
| The prototype warehouse |
Second Life (SL) is a virtual 3D world accessible from the Internet, run from California. It is free to use but land must be purchased or rented and there are small fees for importing images. LondonMet has five regions in SL, four of which are owned and run by the Faculty of Computing.
To get started in second Life you must first register your avatar. This is the character that will represent you while you are in Second Life. You can change everything about your character except the name, so choose carefully, not too long. Go to www.secondlife.com and follow the ‘Join Now’ instructions. You will have to confirm your registration by responding to an email like in many systems.
Next you need to download the viewer software. This is free from www.secondlife.com but it is possible your organisation’s firewall may block this and your virus checker may prevent you from unpacking the software. See your organisation’s local support team for help. You probably won’t have any problems using a computer at home. SL runs on Windows, Macintosh and Linux.
Once you have the viewer running you can log in using your avatar’s name and password. The first time you do this you will be taken to an ‘info hub’. This is for new users and helpers. Here you can familiarise yourself with walking and talking. See our help sheet too. Once you are happy you can teleport to the prototype warehouse.
Visiting the warehouse.
To get to the warehouse click here: http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Collyer/207/134/1001.
This is known as a SLURL and should allow you to teleport to the warehouse. There are many other places you may like to visit in Second Life. You can search for places of interest using the search button at the bottom of the screen.
If you need any help or have problems contact Alan Hudson alan.hudson@londonmet.ac.uk or send a message to Pell Juran in Second Life
Friday, 21 January 2011
Readings in electronic format
The Knowledge centre have surpassed themselves! All the requested readings have come through for including..thanks to Peter and Lyn..
Sunday, 16 January 2011
All set for the New Year
We now have the mock up/prototype warehouse and two MSc graduates from LondonMet in place to help with the development. The warehouse has a front parking and loading area, a main storage space inside and offices and rest areas for staff.
The loading area is partially cluttered with unsafe looking containers and a variety of vehicles. The storage area is stocked with a variety of pallets boxes and drums and has some corroding drums at the end of an aisle. The offices and rest areas are rather sparten at the moment but can be furnished with screens showing the Flash resources and scripted items to provide information.
I have begun examining health and safety regulations, UK lorry legislation and general designs for warehouses. I have also been exploring the possibilities of using existing 3D models in various file formats which can be imported into Second Life saving us considerable development time.
The two MSc graduates have previous experience in building within Second Life. One is a particularly good researcher, the other is very skilled in 3D modelling and animation.
The next stage is to visit a real warehouse with an industry expert in order to gain some deeper appreciation of the issues and then to define the functionality of the Second Life warehouse. From this we can design the final layout and size of the warehouse. This visit could also be an opportunity to take detailed photographs for use in the Second Life build.
The loading area is partially cluttered with unsafe looking containers and a variety of vehicles. The storage area is stocked with a variety of pallets boxes and drums and has some corroding drums at the end of an aisle. The offices and rest areas are rather sparten at the moment but can be furnished with screens showing the Flash resources and scripted items to provide information.
I have begun examining health and safety regulations, UK lorry legislation and general designs for warehouses. I have also been exploring the possibilities of using existing 3D models in various file formats which can be imported into Second Life saving us considerable development time.
The two MSc graduates have previous experience in building within Second Life. One is a particularly good researcher, the other is very skilled in 3D modelling and animation.
The next stage is to visit a real warehouse with an industry expert in order to gain some deeper appreciation of the issues and then to define the functionality of the Second Life warehouse. From this we can design the final layout and size of the warehouse. This visit could also be an opportunity to take detailed photographs for use in the Second Life build.
Wednesday, 17 November 2010
Cloudworks Virtual world info
Some emergent research information on virtual environments posted here:
http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloudscape/view/2059
http://cloudworks.ac.uk/cloudscape/view/2059
Friday, 5 November 2010
Mock-up warehouse made
I've made a simple mock-up to show what is possible in SL. See the Gallery page for photos etc. Contact me for a landmark to it in SL.
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Sunday, 17 October 2010
CILT Knowledge Centre manager on steering group
Peter Huggins, the Knowledge Centre Manager based at the CILT Corby has agreed to be on our steering group - great news :)
Friday, 15 October 2010
Useful Resources and Developments
Second Life (SL)
SL have just released a beta version of their viewer which supports the COLLADA 3D format. This enables objects made in Maya, Blender and Google Sketchup to be imported into SL. There is a significant amount of free 3D objects available in Maya, Blender and Sketchup formats. It should be possible to convert these to COLLADA and import into SL. This could be very useful for vehicles, figures, and stock. ANH to investigate.
Pandora Bots
A system exists using basic Artificial Intelligence software to simulate human conversations. These could be of use in the warehouse. ANH has two work placement students investigating this. They are also developing a system to store data from SL in web databases and retrive data from web databases and make this accessible in SL. ANH to monitor/develop.
Initial Planning and Discussions
Methodology
- Literature Review
- Project Specification
- Project Evaluation by Stakeholders
- Written up as a rich case study
Deliverables
- The Shell
- An Interior
- Expert Screens - stills, video, narrative text
- Tasks for small teams
- Xtranormal figures/bots to interact with visitors
- Feedback mechanism
- Student feedback mechanism
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