CAD-to-VR framework for interactive assembly simulation in product design review

Abstract

Virtual reality (VR) can strengthen assembly design reviews (DRs) by enabling engineers to inspect product structures, execute assembly actions, and detect manufacturability issues before physical prototyping. However, industrial uptake remains constrained by the effort required to convert CAD assemblies into interactive and reusable VR scenarios. Existing CAD-based simulations often require manual data preparation and programming expertise, which limits their use in routine engineering. This paper presents DRIVE-A (CAD-to-VR framework for InteractiVE Assembly design review), a Unity-based framework that supports the rapid authoring of interactive assembly-review scenarios from standard CAD data. The framework was derived from requirements elicited with manufacturing companies from different industrial sectors and combines CAD-to-mesh conversion, product-structure reconstruction, GUI-based scenario configuration, immersive execution, issue annotation, and automatic reporting. DRIVE-A supports assembly sequencing, interaction constraints, tool usage, collision-related alerts, visibility and reachability checks, and structured review outputs. An industrial gearbox case study demonstrates the feasibility of the pipeline and shows that the framework can reduce manual preparation effort, remove the need for end-user VR programming, and support earlier identification of assembly-related design issues. The results indicate that CAD-driven and no-code VR authoring can make assembly DRs more repeatable and more readily integrated into industrial product-development workflows.