The Place of Descriptive Geometry in the Face of Industry 4.0 Challenges

Abstract

Industrial process automation has long been the main goal in production lines that seek to decrease human involvement. However, it is broadly agreed that a collaboration between humans and technologies must still exist as human capital is required to provide certain skills and abilities that machines cannot offer yet. For instance, in the context of design and simulation, CAD, CAM, and CAE professionals must count not only on a deep knowledge of the technology employed but also on specific skills that make the human factor an integral piece of the transition. These abilities are considered fundamental to achieving sustainable development in the industrial sector. This work focuses on analyzing through four study cases where whether specular o bilateral symmetry, a.k.a. planar symmetry is present, the weaknesses found in the human factor related to CAD training of future industrial engineers. The most common mistakes found when developing the different symmetric pieces proposed are thoroughly examined in order to define their origin, which mainly lies in students’ lack of descriptive geometry (DG) understanding. This is aggravated in some cases by the lack of spatial visualization abilities. The unstoppable and fast advances in design and simulation tools and technologies require humans to update their capabilities almost in real time. However, results show that this should not threaten the need for the human mind to spatially understand the changes being made on the screen. Otherwise, humans are at risk of ending up at the service of machines and technologies instead of the opposite.