Immersive Virtual Work Integrated Learning: A Development of an Interactive Learning Environment for Rail Components Manufacturing

Abstract

AbstractUndergraduate students pursuing their studies in the engineering discipline in higher education institutions (HEI) are expected to complete their work integrated learning (WIL) component as part of their curriculum. This is a compulsory module traditionally performed in the workplace environment over a specified time. However, with the scarcity of placement-based WIL, as well as the Covid-19 pandemic, there has been a reduction in the intake of students to accomplish their studies. This paper presents, a human centered design (HCD) model for developing an immersive virtual reality (IVR) rendered with an HTC Vive Pro head mounted display (HMDs) platform capable of training industrial engineering undergraduate students on the manufacturing procedure of rail components using a reconfigurable guillotine shear and bending press machine (RGS&BPM) as part of the set of immersive virtual work integrated learning (IVWIL) activities. The study explores current literature and the HCD approach to designing and developing the immersive interactive training platform. It highlights the important aspects of the development of the immersive virtual environment and recommends future work.