This paper studies a Virtual Reality (VR) training program for novice industrial robot operators. The VR training program is constructed using Unity and HTC Vive. The paper presents the result of comparative experiments allowing novices to learn and operate virtual and physical robots to complete simple industrial production tasks. The results include their time to complete the task, the pass rate of the task, and the results of the questionnaire survey as evidence of their learning efficiency and user satisfaction. Finally, through data analysis, we compare the impact the two methods have on novices. The two approaches are the VR training program and the conventional physical robot training method. The experiment results show that novices who use the VR training program at first show a high degree of user satisfaction, and they can more quickly and efficiently master the knowledge of manipulating industrial robots and apply it to practice. The findings of this article also show that the use of VR technology in industrial production improves y and is a feasible and reliable method which still has room‌‌‌ or improvement. / Den här uppsatsen undersöker ett Virtual Reality-träningsprogram för industriella robot operatörer som är nybörjare. VR-träningsprogrammet är skapat i Unity för HTC Vive. Uppsatsen presenterar resultaten av en jämförande studie där nybörjare fick lära sig att använda en VR och en fysisk robot för att slutföra enkla industriella produktionsuppgifter. Resultatet inkluderar deltagarnas tid att slutföra uppgifterna, andel lyckade försök samt resultaten av ett frågeformulär som bevis på deltagarnas inlärnings effektivitet samt användartillfredsställelse. Genom en dataanalys jämfördes de effekter ett VR- träningsprogram och en konventionell metod på fysiska robotar hade på nybörjare. Studiens resultat visar att nybörjare som använder VR-träningsprogrammet visar en högre grad av användartillfredsställelse och att dem är snabbare och effektivare när dem bemästrar kunskapen som behövs för att manipulera industrirobotar, samt att tillämpa detta i verkligheten. Resultaten visar också att användningen av VR i industriell produktion förbättrar effektiviteten och är en rimlig och trovärdig metod, men som fortfarande har rum för förbättringar.

Training plays a major role in improving work within organisations by ensuring that the appropriate level of knowledge and skills are shared among personnel. It moulds the thinking process and leads to quality performance. However, training which includes a practical aspect usually targets a specific type of trainee and can limit the learning of an individual coming from a different background than that taken into consideration when the training programme was originally developed. This research focuses on training, and attempts to develop a program using a virtual reality (VR) system as a platform to create a simulated working environment which has the flexibility to train staff members of an organisation, who may come from a variety of different professional backgrounds, in the concept of the lean enablers. The main concern of this research is the adaptation of lean training for a virtual environment. Existing training methods have been analysed, along with the various ways in which they can be implemented, and these have been used in this research as a starting point from which to construct the virtual work environment. Through the research, a method has been developed to set up and run a training session using a virtual reality (VR) system by generating a structure to design the modelling elements that compose the virtual workplace, as well as establishing a method so that a trainee can navigate the simulated environment and perform tasks. A program to collect the performance measures and visualise the results has also been developed, with the aim of enabling the evaluation of a simulation run by assessors/trainers. This research covers new ground in providing a simulated working environment, which can suit any trainee’s professional background, to facilitate learning about the lean enablers. It offers the capacity of establishing a simulated work environment which can represent the trainee’s workplace and provide the necessary practical experience in order to grasp the concept taught through the training program. Additionally it offers the capacity for assessors/trainers to observe the performance measures and the trainee’s behaviour, simultaneously, while undertaking a simulation run. These combinations of information can be complementary and enable assessors/trainers in providing the best feedback while improving the learning curve of a trainee. Although training programmes in organisations have provided a number of improvements in completing work with high efficiency and minimum waste, the outcomes collected in this research demonstrate that their benefits can be pushed further in terms of providing a training method which can be accessible to a large variety of sectors.

Virtual reality is emerging as a valuable tool in the manufacturing industry, as it allows engineers to place themselves in a virtual environment in which they can inspect and evaluate their 3D designs, providing a sense of scale not available through a 2D screen. Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery AB currently uses physical prototypes to assess whether their designs work from an assembly perspective, which can be expensive and time consuming to make and are often downscaled. Therefore, an interest in exploring the possibility of using virtual reality as a tool for simulating and evaluating assembly sequences has emerged, as well as training operators on said sequences, which lays the foundation for this thesis work. The thesis explores the possibility of using virtual reality to simulate assembly sequences using imported CAD models. Emphasis is put on automating the CAD to virtual reality pipeline, as well as how arbitrary CAD models can be presented in virtual reality and how assembly evaluation and training of said CAD models can be simulated in VR. An application is developed in Unreal Engine to explore the possibilities of using the program for virtual reality assembly simulation, as well as identifying potential problem areas. A solution to each of the problems are proposed, and these solutions together make up the application. The application is evaluated with end users to identify areas of improvement. The general conclusions that can be drawn from the results are that there are differences in how CAD programs and Unreal Engine handle and make use of 3D geometry which can cause issues, and that the number of parts and the size of these parts are the two most prominent parameters that can cause problems when importing, handling and using arbitrary CAD models in Unreal Engine.