The V-Lab VR Educational Application Framework

TL;DR

The paper introduces V-Lab, a VR framework extending the Onlabs simulator to support diverse educational laboratory scenarios, enhancing remote science education and training efficiency.

Contribution

It develops an extensible VR framework based on Onlabs, enabling diverse scientific laboratory simulations for educational purposes.

Findings

Enhanced modularity of the VR framework

Supports multiple scientific educational scenarios

Reduces need for physical lab access

Abstract

This paper presents the V-Lab, a VR application development framework for educational scenarios mainly involving scientific processes executed in laboratory environments such as chemistry and biology laboratories. This work is an extension of the Onlabs simulator which has been developed by the Hellenic Open University as a distance teaching enabler for similar subjects, helping to alleviate the need for access to the physical laboratory infrastructure; thus, shortening training periods of students in the laboratory and making their training during the periods of physical presence more productive and secure. The extensions of the Onlabs to deliver an enhanced and modular framework that can be extended to multiple educational scenarios is the work performed within the context of the European project XR2Learn (Leveraging the European XR industry technologies to empower immersive learning and training).