Designing a Virtual Reality Training Apprenticeship for Cold Spray Advanced Manufacturing

TL;DR

This paper introduces a specialized VR training program for cold spray manufacturing, aiming to improve safety and accessibility while effectively teaching complex procedures to novices.

Contribution

It presents the design and evaluation of a novel VR apprenticeship tailored for cold spray, addressing challenges in training complex manufacturing processes.

Findings

VR training improved user experience and safety awareness

Participants demonstrated effective transfer of skills to real machinery

The VRTA design facilitated step-by-step learning of complex tasks

Abstract

Apprenticeship and training programs in advanced manufacturing frequently encounter safety and accessibility concerns due to using heavy machinery. Virtual Reality (VR) training addresses such constraints while maintaining the spatial and procedural learning requirements of such training. However, designing effective VR training is challenging because advanced manufacturing processes are complex and require experts to train novices for a long time. This paper presents a VR Training Apprenticeship (VRTA) tailored for cold spray, which we carefully designed to teach novices step-by-step this particular advanced manufacturing process. To assess its effectiveness, we conducted an exploratory study ($n = 22$). We evaluated user experience (UX) measures in the form of quantitative scales, users' qualitative insights, and task performance with real-world machinery after the VR training. We discuss how the VRTA design contributed to the effectiveness and the challenges of considering VR training for advanced manufacturing.