Developing a Virtual Reality Game for Manufacturing Education

This paper describes the development of a virtual reality (VR) simulation game for educating engineering students in manufacturing. Undergraduate engineering students work on solving design and manufacturing problems and utilize professional skills to improve their overall performance and outcome. This research utilizes interactive and immersive VR technologies to develop a new integrated approach to understand problem solving in engineering students and determine if engineering students are attending to the correct elements while they are solving design and manufacturing problems. Furthermore, a player modeling technique is proposed to deliver an experience adapted for each student. The approach will be tested, validated and used to bridge the skills gap that exists for many undergraduate engineering students.