Industrial and Educational Applications of Virtual Reality
Aleksei Tepljakov
What is Virtual Reality?
Key Aspects of Virtual Reality
- Full (360 degrees) stereoscopic field-of-view.
- Effect of immersion (“Being there”).
- Interaction with the virtual environment and other users.
Applications of Virtual Reality
Since the introduction of affordable consumer-grade Virtual Reality headsets in 2013 with the Oculus Rift Development Kit 1, it became obvious that a huge part of the market will be in the entertainment sector, including game developers, movie makers, and the adult entertainment industry.
However, we are also interested in other industrial and educational uses of the technology.
Some Applications of VR in Research
Virtual environments have proven effective in a number of scientific applications:
- MRI and brain tumor analysis;
- Underground cave analysis, archaeology, and paleontology;
- Geographic information systems and geosciences;
- Process visualization in physics and organic chemistry.
Industrial Applications of VR
- Industrial control object visualization;
- Architectural and complex design walkthroughs;
- Virtual tourism;
- Visualization of various data (including Big Data).
Example: Industrial Visualization
A fermentation reactor producing itaconic acid, with textual descriptions to visualize the intrinsic processes. Image from RWTH Aachen University webpage.
Example: Automotive Design
The engineers can get inside of the car in the virtual world and gain a much better idea of how their designs will be used by their customers, thus delivering more appropriate models. Image taken from esi-group.com.
Example: Safety in Robotics
The safety system in a robotic cell can be tested in the VR environment by means of an avatar. Image courtesy of the VR lab in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering of TUT.
Example: Architectural Walkthrough
Walk through the property before it is built. Select your preferred materials and experience it in VR. Screenshot from an application by Downtown Visuals.
Example: Virtual Tourism
Transport yourself instantly into any part of the world and get immersed into the atmosphere. Image from travelandtourworld.com.
Educational Applications of VR
- Military training;
- Industrial worksite training;
- Learning complex design;
- Space simulation;
- University education.
Example: Military training
Dismounted Soldier Training System demonstrated by the Netherlands Army at the 7th US Army Joint Multinational Training Command. Corresponding image taken from roadtovr.com.
Example: Worksite training
Virtual Reality Training by Immersive Technologies. Image taken from their website.
Example: Space Simulation
This direction of development is actively pursued by NASA. The particular visual you see here was generated in Space Engine which already has builtin VR support.
Virtual Reality Laboratories in TUT
- Re:creation VR and AR Laboratory in Mektory Business and Innovation Centre.
- VR Laboratory in the Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering. At the moment, research and development activities are focused on digital twins in manufacturing and Virual Reality as a production engineering awareness tool.
Re:creation VR and AR Laboratory
- We are committed to research and development of Virtual and Augmented Reality applications.
- As a scientific establishment, our main goal is to do research of Virtual Reality, its physiological and psychological aspects, applications, and its impact on products and services providing immersive experiences.
- The laboratory has grown out of Alpha Intelligent Control Systems Research Laboratory, the members of which have diverse academic backgrounds and experience, including, but not limited to...
Business relations
- We highly value relations with business establishments. We expect that existing companies will find VR a very attractive tool for developing cutting-edge real-life business applications.
- What we offer is consulting services and assistance with fulfilling your business needs by means of this novel technology. We also offer academic collaboration, in case your current VR or AR related projects demand it.
Past and Current R&D Projects
Latest Project: Rathaus Square
Q: What is the ultimate Virtual Reality experience like?
A: It is like a lucid dream
Can the dream take us too far?
(Let's hope not.)
Let's not end on a sour note...
Postdoc position available
The project is devoted to computational intelligence based modeling of human behavior for developing visualization of complex dynamic data in Virtual Reality. See Re:creation laboratory website for details.