User experience design of a mechanical assembly training virtual reality application

Abstract

Virtual reality offers myriad instrumental possibilities in various fields outside of the current in-demand gaming and academic scene. Virtual reality training is relatively a new realm through which industries can train and target more end users. It appeals to wider learning styles, saves considerable cost and time, and eliminates safety concerns within an immersive simulated sandbox environment. More research is required on user experience and usability in a virtual reality training environment to promote job performance, learning retention, and training system adoption.

The purpose of this thesis is to investigate, design, implement and analyze the optimal user experience of our virtual reality assembly training simulation. The application targets recording assembly blueprints and constructing simulated real-world mechanical models. A trainee is enabled to follow the trainer’s recorded visual and auditory instructions when assembling the models. The application tracks hand-based interactions afforded by a Leap Motion device mounted onto a virtual reality headset. The project is built using the Unity game engine supporting HTC Vive and SteamVR compatible VR headsets.

The software is developed using the formulated interface, and experience design to streamline interaction workflow and reduce adverse effects prone in VR applications. Our system implements a context-aware multi-modal guidance assembly using a finite state machine to track new model assemblies and assembly recorder. On this, a thorough UX analysis using a well-researched framework is carried out and iterated improvements were performed to the simulation via feedback from usability testing. We derive favorable feedback and judgment on the experience of the application as well as drawbacks regarding using VR for training purposes.