Abstract:

Especially during the last pandemic, the search for alternative teaching and learning methods in the form of digital, distributed solutions was intensified. Among other things, virtual 3D environments, which were previously often only used for commercial training scenarios and simulation environments, have increasingly become the focus of education providers.

In contrast to, for example, video conferencing, such environments offer learners a more intensive spatial and social presence. Such an environment can also be designed to suit the desired learning scenario.
In our research project we use a virtual environment primarily for collaboration. On the one hand, for group work, whereby the students are also supported by pedagogical, patient agents who can now act autonomously using artificial intelligence. On the other hand, a virtual 3D environment is also suitable for programming training: the results of a programming task, for example, are directly visible in such an immersive environment. In this way, project-oriented teaching can be combined with collaborative action in a “protected” environment.

In our case we use a virtual 3D environment for robot programming. The task here is to navigate a robot through a course – and to do so as quickly as possible. This creates a competitive character, i.e. a type of gamification. The robot is visible to all participants as a 3D model. In general, it is not required to constantly spend time in the virtual space, the actual programming of the robot is done on the client side: in the university laboratory or at the students' homes. Test runs are carried out using an offline simulator. We use a turtle simulation for this. When it comes to the possible set of commands for the robot, we rely on a standard: The Robot Operation System (ROS). The ROS data can be transmitted to the robot in the virtual world via an interface. The robot programmed in this way carries out its movements directly in front of the participants' eyes. The communication between the client and the virtual environment is bidirectional: The virtual environment provides spatial information (coordinates) and sensor data (collision, LIDAR, ...), the movement instructions are transmitted by the client. The decoupling of the programming of the object to be controlled - in our case a robot - allows the use of almost any artificial environment (virtual space) and also a real robot (like a digital twin): because the required information is transmitted via a web service via the ROS interface.

Acknowledgements:
This paper is part of the project AVILAB2, which the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) funded; Grant # 16INB2005A.

Keywords:

Virtual 3D environment, e-learning, robot programming, digital twin, gamification.