Abstract:

The ManuVAR project, funded under the European Union 7th Framework Programme, is a response to changes in the European manual-labour market. High-value, high-knowledge manual work is essential to European competitiveness – the assembly of spacecraft, maintenance of locomotives, operation of nuclear power plants, and testing of work-station design all require, and benefit from, manual work. Automation is neither a feasible nor an appropriate alternative to this type of manual work and in a bid to drive costs down there has been a movement towards outsourcing these activities to developing-nations where labour costs are lower but where reliability, quality and efficiency are more difficult to guarantee.

The ManuVAR project will use Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) to make high-value, high-knowledge manual work profitable and efficient in Europe by harnessing the potential of VR and AR to improve communication between people and systems; precluding the need to outsource. The ManuVAR project has four main stages: (i) identify industrial problems - targeting real issues for real organisations, (ii) develop innovative VR and AR solutions to these issues, (iii) demonstrate value for European industry, and (iv) produce a commercial tool to assist more European industries fight outsourcing.

The positive change on ergonomics, safety, work-assistance and training achieved as a result of using VR and AR to enable a two-way flow of knowledge will have an effect throughout the product lifecycle of the manufacturing and service industry partners involved in the project. The challenge for training, then, centres on how to structure and deliver a training program to maximally support the implementation of the ManuVAR technology in the end-user organisations such that its utility can be demonstrated and the tools and technology can be exploited commercially for the benefit of European industry.

Implementation of the ManuVAR solutions will only be effective if the technology transfer is supported by appropriate knowledge transfer and training. This paper offers a critical overview of the literature and best practice guidelines in VR & AR training and outlines the framework adopted in the training specification and development work in the ManuVAR project.

ManuVAR training
The main tasks involved in ManuVAR training are the (i) identification of stakeholders and target groups across a range of industrial cases, (ii) definition of the training requirements to support technology transfer, relating to the target group, (iii) specification of a modular, multi-level training program to address the critical requirements - including objectives and content, training methodology, assessment methods and trainer requirements, (iv) delivery of training, and (v) evaluation of the efficacy of the training program in terms of the long-term implementation of the ManuVAR technology in the end-user organisations.

Keywords:

training, augmented reality, virtual reality, innovation, manual work.