To address the shortage of a skilled workforce in the U.S. manufacturing industry, immersive Virtual Reality (VR)-based training solutions hold promising potential. To effectively utilize VR to meet workforce demands, it is important to understand the role of VR in manufacturing education. Therefore, we conduct a scoping review in the field. As a first step, we used a 5W1H (What, Where, Who, When, Why, How) formula as a problem-solving approach to define a comprehensive taxonomy that can consider the role of VR from all relevant possibilities. Our taxonomy categorizes VR applications across three key aspects: (1) Domains, (2) Levels, and (3) Entities. Using a systematic literature search and analysis, we reviewed 108 research articles to find the current state, benefits, challenges, and future opportunities of VR in the field. It was found that VR has been explored in a variety of areas and provides numerous benefits to learners. Despite these benefits, its adoption in manufacturing education is limited. This review discusses the identified barriers and provides actionable insights to address them. These insights can enable the widespread usage of immersive technology to nurture and develop a workforce equipped with the skills required to excel in the evolving landscape of manufacturing.
Virtual Reality in Manufacturing Education: A Scoping Review Indicating State-of-the-Art, Benefits, and Challenges Across Domains, Levels, and Entities
Authors: Ananya Ipsita, Ramesh Kaki, Ziyi Liu, Mayank Patel, Runlin Duan, Lakshmi Deshpande, Lin-Ping Yuan, Victoria Lowell, Ashok Maharaj, Kylie Peppler, Steven Feiner, Karthik Ramani
Preprint submitted to Elsevier
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2503.18805


Ananya Ipsita
Ananya Ipsita is a Master's student in the School of Mechanical Engineering at Purdue University since Fall 2018. She received her Bachelor's degree in Electronics and Communication Engineering from National Institute of Technology, Rourkela, India. Prior to joining Purdue, she worked as a software engineer in SAP Labs, India where she designed and developed analytical business solutions. Her research interest includes computer vision, robotic systems, Augmented Reality (AR) and Human-Computer Interaction (HCI).