An open source engineering practice assistant training system based on virtual reality

The Engineering training course takes the responsibility of cultivating students' innovation, team cooperation and practical operation ability. Now there are two ways to improve the innovation training performance in the engineering practical course. The most popular way is to carry on a project-based curriculum which has the practical training as one section of the course. Another way is to create new practice teaching methods. Our research is a combination of the project curriculum and the innovative training methods. It is focused on the Virtual reality (VR) for the engineering practice teaching. First of all, the project-based course named "Comprehensive innovation training" was offered for the junior or senior students. VR methods applied for the practice course was one of the projects in the course. Instructors built the initial model from the real practice situation into the virtual environment by the software Unreal Engine (UE) 4, and guided students the basic operation of the software. Then the students in the class would design the motion of the equipment based on the reality rules, finish the operating system with the VR device, and debug the program for the final application. Thirdly, this project was applied as an assistant practice method for the sophomores in their practice training class, and the students would give feedbacks to the system. Finally, when those sophomore students become juniors and seniors, they could involve in the project-based course, and contribute to the VR training project. Now the project is carried on, and the model of drilling machine and lathe machine are established in the virtual environment. The engineering practice assistant training system based on VR has already applied for the junior students, and some of feedbacks have been received. There is 81 percent of the students shown interest in the new method. As the platform depends on the open source software, and the whole project is sustainable and the system will be abundant in the next few years.