Effects of Virtual Reality on Mechanical Arm Learning

In this study, we aimed to explore the effects of virtual reality (VR) on the skill learning process and outcome of mechanical arms. We adopted the unequal groups for the experiment, and analyzed the process and outcome of skill learning based on behavior sequences. We invited 56 students from a university of science and technology as the participants to study the learning of mechanical arm technology. The main conclusions are as follows: 1) According to the evaluation results of skill learning, VR had a highly positive effect on skill learning from seven aspects, including perception, set, guided response, mechanism, complex overt response, adaptation, and origination; the results of the experimental group were superior to those of the control group. 2) During the learning of VR operations, the behavioral transfer from the autonomous phase to the autonomous phase was the most significant, followed by that from the correction phase to the fixation phase.