Development of Virtual Reality IoT Module Simulator

The Internet of Things (IoT) is a technology aimed at creating a collective network of various devices and facilitating communication between devices, the cloud, and other devices. With the rapid development of communication technologies, IoT has flourished even more. Hence, engineers need to have a certain level of awareness regarding basic IoT devices. However, due to a lack of knowledge and experience, new engineers may inadvertently cause equipment damage or expose themselves to electric shock when directly operating IoT devices. To overcome this problem, various training systems have been developed to allow engineers unfamiliar with the equipment to learn its operation. As global interest in virtual reality (VR) has grown in recent years, researchers have begun to simulate device operations in virtual environments. This research aims to create a simulator for operating IoT devices through virtual reality. It is based on the ADAM IoT device, along with required sensors such as switches, potentiometers, light barrier sensors, and buzzers. These necessary models were constructed using Blender or Autopano and consolidated into Unity, a cross-platform 2D and 3D game engine. Based on the basic procedures of ADAM, VR technology and C# scripting were utilized to control the connection of each circuit. Operators can freely observe within the virtual environment, serving as a simulator for learning about IoT devices. The screen will display the functions of each instrument in a game-like manner, with step-by-step tutorials including power-on, basic parameter settings, connection of subsequent devices and sensors, and presentation in the virtual space. In case of an operational error, a warning screen will appear in the user's field of view.