A VIRTUAL REALITY APPROACH TO DEVELOPMENT OF PLC-BASED MANUFACTURING CONTROL SYSTEMS FOR MECHANICAL ENGINEERING EDUCATION

摘要

Virtual Reality (VR) is considered to be one of the most promising ways of providing a safe, cost-effective, and flexible environment for training and education in engineering laboratories. This paper the author first gives an overview on VR applications in undergraduate engineering laboratory education and then presents a VR system tool 'Virtual Programmable Logic Controller laboratory' (VPLCLAB) that supports "hands-on" laboratory exercises on automated manufacturing systems control. The proposed VR system makes use of computer simulations of various industrial automation components in order to provide a basic-to-advanced level training on PLC-Based manufacturing control systems. The VPLCLAB allows students to experience firsthand the development and verification of PLC programs without the need to work on actual equipments in the laboratory.