モーションキャプチャデバイスを用いた教材用VR旋盤シミュレータの開発

抄録

The Novel Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has highlighted the difficulty of conducting online classes in subjects that involve practical skills, such as machine work training. Especially for first-year students with no experience with machine tools, simply watching a video of a general-purpose lathe operated by a teacher is not enough to replace hands-on experience. On a general-purpose lathe, the tool post moves when the hand traversing wheel is turned. For example, first-year students be able to learn from watching a video which direction of rotation: clockwise or counterclockwise the hand traversing wheel turns and which direction the tool post moves in conjunction with it, but it is difficult to get a feel for it. In this study, we attempted to develop Virtual Reality (VR) teaching materials for general-purpose lathes using a game engine (software framework), VR headsets with controllers, and motion sensors. It was found that to reproduce the braking operation, i.e., the operation of stopping the spindle, which is the most important operation on a general-purpose lathe, in VR, VR headsets and controllers were insufficient and a motion sensor was necessary.