As one of the first universities in Germany, the HTW uses virtual reality technology within its standard courses for teaching. Since 2016 the production engineering department uses VR in their practical courses for all students. Thus, dedicated VR laboratires were installed already at that time.

With the help of VR, teaching can be performed much more focused, faster and is usually easier to understand, as students learn a certain technical aspect just like in a first-hand experience. Even manual skills can be conveyed by these means.

Currently three dedicated VR-rooms exists, with individual free moving space up to 30 square meters. They are accompanied by “classical” labs (e.g. the electron beam lab) retrofitted with the required tracking technology.

Application example: Within the practical courses for manufacturing engineering and joining technology the students train their manual welding skills for different configurations and in different surroundings. Due to the large free moving space of modern systems, not only simple basic tasks can be performed but also more complex welding sequences on large parts.

Further VR-related research is currently focused on material simulation and intuitive planning and metrology.