Towards the adoption of virtual reality training systems for the self-tuition of industrial robot operators: A case study at KUKA

Interest is growing around Virtual Reality training systems (VRTSs), which started to be considered as a credible option to train companies’ workforce. Although the efficacy of VRTSs as a fancy alternative to traditional learning material used by trainers in their lectures has already been proved, their effectiveness as self-learning tools not requiring human instructors is still controversial, since experiments carried out within established training programmes are still rare. This paper reports the results of a user study aimed to investigate how an immersive VRTS designed to train industrial robot operators on light maintenance tasks actually compares to the training practice based on in-class and hands-on sessions that is adopted worldwide by an international company. After the training, study participants were evaluated by company's instructor while performing the taught task autonomously on a real robot. Obtained results showed that the effectiveness of the devised VRTS in making the trainees able to successfully complete the task was comparable to that of the traditional training. It was also found that there is still room for improvement, e.g., on virtually training interaction with physical tools and equipment, as well as on emulating and fortifying aspects of human trainer-trainee social dynamics.