EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

This project ties in with the project of the previous semester, in which the respective team of students analyzed the opportunities, barriers and possible application areas of Virtual Reality (VR) in technical training for Festo Didactic. The results of the prior group served as a basis for our project.

Goal

In the light of the overarching concept of Educational Technology, the aim of this project was to detect use cases for Festo Didactic, which showcase effective implementations of VR technology in companies for educational purposes. The findings of our research intend to give Festo Didactic guidance in the matter, which concrete areas of application greatly benefit from the implementation of VR and are therefore worth investing in. In alignment with Festo’s core operative business, the emphasis of our research was laid on the application within the technical field.

Methodology

In the beginning, s comprehensive research on numerous companies within the DACH region was done. In addition to extensive literature research, our team conducted several interviews with the respective managers of the companies, gaining insights into their use of VR.

After analyzing and assessing the success of implementation and further potential of the researched companies, four use cases were selected. With the focus on the benefits from the customer’s perspective, our team resorted to the customer-oriented Value Proposition Canvas (VPC) as a methodological tool, to clearly illustrate the findings of each use case. In this regard, the VPC demonstrates the creation of value and benefit that the respective company offers to their customers regarding the use of VR. Furthermore, the canvas illustrates how well the VR technology responds to the problems and needs of the customers.

Results

Overall, the use cases show clear benefits of VR education over traditional educational approaches, especially for economic reasons. It can be seen that the application of VR is mainly related to large industrial machines, where physical damage can be very costly. The various training modules of the use cases have in common that they currently generate great added value to their operative business. For the most part, a big restraint is still the cost of the VR hardware, which will become – in the view of progressing technology – more affordable in the future.

Cooperation Partner

• FESTO Didactic SE
  Rechbergstraße 3
  73770 Denkendorf
  Germany
  www.festo.com

Contact Person

• Dr. Ute Gebhard
  ute.gebhard@festo.com

Student Team

• Daniela Gislai
  Johannes Gneißl
  Mario Justen
  Roma Kaur
  Calvin Muchsel

Project Managers

• Caroline Fabian, M.Sc.

• Klaus Marhold, Ph.D.

• Shtefi Mladenovska, M.Sc.