VRO&M: Virtual Reality Operations, Maintainence and Repair of Mechanical Equipment in the Metaverse

Expected Audience

Maintainence Engineers, Union Training Centers, Equipment Manufacturer Sales/Service

The Current State of the Art

The state of the art in training maintainence personnel in the operation, maintainence -- and in particular -- repair of mechanical equipment currently consists of:

Paper and online O&M manuals distributed by equipment manufacturers
YouTube videos -- the best of which are often by independent content creators that themselves work in the field
Hands on training such as provided at a Union or manufacturer training center, by a coworker/journeyman or other mentor, or the engineers' own experience repairing similar equipment

O&M Manuals definitely have their place, especially when it comes to things like exploded views of equipment, periodic maintainence requirements (lubrication and part replacement schedules, etc). YouTube "how-to" videos have saved my neck more times than I can count, often showing how to disassemble/reassemble equipment, and how to replace parts is a visual manner. In this visual demonstration, YouTube videos are a huge leap forward over static paper O&M manuals when I need to make a repair I have never attempted, but have some glaring limitations, which I will detail further below.

The Problem

The problem that must be solved when making a repair I have never attempted is fourfold:

Dissasembly of the subsection of the machine to where the defective part is exposed
Removal of the defective part
Insertion of the replacement part
Reassembly of the machine

The basic risk the engineer faces is any of these steps is not fully understanding the correct/best order of each screw/widget/part removal to get to the next area/subsection and to finally arrive at the removal and replacement of the defective part; e.g. what must be moved/turned/positioned and in what direction and in the correct order. Not fully understanding this from the outset -- at a minimum -- extends the time required to perform the repair; in the worst case an intermediate part is damaged or broken due to incorrect removal -- resulting in more downtime as the intermediate part must now be ordered and also replaced (greatly extending the duration the machine is removed from service). This process of course is an "educated trial-and-error" based on similar repairs. Experienced engineers have had their "oh NO" moments -- that is where we learn some of our most valuable lessons. Carefully studying the O&M manual, and watching (and rewatching) any YouTube videos available are a great tool for avoiding these problems during the repair process, but where they fall short is they are "passive" -- if you can discern the information from observation -- great. Where there are gaps, you have to take your wrench to the machine in question, cross your fingers, and give it your best shot based on previous experience with similar repairs. This is the "hands-on" method which exposes the engineer to the risks outlined in the beginning of this section, but ultimately must be done to make the repair. Another major risk is improper reassembly of the equipment if the disassembly has been performed in haste (such as an emergency situation) and has not been carefully documented.

A New Solution?

What if the engineer could attempt the "hands-on" part of the repair with no risk to the equipment in question? Dissassemble and reassemble the machine (over and over until they know it inside and out if they wish), without parts rolling away, time looking for tools, or the machine even being "down"? Training centers (and more well-funded shops) might have a spare machine for this purpose, but those eventually get broken too due to trial-and-error (during their intended use as a training device) or outright cannibalized for needed parts for the similar machines that are in service and in need of urgent repair.

With the advent of VR technology, a new solution may have presented itself. It is my intention to make VR "mock-ups" (virtual machines, if you will) of basic mechanical equipment in the Metaverse so that "virtual" repairs can be made to these machines. This will be a "proof-of-concept" and be simple to intermediate in nature to begin with, my starting goal being a VR pump that the engineer can replace a seal or impeller in the Metaverse using VR goggles and input device(s). Some of the capabilities I would like to implement in this proof-of concept, along with possible future "wish list" capability of the Virtual Repair Shop would be:

The ability to rotate and zoom in on any section
The ability to remove a part and place it "floating in the air" anywhere around him/herself or in "virtual trays"
Removed parts can optionally be assigned a color to match where they were removed from, and/or,
Removed parts can optionally be assigned a virtual line between the part and where it goes, and/or,
Removed parts can "floated back" to where they belong
The ability to hide/unhide/transparent parts/sections that are "in the way" of the part or section of the machine that the engineer wishes to focus on
Show/hide information of parts (machine screw thread/size, manufacturer part number, reorder link, etc)
A virtual notebook which can transcribe any notes the technician wishes to save in text/voice/color codes or playback of any virtual action (what if I stick one of these in its' place?)
Recording/playback of the assembly/disassembly/repair process
Next/previous step (step by step assembly/disassembly/repair process)

Next Steps

Should the proof-of-concept be successful, the next logical step would be to create a detailed model of a specific, modern machine to attract the interest of a large equipment manufacturer in the hopes of spurring similar development by the manufacturer (who would have the resources to make more such models, either in-house or through external VR modelers) in the interest of having a competitive edge over rivals. This would hopefully spur rivals to then do the same in the interest of not "falling behind". Eventually it is my hope that it would become a minimum requirement for any modern mechanical equipment manufacturer to provide such a Metaverse Training/Repair Shop to be considered a modern, quality player in their market. This will be to the benefit of everyone; as such, funding for this venture (some sort of industry non-profit) could be secured by major end-users, Unions, and trade associations as well as the equipment manufacturers themselves. The goal is to not make money off the concept (though that may be an side effect for all involved), but rather to advance the state of the art. Replacement parts ordering/suggested upgrades/storefronts could be integrated into such a Metaverse Training/Repair Shop as well. These could help pay for the venture.