Growing the Additive Manufacturing Workforce Through Virtual Reality

Additive manufacturing (AM) has redefined design and production, offering unparalleled customization, complexity, and innovation. As industries adopt AM, designers must acquire skills to design for additive manufacturing (DfAM) and fabricate those designs through a variety of different AM processes. To acquire such skills, however, physically engaging directly with the technology is invaluable; such engagement helps understand how AM technologies work and the challenges associated with them. The cost, accessibility, and safety concerns inherent to industrial AM systems typically inhibit physical engagement with AM, yet cultivating problem-solving skills with AM is of paramount importance. Virtual reality (VR) emerges as a compelling alternative, offering immersive and interactive experiences that can mimic physical engagement with AM. As a versatile platform for simulating complex AM processes, visualizing intricate designs, and experimenting with different build solutions, VR is particularly advantageous for fostering design and process-centric problem-solving skills with AM. That said, adopting VR in education faces challenges. Developing and deploying high-quality VR content requires substantial investment in technology and expertise. The cost of VR hardware and integrating it with learning management systems (LMS) can be barriers, especially for institutions with limited resources. Recent advancements in affordable and user-friendly VR devices and web-based VR experiences offer promising solutions, broadening access and LMS integrations and reducing costs. The key to effective AM workforce development, therefore, lies in understanding how VR complements broader educational strategies and balancing the use of computer-aided experiences (CAx), VR, and in-person instruction accordingly. This chapter presents a compilation of research from the authors to offer such an understanding on leveraging VR to enhance AM education and workforce development.