Simulation of a heavy-duty CNC machine in Unity with VR based training application equipped with operator’s real-time eye-tracking

Abstract

Nowadays, CNC machining centres are in demand in manufacturing industry, but at the same time they are expensive and there is a necessity to train operators beforehand as it is quite risky to let an amateur new operator works with such expensive machinery and training on real machines has a risk of damaging the equipment as well. In order to solve this problem, one good solution can be to train the new CNC operators using Virtual Reality. During this project, based on a real industrial platform, a CNC machine simulator was designed in Unity 3d environment which can be used for multiple purposes, not only for training, but also for planning, machine development and advertisement.

The CNC machine under investigation in this research is a Pama Speedram 1000 HP situated in the factory of a Finnish company called Jotex Factory Oy in Lappeenranta – Finland. Structure and working features of this CNC machine were studied and a 3d model of the machine has been built. In next step an interactive model of the machine which is compatible with special type of VR glasses has developed. Furthermore, this VR is a state of the art because of its special function – eye-tracking, which has more benefits over analogue environments. Two types of eye tracking systems were used and compared: HTC Vive Pro Eye and Pupil headset in terms of application.