@misc{10481/76361,
year = {2022},
month = {6},
url = {http://hdl.handle.net/10481/76361},
abstract = {Virtual reality (VR) has been brought closer to the general public over the past decade as it
has become increasingly available for desktop and mobile platforms. As a result, consumer-grade VR
may redefine how people learn by creating an engaging “hands-on” training experience. Today, VR
applications leverage rich interactivity in a virtual environment without real-world consequences to
optimize training programs in companies and educational institutions. Therefore, the main objective
of this article was to improve the collaboration and communication practices in 3D virtual worlds
with VR and metaverse focused on the educational and productive sector in smart factory. A key
premise of our work is that the characteristics of the real environment can be replicated in a virtual
world through digital twins, wherein new, configurable, innovative, and valuable ways of working
and learning collaboratively can be created using avatar models. To do so, we present a proposal for
the development of an experimental framework that constitutes a crucial first step in the process of
formalizing collaboration in virtual environments through VR-powered metaverses. The VR system
includes functional components, object-oriented configurations, advanced core, interfaces, and an
online multi-user system. We present the study of the first application case of the framework with VR
in a metaverse, focused on the smart factory, that shows the most relevant technologies of Industry 4.0.
Functionality tests were carried out and evaluated with users through usability metrics that showed
the satisfactory results of its potential educational and commercial use. Finally, the experimental
results show that a commercial software framework for VR games can accelerate the development of
experiments in the metaverse to connect users from different parts of the world in real time.},
organization = {Universidad Cooperativa de Colombia-Cali, Colombia	INV2788},
publisher = {MDPI},
keywords = {Virtual reality},
keywords = {3D virtual worlds},
keywords = {Metaverse},
keywords = {Smart factory},
keywords = {Industry 4.0},
keywords = {3D modeling},
keywords = {Unreal Engine 4},
title = {Smart Factory Using Virtual Reality and Online Multi-User: Towards a Metaverse for Experimental Frameworks},
doi = {10.3390/app12126258},
author = {Alpala, Luis Omar and Torres Cantero, Juan Carlos},
}