Designing an immersive virtual reality interface for layout planning

This paper discusses the reasons why manufacturing layout planning is considered to be an appropriate new area of virtual reality (VR) utilisation; develops a framework for a VR-based layout planning tool and reports on a study comparing the use of immersive VR to a monitor-based system for detecting layout design flaws. The evaluation of the proposed framework has been conducted in a study, which did not have provision for an interactive alteration of the layout. The aim of the study was to compare an immersive system and a monitor-based VR system for workplace analysis. Participants were asked to investigate a workplace environment, which included three serious layout design flaws (tool arrangement, visibility, and tool location) and give their assessment about potential improvements.