HoloFactory: Design and Layout of Industrial Production Lines in Virtual Reality

This thesis presents the development and use of "HoloFactory", an application that aims to facilitate the design and layout of industrial production lines through the use of Virtual Reality (VR). This project leverages the immersive capabilities of Head Mounted Displays (HMDs) and hand-held Motion Controllers to provide a comprehensive tool for building industrial environments in a virtual space. The project was carried out in collaboration with SEICA S.p.A., a company specialized in the development and production of automatic test equipment for electronic components and electric batteries. The main focus of this project is to provide an effective and intuitive alternative to traditional CAD tools for planning and layout activities. Through the use of VR, the application aims to reduce the time and technical expertise required to create detailed layouts of production lines, making these activities accessible to a wider range of users within the company and potentially allowing customers to actively participate in customizing the layout of their production line. Particular attention has been paid to connectivity between different systems, with visual indicators highlighting the input and output connections of each module and a wide range of real-time validity checks and tools implemented to assist the user in the build process. Thanks to these features, the application promotes a trial-and-error approach that allows users to experiment freely in the virtual environment, obtain immediate feedback on the validity of the configuration they have designed and familiarize themselves with the functionalities of the different machines in the SEICA catalog. Another important goal of HoloFactory is to automate the creation of a layout document. This document consists of a top-down representation of the production line or area, highlighting the dimensions and relative distances between the different modules. The application automates this process through an integrated export function that can be used directly in the virtual environment. Thanks to the use of Python scripts for processing the layout data and creating the final PDF document, this process can also be fully customized to meet the requirements of the output file format. The final part of the thesis analyzes the applicability of Virtual Reality and the tools offered by HoloFactory in each of the three phases of a production line's life cycle. In the pre-sales and commissioning phase, HoloFactory proves to be a useful tool to present SEICA's machine offering in an immersive and detailed way, as a customizable virtual showroom is directly integrated into the application's "Home" environment. In the design and development phase, the application offers the possibility to quickly and intuitively create a prototype of the layout of the line, reducing the time and need for technical staff to analyze requirements and develop an effective solution. The availability of a virtual model of the production line also enables important ergonomic and spatial assessments by simulating the movements and workflows of line personnel and ensuring the visibility of relevant components, such as machine status indicators, from any point on the line. Finally, the virtual twin of the production line installed at the customer's plant can be used in the after-sales and service phase to carry out training simulations for line personnel and as a tool to identify faulty components in the machines and guide technical staff in replacing these components.