VR-Integrated IoT Twin Laboratory for Real-Time Remote Actuation

This paper presents the concept and early-stage implementation of a Physical Twin Laboratory (PTL) that integrates a Unity-based virtual reality (VR) interface with low-cost IoT hardware to enable simple, real-time remote actuation and feedback. The current prototype demonstrates how a user in a VR environment can control a physical WS2812B LED strip connected to an ESP32 microcontroller over Wi-Fi, establishing a functional VR-to-physical interaction pipeline. Initial tests confirm stable operation and low latency under local network conditions, highlighting the practical feasibility of linking virtual actions with physical devices. While the present setup is intentionally simple, the PTL architecture is designed for future scalability to multinode IoT networks, more complex sensors and actuators, and higher-fidelity VR interactions. By outlining how additional modules such as lightweight edge-AI for local anomaly detection could enhance safety in larger deployments, this work serves as an accessible foundation for researchers and educators interested in building immersive remote laboratories that replicate realworld lab spaces in a virtual environment. The approach aims to lower barriers for distributed hands-on learning, collaborative experimentation, and scalable remote infrastructure in education and research. The Physical Twin Laboratory concept is designed to evolve into a flexible framework that can support more sophisticated remote experiments, including real-time data acquisition, simple actuator control, and environmental monitoring using commodity sensors. Future iterations will focus on adding plug-and-play modules so that multiple hardware setups can be linked and synchronized with a shared VR environment, allowing students or researchers to co-experience and co-manipulate physical devices from different locations. The architecture also considers open-source development to encourage adaptation and contribution from the wider research community. By lowering the barrier to building affordable VR-linked IoT testbeds, this work has the potential to expand remote skill training, prototyping, and collaborative learning in engineering education.