Integrating Virtual Reality into Welding Training: An Industry 5.0 Approach

In the context of Industry 5.0, Virtual Reality (VR) is transforming workforce training by enhancing skill acquisition and smart assistance to improve safety, among other things. This study presents a VR-based welding training simulator, developed in Unreal Engine 5 and deployed on Meta Quest 3, designed to teach and standardize soldering techniques through progressive training stations, interactive guidance, and real-time feedback. A mixed-methods evaluation, combining quantitative metrics (execution time, positioning errors, grip errors) and qualitative user feedback, demonstrated a significant reduction in execution time and elimination of errors in positioning and grip. Additionally, no errors were made in real-world soldering post-training, confirming a high transfer of learning and reduced variability in performance among users. These findings highlight VR as a viable and scalable alternative to traditional training, ensuring process consistency, reduced learning time, and increased training efficiency. Future work will explore enhanced haptic feedback and the integration of generative artificial intelligence to improve real-time analysis.