Faculty of Engineering

Virtual reality has become a tool used in several industries for its ease in simulating spaces and interacting with objects without the risks and limitations of the real world. In production plants, automated machinery can be managed in a way that the programming of a PLC and the interaction of an operator are involved. When wanting to make changes in the lines of production it is required to make modifications in the programming of the machines that compose the line, implying tests prior to their physical implementation. In these environments, making this type of modification implies risks and time which translates into costs that could be anticipated or diminished by means of a previous simulation of the activities to be carried out and that do not consider the man-machine interaction between the operators and the equipment. Likewise, the remote programming of PLC ́s implies limitations towards the feedback that the programmer gets about the operation of the automated machines and about the program. Therefore, it is proposed the implementation of a tool to simulate industrial equipment in a production line environment where the user can interact with automated equipment connected to PLC ́s by using immersive nature virtual reality devices. Within the results of the simulation the user can interact with the virtual space, modify the programming of a virtually recreated PLC for certain industrial equipment, so that it can understand and be trained on engineering tools. According to the impact generated by the simulation, this project hopes to have a reach in areas of personnel training, the teaching in a practical way and visualization and interaction with simulated industrial spaces.