Virtual reality, an innovative technology applicable to the teaching of engineering students

Abstract

Forming students to face a globalized world is becoming more complex and diverse, becoming something that the best difficult and at worst unachievable. To achieve this, the student must learn often through practice. Put them in practical situations is very costly in terms materials or hazardous in human terms, sometimes do not have the right equipment and if a student is injured during an industrial visit, it would have the problem of possible demands that a company would have to face, together with the necessary logistics to carry out these activities, back many unsuccessful efforts made by universities and corporate managers to provide practical experiences that are sufficient in industrial facilities or school laboratories. Seeking to solve this, an innovative technology begins to increase its use and application; it is the Virtual Reality, whose applications are the focus of this article. This technology allows students to engage multisensory way of immersing in a virtual environment, where he can try things out, choose, to make decisions,  fail and try again; many times as necessary, until he develops the right skills and abilities that allow them to learn how to act and react to accidents, random events or malfunctions. In this way, this article presents a documentary investigation of the VR, as part of an applied research project.