Germany's largest festival for virtual reality takes place in Gelsenkirchen every year. The ‘Places_Virtual Reality’ festival is aimed at both trade visitors and a broad public audience and is a meeting point for the German and European mixed reality industry. Visitors will be offered a varied programme at unusual locations: Lectures, workshops, hackathon, experience stations, expo and the DIVR Science Award. This DIVR Science Award is the most important award for virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) projects in the German-speaking university landscape (divr.de).  The DIVR is a national organisation dedicated to XR technologies in various facets.

60 applications from university teams

This year, 21 innovative university projects were selected from over 60 applications from university teams for the shortlist of the DIVR Science Award 2021 in the categories ‘Best Tech’, ‘Best Concept’ and ‘Best Impact’. The project of the Virtual Automation Lab (VAL) of the Faculty of Machines and Systems at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences on ‘MRiLS - Mixed-Reality-in-the-Loop Simulation’ was nominated in the ‘Best Tech’ category alongside other projects from Chemnitz University of Technology, Kaiserslautern University of Applied Sciences, Karlsruhe University of Applied Sciences and Ruhr West University of Applied Sciences. This category recognises a project that stands out due to its technical quality, unique aesthetics and high degree of technological innovation.

From 16 to 18 September 2021, the nominees presented their projects to the expert jury, trade visitors and the general public. The MRiLS project and VAL's digital twin-as-a-service platform impressed the expert jury and was honoured with 1st place, the DIVR Science Award 2021, in the ‘Best Tech’ category. The jury particularly emphasised the platform independence as the decisive winning criterion. The result is a barrier-free and effective web solution that impresses with its suitability for everyday use and simplicity.

At the award ceremony, jury member Tim Mittelstaedt explained the decision as follows:‘The winners [...] really pushed it to the limit.[...] What we immediately found [...] really fascinating: That it all works in the browser.Regardless of the platform (mobile phone, desktop, etc.), you can see entire machines, digital twins, simply simulated and can connect to them virtually regardless of the end device [...].You work together on the machines, can set up and simulate entire factory halls and don't need a fixed computer.The fact that everything is browser-based is a tremendous thing.’

Prof. Dr. Sascha Röck, Head of the Virtual Automation Lab, is delighted with the award: ‘Our research group is proud to receive the DIVR Science Award 2021 in the “Best Tech” category for the Virtual Automation Lab. This success confirms us in our technological strategy and is an incentive for the future.’

 Further information:

DIVR Science Award

Video of the award ceremony

The network initiative Allianz Industrie 4.0 Baden-Württemberg is a network initiated and funded by the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism and coordinated by VDMA e.V. Baden-Württemberg. The network aims to pool expertise in production technology as well as information and communication technology, connect all key players and support small and medium-sized industrial companies in the implementation of Industry 4.0 through innovative transfer offers.

The more than 50 partner organisations of the Industry 4.0 Alliance are striving to develop Baden-Württemberg as the world's leading region for Industry 4.0 technologies. With the current focus on ‘Resilient value creation’, the competition was aimed at new digitalisation solutions that could significantly improve the resilience of business and production processes in times of the coronavirus pandemic and thus maintain production.

Dr. Patrick Rapp, State Secretary at the Baden-Württemberg Ministry of Economic Affairs, Labour and Tourism, recently presented eight digitalisation solutions as the current winners of the competition in a video message.The Virtual Automation Lab (VAL) at the Faculty of Machines and Systems at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences impressed the selection panel with its Industry 4.0 solution for mixed-reality-in-the-loop simulation in mechanical and plant engineering and was recognised as one of the 100 locations for Industry 4.0 in Baden-Württemberg.

‘The award-winning solution from the Virtual Automation Lab at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences opens up new avenues for research, development and teaching in mechanical and plant engineering. Specifically, it involves the use of mixed-reality-in-the-loop simulation methods in machine development and training. These simulation tools enable the coupling of real control behaviour with the digital twins of system components [...]. This means, for example, that error scenarios can be easily reproduced and trained without endangering people or machines, regardless of location. The mixed reality solution initiated by the Virtual Automation Lab combines virtual simulation with the real environment. The user can interact intuitively with the virtual system components in the real world via data goggles, tablet or smartphone. Thanks to the service-based architecture of the underlying Digital Twin platform, customised simulations can be created relatively easily and transferred independently of the end device. This opens up a wide range of possibilities, especially for training courses,’ said Dr. Patrick Rapp in his laudatory speech.

Prof. Dr. Sascha Röck, Head of the Virtual Automation Lab, was delighted: ‘The award for the Virtual Automation Lab by the Industry 4.0 BW Alliance as one of the 100 Industry 4.0 locations in Baden-Württemberg fills our research group with pride. This success is also another piece of the puzzle for the visibility and dissemination of our university's applied research in SMEs and industry.’

In addition to a certificate of honour, the VAL will also receive a glass plaque that can be displayed at the university's location in Esslingen. In addition, the VAL and the award-winning solution for mixed-reality-in-the-loop simulation will be presented as a beacon on the website of the Industry 4.0 Baden-Württemberg Alliance.

Further information:

Allianz Industrie 4.0 Baden-Württemberg

Laudatory speech of Dr. Rapp

Video VAL

The Virtual Automation Lab (VAL) at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at Esslingen University of Applied Sciences has taken part in the nationwide competition ‘AVRiL 2020 - Successful VR/AR Learning Scenarios’. The prize recognises special achievements in the field of virtual and augmented reality (VR and AR) for learning contexts. With a detailed selection process and nationwide submissions from universities and colleges, the AVRiL is one of the most prestigious competitions in this field in Germany. The prize is awarded by the VR/AR Learning Working Group of the Educational Technologies Division and the VR/AR Division of the Gesellschaft für Informatik e.V. in cooperation with the Stifterverband für die Deutsche Wissenschaft e.V..

This year, 27 entries from universities and colleges were submitted for the nationwide competition ‘AVRiL 2020 - Successful VR/AR Learning Scenarios’. Each submission was assessed by up to 5 reviewers in 11 equally weighted categories (e.g. quality of content & degree of innovation). The three best entries were honoured at the award ceremony during the virtual conference ‘AR/VR Learning Day’ on 29 September 2020. The VAL of Esslingen University of Applied Sciences took 2nd place in the competition and was honoured with the AVRiL 2020 Silver Award. 1st place went to the Technical University of Dortmund and Ruhr University Bochum with a collaborative entry, while 3rd place went to the Chair of Information Management in Mechanical Engineering at RWTH Aachen University.

With the article ‘DigiTwin:didact - Understanding machines with the digital twin in AR/VR learning scenarios’ (J. Hönig, M. Schnierle, T. von Bergen, C. Polak, S. Röck), the VAL describes challenges in today's learning scenarios in automation technology (e.g. potential hazards, lack of scalability).Digital twins of machines are proposed as a solution concept, which can be combined with real control technology and modern visualisation technologies using a service-based approach and can therefore be used for action-oriented learning contexts.The transferability of the service-based methods has been demonstrated several times by using them in different contexts (four learning scenarios from robotics in vocational training, higher education and industrial education).The Virtual Automation Lab's contribution impressed the selection committee with its combination of digital methods, simple future adaptation through the Digital Twin as a Service approach and the innovative integration of industrial control technology.The systematic development and successful use of the specific advantages of mixed reality were also emphasised. 

‘We are delighted to have been honoured with the AVRiL 2020 Silver Award. We are convinced that the combination of mixed reality methods together with digital twins and the connection to existing infrastructures can methodically advance teaching and learning and will be a cross-sectional technology for many specialist areas in the future,’ says Prof. Dr. Sascha Röck, Head of VAL.Both in research projects and in co-operation with industrial partners, the subject area will be further developed at the Virtual Automation Lab for a wide range of possible applications in the future.

Further information:

Homepage AVRiL

Video VAL