The COVID-19 pandemic prompted an unprecedented paradigm shift in the application and incorporation of new technologies into our workflows. This was especially evident in academia and the pharmaceutical industry, where words like Teams and Zoom have become part of our new meeting lexicon. We now reach for these types of online meetings without hesitation because of the obvious productivity benefits they provide over in-person meetings.
Despite their widespread use and benefits for online learning, these digital platforms cannot fully replace the gold standard of in-person scientific equipment training. We sought to investigate the use of virtual reality training for this deficit due to the challenges of the pandemic in blocking in-person interactions. We built on our previous experience with 3D printing in laboratories, where we saw the benefits of being able to create physical objects from computer-aided designs (CAD) in a matter of hours.
We quickly realized that the same CAD models we had created for 3D printing, such as molecular models, could be viewed in virtual reality in the same way, using a VR headset but without the need to 3D print the same object.
We were able to quickly realize this vision thanks to our early forays into the use of VR technology and hardware, as well as the use of some excellent commercial programs and providers. However, these were frequently fixed builds that could not be changed once purchased. Their ongoing connection/subscription costs, combined with our inexperience with VR, dampened some of the initial enthusiasm.
One of the benefits of VR as a platform is the ability to visualize live data telemetry streams in virtual space. We want to integrate live process data into pharmaceutical development to ensure global manufacturing standardization. Using a virtual reality space as a digital twin allows for faster and less labor-intensive training and laboratory inductions. We’ve noticed that users who have used VR prior to inductions can operate in a safer manner much faster than those who haven’t had the same VR pre-training. This is an excellent opportunity to ensure safer working conditions throughout the pharmaceutical industry.
As a result, we sought to understand the technology from the ground up in order to design and develop our own VR-based software solution that would allow us to make changes quickly as needed. Our strategy centred on creating a digital twin of our laboratories, in which laboratory equipment could be virtualized and placed in a virtual reality model of the lab. This would allow lab staff to quickly see the benefits of this technology, as they would be able to see the real-world version of the lab and then immediately transition to the VR version by wearing a VR headset. We were able to clearly explain the benefits of this vision to others after realizing it through in-person visits followed by digital VR training.